At the recent eMetrics conference in Toronto, Canada, I heard a number of people talk about site engagement. They all seemed to have their own idea of what it was exactly, but for the most part, it all had to do with time on site and page views.
Time on Site/Page Views Engagement
I heard the Director of Customer Intelligence and Analytics for a certain major software manufacturer say that they have such a successful site because people spend so much time on it, and look at so many different pages. I have my own idea about what that is called, and it is not engagement.
I think people spend a lot of time on his website because they have purchased the new operating system, are having problems with it, so they go on the the site to find help. They look at so many pages because they can’t find what they need.
Is that engagement?
Are visitors really engaged with your website when they are unhappy?
As an analyst it is always very tempting, and easy, to tell a client, “Look at that, people who searched for this term spent 10 minutes on our site, and looked at 20 pages. They are really being engaged on SuchAndSuch.com.” But let’s break that down. 20 pages in 10 minutes. That is an average of 30 seconds on each page. That is a decent amount of time on a page, but it’s a lot of pages. Did they find what they were looking for? Are they being engaged?
If this an e-commerce site, did it result in a sale? If they didn’t buy, they didn’t find what they were looking for. Were they engaged?
Successful Visitor Engagement
Now let’s look at another scenario. The average visit to a site lasts 10 minutes, and has 2 page views. That is 5 minutes on a page. They are obviously either reading, or watching video.
Who is more engaged? 20 seconds on a page, or 5 minutes on a page.
Now for the big question. If a visitor to your site is unhappy, and leaves unhappy, were they engaged?
I believe that engagement is something more than page views and time on site. It is deeper than that. It comes down to whether or not a customer on your site is successful , and found what they came for.
If a visitor is successful, they have been engaged.
If they are happy when they leave, they have been engaged.
If they found information they needed, they were engaged.
If they bought something, they most likely were engaged.
Measuring Visitor Success
Now you’re asking “Well, how do I measure engagement now?” That’s a good question. There are many companies out there offering to tell you if visitors are happy and engaged. Usually by using annoying pop-up surveys which defeat the purpose of wanting people to be happy.
You need to figure out what the purpose of your site is, then find out how you can make people happy. After that, you can start to find out whether or not people are engaged.
Are you still measuring engagement as time on site and page views? Or are you doing something new, exciting and different?
Ben Bailey is an internet marketing analyst at SiteLogic focusing on SEO and analytics.
The ROI of Search Engine Optimization, Usability, and Analytics.
I’ll tell you why I love what I do. I love helping other people be successful in their business. And this industry provides the tools for making an impact. Right now.
SEO, Usability, and Analytics are the best investment that you can make for your online business. If you have never looked at optimization, usability, or ‘real’ analytics research for your website, then you have missed a wide-open opportunity to get the most out of your website.
These three factors have always resulted in success on many websites, and when combined, they are even more powerful in their results. Even websites that experience at least one of the three: search engine optimization, usability, or analytics; will experience a drastic change for the better, as each one provides significant direction to improve your website.
Regardless of the purpose of your website, selling stuff, getting leads, or page views, utilizing these three methods of website improvement will pay off far beyond your investment in a specialist, in-house training, attending a seminar, or however you choose to get it done.
Analytics = 900% to 1200% ROI Forrester research showed that a company that brings in a dedicated analyst can result in a 900% - 1200% ROI. That’s something to get excited about. In my experience, that return can usually be experienced within the first few months of implementing the changes that the analyst recommends. The biggest problems will be identified first.
Usability = 80% to 200% increase in desired metrics.
According to Jacob Nielson, usability improvements six years ago averaged 135%, now it has fallen to 83%, (it’s higher when you look at specific metrics). The main reason is that designs are getting better than what we were accustomed to viewing in the 1990’s. However, from personal experience in usability, website sales in ecommerce sites can improve dramatically simply with a usability review. I have worked on some projects were the ROI of the usability changes was over 4000%. It’s amazing some of the obstacles that are placed in front of users, but never tested or reviewed with live subjects.
