Ten data points every communicator should demand from their webmaster on a regular basis

This list was inspired by Eric Peterson's presentation at eMetrics on measuring engagement. You  should be demanding these weekly from your web master. Don't take no for an answer. Between Visual Sciences, Google Analytics, and ClickTracks, there's no excuse for not having the answers.

1. % increase or decrease in unique visits
2. Change in page rank - i.e a list of the top ten most popular areas and how it has changed in the last week
3. How many sessions on our blog or web site  represent more than 5 page views
4. In the past  month,  what % of all sessions represent more than 5 page views
5. % of sessions that are greater than 5 minutes in duration
6. % of visitors that come back for more than 5 sessions
7. % of sessions that arrive at your site from a Google search, or a direct link from your web site or other site that is related to your brand
8. % of visitors that become a subscriber
9. % of visitors that download something from the site
10. % of visitors that provide an email address

If you have these answers, you'll have made a major step towards understanding and measuring engagement.

P.S. One word of advice. Delivering data to PR and Marketing isn't always a high priority. I've been asking these of KDPaine & Partner's webmasters for two years and haven't gotten them yet. I've tried pleading and begging, but clearly that doesn't work. So, now I'm trying public embarassment. If you have a better suggestion please let me know..

Comments

[Eric T. Peterson]

KD,

Thanks for the citation, again! I'm working on a few documents that will make it easier for folks to make the calculation I describe using tools like Google Analytics and ClickTracks. I'll keep you (and your audience) posted as they're available.

Thanks!

Eric T. Peterson
Web Analytics Demystified
http://www.webanalyticsdemystified.com

[KD Paine]

An update: I did get the correct link to the the Google Analytic data this morning. It doesn't answer all my questions, but its a start.

[Csalomonlee]

Thanks for highlighting these points. My company uses Google Analytics - though not perfect, I have access so I can pull most of these numbers for myself instead of waiting on a webmaster. Too bad you couldn't do the same!

[KD Paine]

I'm well aware of the drawbacks, but as long as the methodology is consistent, the trend is what you want to know.

[John]

Just remember those numbers can be very misleading, each stat package has it's own weakness and can over or under represent engagement in a unique way.