SEO = (the wildcard) 40% to 4000+%
Search Engine Optimization is the real wildcard. Some sites respond very quickly to simple on-page optimization techniques an there is an immediate change to improved rankings and increased visitors. Other sites require more attention and additional off-site or on-site optimization help, or even a full marketing campaign in order to see results. It really is determined on a case-by-case basis. However, you can’t get around the fact that a simple optimization project on a website can result in increased rankings.
The full impact of SEO cannot be fully measured, as factors such as “the long tail,” ranking positions, and tracking systems make it very hard to calculate the true return from an SEO campaign. Not the least of which is that SEO campaigns have grown far beyond what they were in the past. Simply placing keywords in the title tags is not the primary concern of the Professional SEO. Search Engine Optimization has become more more integrated into the entire marketing process, which makes ROI in this area very hard to nail down as a general rule-of-thumb for all types of websites.
Combined Campaign = Exponential Results
Amazingly, when any of these disciplines are coupled together, the ROI factor increases. SEO combined with Usability provides amazing results and will usually result in a change of website navigation and architecture. Usability combined with Analytics will usually produce SEO-type recommendations and improvements, along with significant awareness of the visitor and their tendencies on the website. You may not like what you learn about people’s opinion of the site after that type of review. However, implementing those changes will provide a dramatic return on the investment.
After attending last week’s Search Engine Strategies, I saw first-hand that the (possible?) recession, while on some people’s minds, is not going to stop business, and it won’t stop online marketing. Savvy marketers will take this opportunity to improve the customer experience and get the most out of their websites.
This is why I love what I do, and why I focus on these three areas first when marketing websites. Most companies want to run headlong into the social media game, when they have not even taken the first steps to get the most out of their own websites.
Improve the experience at home first, and then invite others over.
Matt Bailey is the owner and founder of SiteLogic and has over a decade in the web marketing industry. He focuses on consulting and training to help companies take control of their websites and marketing strategies.
Mike Moran from IBM made a very insightful post a few weeks back. Unfortunately, I don’t think it received the attention that it should have. It really is the frustration of many consultants and marketers like myself who go through all of the pains to help clients market themselves effectively, but they just don’t get the fact that analytics has EVERYTHING to do with marketing.
Like Mike, my approach in my teaching is focused on the development of business goals and measurement of results. Unfortunately, many clients are miles ahead and wanting to start their marketing campaign. Mike’s comments focus on search and rankings, but it even goes beyond that. Many marketers are in love with the campaign, but despise the measurement, or even taking the time to define success.
It was one of the most fulfilling moments a few weeks ago when a client complemented our approach. She was grateful that I didn’t cave in to their desire to start marketing right away. Rather, she was thankful that they followed my advice to take a step back, evaluate everything, build measurement goals, and then refocus the campaign. That thankfulness made my day. When clients understand the value of metrics, they then start to measure everything in terms of value, and web marketing takes on a whole new aspect. (and becomes fun!)
The value of metrics is clear.
Information is readily available to evaluate and compare new campaigns. New niche markets are exposed. Entire regions are discovered from old campaigns and analytics, providing unearthed resources for new campaigns. New ideas can be gleaned from old data, and once repeated campaigns can now be refocused on specific targets.
For me, I can’t understand the thinking of changing a website based on a guess that it might improve. Too many companies focus attention on campaigns or the latest social media buzz without first exploring the metrics and methods for success. There are too many companies that simply purchase Google AdWords without doing the slightest bit of research into keywords and reporting.
Ideally, once campaigns begin, measurements are in place to provide immediate measurement and metrics for success. It is no longer a guessing game. Improvements have specific results that are focused on the bottom line. Each change can be tied to a reason and a measurable result.
Goals
The web has made everything faster, and analytics tends to get left behind. Granted, much of today’s tools and depth of insight was absent early on, but that shouldn’t be an excuse. For some organizations the first question I ask seems to be the hardest: “What is the purpose of your website?”
Eric Peterson mentioned this same concept when he said “analytics works best when measurement expectations are clearly defined in advance, not after the fact or in an ad-hoc basis.” Amazingly, this same concept works in almost every area of life and business. For some reason, it’s been forgotten in online marketing.
Analytics is not just about numbers, it’s about improvements, processes, experience, and planning. You don’t have to be doomed to repeat the same failed campaigns. History teaches powerful lessons, and analytics are a primary tool for learning those lessons.
Mike provides one of the best closing statements I’ve heard about online marketing. “If you say to yourself that you are working on search optimization because you believe it will make you money, that’s not a business, that’s a religion. Instead, put search on the same footing as every other business decision and optimize your business instead of your search campaign.”
Amen, brother.
Matt Bailey is the owner and founder of SiteLogic and has over a decade in the web marketing industry. He focuses on consulting and training to help companies take control of their websites and marketing strategies.
I have always fielded questions concerning international strategies, primarily that of US-based companies branching into Spanish-language websites or content.
However, the frequency of these questions have increased the past few years, along with the variety of international markets that companies are looking to target.
There are a few levels of international strategies that I have observed and had the pleasure of
consulting and analyzing for the campaigns. They range from the planned to the unplanned, and I have some lessons learned from each.
1. The “Hey! We have international traffic!” level.
This is primarily from the website owners that did not set out to target foreign markets, but have had their sites do well in search engines in various regions. This has been particularly interesting when a company ranks well for a term that is well-focused in a specific language, yet does not rank at near the same level in the English language.
International Website Marketing Principle #1
Typically, some of the smaller business websites that are gaining traffic from international users need to be sure that they do the following:
Create an internationally usable address form. International addresses are much different from US-based contact forms. The US is the only country that uses a 5-digit numerical zip code. Everywhere else uses postal codes.
If you have an ecommerce site, be sure to show shipping options prior to the sale. Shipping costs can be a deterrent to the sale if Air Cargo is the only option available.
2. The English/Spanish website level. (Or French/English for my friends up North)
I was on a panel discussion in Toronto when the question came up about duplicate content and foreign-language versions of a website. Adam Lasnik from Google confirmed that there is no duplication “penalty” for a having a page in English and a translated page in Spanish/French/etc. This was not surprising though, as translation is not character for character or word-for word. But it did help assuage many fears in the room.
International Website Marketing Principle #2
There is NO reason that a translated version of the website should be a word-for-word translation. Languages cannot be translated word for word – they should be translated concept for concept, as a word for word translation is misleading.
Language Strategies
My best advice for companies in this market is to retain a native bi-lingual speaker to translate the content for their native market. Most businesses should have regional sales representatives or consultants who can assist them in marketing to another country, so this resource should be used for more than just corporate communications and sales, but also for the website.
Government Language Regulations
Many regions, such as Quebec, are forced to offer both English and French versions of their websites, which adds unique circumstances to any business. The website cannot default to either language in order to refrain from showing any preference. This situation creates an interesting conflict as the choice must be available to the user, without the “influence” of a default (or preferred) language.
The web is one area that exposes these government language regulations as outdated. The search engines are language and country focused, but the job of the search engine is to return the most relevant result. There are search options for returning results only in the language of that country, or only websites from that country, but a user will search for a website that answers their question. Add to this the fact that most users will not enter at the homepage for a website. The search engines will show the most relevant pages, which may not include the website, so the choice to change languages will not be as noticeable as on the homepage, where many websites are required to present the choice.
Similar situations are happening in Spain, where I had the amazing opportunity to present to an international group of senior-level direct marketing executives. Within the country of Spain itself, there are regions that speak different dialects, and even languages, making direct marketing a divided undertaking. Concerning Latin America and South America, simply having a Spanish language website may not be enough, as there are multiple differences in each country: by region, dialect, slang, and even words. (I was not comfortable speaking what little 3-year-public-school Latin American Spanish in Spain, as there were many works and phrases that were not the same, however “¿Dónde esta el baño?” still got me where I needed to go.)
3. International Direct Marketing level.
Marketing in Europe requires sensitivity and awareness of different cultures and groups. For example, German users may be more wary of a product offering or a company based in another country than a user from the UK market. A uniform approach in marketing a website will simply not work. As a result, many multi-national companies have extensive country and regionally-based websites. They understand that there has to be a different sales proposition in Spain than in France, as people respond differently to marketing messages.
This is also true in website design. Not only should the content be focused to a particular culture or region, but the design will tend to change as testing reveals different preferences and needs of that specific region. Primary examples are the designs of a U.S. based websites not performing well in the Chinese market. (See Gord Hotchkiss’ fantastic Chinese eye tracking study and the principle of ‘hot and noisy‘.)
International Website Marketing Principle #3
Simply translating your website is not enough. Since when is persuading your audience the same for everyone? Just as your web analytics need to be segmented based on user groups, your marketing needs to be segmented based on countries, culture, and customs. Is the content compelling to the new market? Does it connect properly? The content should be well-written specifically within the context of that culture and country.
Marketing to a different culture and country will create additional requirements for your website marketing. The images, the flow and the content should all be specifically focused and coordinated approach, constantly adjusted by user feedback and analytics. The content and design may be completely different for each new market.
Re-branding to a different language and expecting the same results is an insult. It clearly shows when a company has not taken even the simplest steps to understand the culture that it is attempting to reach.
Matt Bailey is the owner and founder of SiteLogic and has over a decade in the web marketing industry. He focuses on consulting and training to help companies take control of their websites and marketing strategies.
From the earlier article that I wrote, Social Media Under the Microscope, a lot of conversation was spawned as a result of the data findings. Many questions seemed to have been answered, as many people responded by confirming the same data on their sites. However, there were some new questions created from the data.
The most fascinating questions revolved around defining the difference between different social media technologies, such as blogs, forums, online news sites, and social networking and bookmarking sites. Using the same data, but looking at it in different ways provided some very amazing trends. So, with new & improved charts (complete with fresh new colors) and additional tools to dig into the data, (thanks to ClickTracks) I began the process of analyzing different forms of engagement based on visitor referral sources.
Defining Social Media
Because of the strong differences in engagement and context, I have had to divide the general term of social media in order to properly label and view the visitors from these sources. Because these groups view content in very diametrically opposed methods, they must be separated and defined. I added Web 2.0 customer review sites, since they are social media-based websites.
Social Media: Blogs, Forums
Social News: Digg, Reddit, Delicious, Netscape
Web 2.0: (Yahoo Local, Amazon reviews)
Using one of the more recent events that rippled through the blogosphere, Jennifer Laycock’s run-in with the National Pork Board, a lot of data was built. Jennifer’s original blog post made the front page of the major social news sites, attracted public relations and online news coverage, and made headlines in the mommy bloggers and parenting forums. A data junkie’s dream, this provided compelling data to analyze as there were a variety of visitor referral sources and long term data.
Define: Engagement
One of the best ways of analyzing visitors is not to get distracted by the big numbers. When building comparisons from referrers, one has to look at the goals of the site. Especially for content producers, making the site “sticky” has to be defined. What makes a successful visit, even if there is no conversion? Any site manager should have to answer that question, as a good customer experience is what makes people come back, even if they do not purchase or become a lead on the first visit. Chances are they won’t. So how do you know if you are taking care of your visitors? This is where engagement metrics are so important.
First, define engagement. Define a successful visit to your website. A combination of time on site and pages viewed were the logical choices for this project, as Jennifer writes a content-based blog. She does sell shirts (which got her in trouble in the first place), so that as a conversion as well, even though it is not her primary activity.
Define: Audience
Second, define your audience. This may sound impossible at first, but consider where your audience comes from: search engine queries, website links, direct access or bookmarks. Now, what are those people looking for? Search queries are not that hard to aggregate. I suggest creating “buckets” of keyword concepts. Rather than isolating a specific term and counting visitors, widen the scope and create a catch-all phrase that will capture as many of the related terms to a particular concept as possible.
For example, a site that sells lighting may want to filter the search queries for the phrase ‘ceiling fans’. Rather than waste time trying to capture every single variation of the term, use the single word ‘fans’. This will help you to view the search trends in that vertical rather than getting sidetracked on tracking the specific phrase. Depending on the size of the site, there can be hundreds of related terms within the segment. The more segments you create, the more data you have to compare. Comparison also takes on a new aspect when comparing similar terms within the vertical, rather than comparing all of the terms in one list.
The idea is that by segmenting out each of these key concepts, rather than specific words, you can better identify what each group of searchers is looking for, and then better identify what your site is delivering to them.
In looking at Jennifer’s traffic sources, we saw a significant distinction in the audience:
Salon.com
Parenting Forums (two popular sources)
Mommy Bloggers (primary blog referrers)
Web Marketing Blogs
Social News Sites (Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon)
Search Traffic (four primary keyword verticals in the strategy)
This created a wide range of audience characteristics. On one hand, Jennifer is a recognizable member of the search marketing community; on the other she is a mommy blogger and a breastfeeding activist. This event brought many different groups together, simply by nature of the situation; the corporate giant with an overzealous attorney going after a work at home mom with a blog.
click for larger image
High Audience Engagement
Based on engagement factors, the group that was the most engaged, and with a very respectable conversion rate, were the visitors from Salon.com. These visitors tended to stay the longest, read more pages, and consistently browsed the shirt selection. It was a surprise that this group was the most engaged, but something resonated with them as the article was published right in the middle of the controversy.
Good Audience Engagement Blogs & Forums
The second most engaged group was a mix of blogs and forums. Typically, the blog referrals stayed longer and read more, but the forums were not far off. This was not surprising, as the highest referring blogs in terms of numbers were other mommy bloggers. The forums were well known parenting forums which brought the article to the attention of other moms and dads. There was also a distinct difference between the mommy blogger referrals and the search marketing community referrals. Obviously, this situation resonated more with the mommy bloggers than the search community. The marketers were more interested in the David v. Goliath match-up and link bombing the Pork Board. The news really spread in the mommy blogger world, as many were personally offended at the attorney’s remarks. These groups, while the engagement was lower than Salon.com, tended to convert and buy shirts at a higher rate – not a big surprise.
Search Traffic
Closely related but less engaged were the searchers. Of course, the search traffic around the event lagged based on the search engines. However, there were changes in the Google index within hours of the first post. Two days after the original blog post, Jennifer’s site, TheLactivist.com, ranked #6 for the search term, “National Pork Board.” The engagement rates varied based on the terms they were searching for, which provided a very insightful view into the engagement by search term “group”. The conversion rates were lower than the blog referrers, but there was also differentiation among the conversion rates based on search terms as well. Based on what people are searching for, they view a site very differently, which leads to understanding the context of the search and the searcher’s expectations.
Low Audience Engagement
The lowest engaged group is the social media group, whose primary demographic is twenty-something tech-oriented males. However, the behavior shown here (lowest time on site, rarely more than one page view, no conversions) is not specific to this site. It is an occurrence on almost every site that is subject to attention from the techie world. From Slashdot to Digg, the attention from techies who share stories from around the world is nothing new. Consistently, the referrals from those types of social news sites all follow a trend of low engagement and rare conversions.
The “Long Tail” of Referrers
Most web marketers have heard of the Keyword Long Tail effect. See Keyword Long Tail for more info:
However, one of the more exciting things noted in the analysis was from the blog and forum referrers who sent traffic from the initial visit link. As time went on, those referrers tended to link to Jennifer’s site again and again, especially as she broke new stories specific to the parenting and breastfeeding communities.
This is the critical long-term data observation.
TheLactivist.com attracted attention from a wide variety of sources, yet the primary message is breastfeeding rights, parenting, and activism. Those blogs and forums, specific to that audience, that initially found her site from the Pork Board suit, continued to link to her site because it was relevant to their message and audience.
While the Digg, Reddit and other socal media did the “Flash Mob” thing . . .
Her other referrers, many of whom found her site from the Pork Board story, continued to send visitors and link to her blog. This is the long tail effect for links.
When new bloggers and opinion leaders find your website and it resonates with them, they tend to link to it more often, thereby sending more people over the long term than in one specific instance. Interestingly, there were other stories that drove more people from these blogs to her website than what was drawn by the original article!
Context and Competition
Here are the keys to developing this effect for your website. Context and Competition for Attention.
The principle of context is simple, we each practice it every day. When mommy bloggers and parenting forums linked to Jennifer’s story, the context was clear, they were mothers outraged at the comments of the Pork Board lawyer. Jennifer’s blog was sympathetic for them, as she was a work at home mother being harassed and bullied by a corporate giant. Therefore, the context of the link in those blogs and forums was very high. Conversely, the competition for the reader’s attention was very low. When a blogger links to another site it is usually supported by surrounding information that is relevant, powerful and the next best thing to a word-of-mouth referral. There are very few other links competing for attention, and when a link is provided in a clear context, there is no competition.
The next level in context and competition is search referrals. Searchers have queried a topic and they are evaluating the result page to find the most relevant choice to click. The context is usually fairly good, depending upon the searcher’s terms, and in an ideal world, all of the choices are relevant; however, they are all competing for the searcher’s attention. The more results on the page, the more scrolling, and the more results pages viewed, the more the competition for the searcher’s attention increases and the less chance that your site will be clicked.
Finally, social media. The competition for the reader’s attention is huge, as the homepage of Digg alone has about 30 news and topical links to choose from. Contextually, those links have little to nothing in common. This is the place for distraction, something different, and discovery of news not otherwise found. Most users are not looking for anything in particular, politics excluded, so it is all about what catches their eye. The competition for their attention is very high, and the context is very low for specific subjects, so it logically stands that their engagement rates for any site will be very low.
Conclusions
The biggest take-away for me was the impact if a good link from an online news source. The visitors and the weight of the authority provide a significant benefit. Truly, a show of quality over quantity. Online Public Relations and reaching out to online news outlets is still one of the most viable methods of creating awareness and traffic for a website.
The second take-away is the recognition that a long term strategy that focuses on your target audience will be the most viable and profitable. Chasing after short-term repetition from social news sites as a means of marketing a website will lead to detached visitors who see no consistent context to your site or your goals as a business.
The tried and true focus of building a business by a long-term focus on your target market is borne out in the data. Building a relevant site that connects with visitor needs is the most beneficial and valuable. A strategy that engages visitors by the contextual relevance will build sales and leads and long-term reputation at the same time.
Matt Bailey is the owner and founder of SiteLogic and has over a decade in the web marketing industry. He focuses on consulting and training to help companies take control of their websites and marketing strategies.
I was reviewing some old articles on analytics when I caught last summer’s DM News Report on Analytics (PDF). I was impressed at the amount of information contained about the business case for analytics, all coming from some very intelligent people. The great thing was the consistent thread of thought throughout the entire report: Analytics is growing – and it’s more than web stats – it is marketing intelligence. Unfortunately, the gold mine is sitting untouched, as many businesses are unaware of the untold riches sitting just a few inches away.
However, this grabbed my attention more than anything else in the report:
“Web analytics works best when measurement expectations are clearly defined in advance, not after the fact or on an ad-hoc basis.”
-Eric Peterson
This is not only the essence of analytics, it is the essence of business. Even greater than that, of life. Your life has to have goals, otherwise, what are the expectations that you will measure yourself against? How can you expect a business to succeed when there are no measurements along the way to provide correction and guidance?
Goal setting and published expectations are natural for those who expect to succeed, and it is not a strange trend that those who practice that also succeed in business. The same is true of websites. They must have a goal, both for the owner and the visitor. Unless that goal is declared, there is no way to determine success or failure.
The only way to sift through the mountains of data, the hundreds of charts and graphs, the pages of “Top 10” lists, is to have a specific set of goals to measure. By measuring against specific goals, the data will suddenly fall away as you remove what is not necessary to the overall goals. Good analytics programs allow you to strip away the stuff you don’t want or need to see. They allow you to focus in on the key indicators that are relevant to your site’s performance.
Bottom Line: If you don’t have clearly defined goals for your online marketing strategy, then no amount of analytics will assist you in making the right decisions.
Matt Bailey is the owner and founder of SiteLogic and has over a decade in the web marketing industry. He focuses on consulting and training to help companies take control of their websites and marketing strategies.
Yes, I know, posting has been light. I think everyone is busy right now, and with Spring upon us, the Bailey homestead is starting to enjoy the sunshine and springtime flowers.
I’ve been keeping a bust schedule for the past few months with seminars, conferences, and consulting. But when the team at ClickTracks asked Jennifer Laycock from Search Engine Guide and me to give a webinar on social media, I couldn’t refuse. Two of my favorite subjects, social media and analytics - so happy together.
So, if you are in a mood to find out more about social media and how you can use your analytics to get the most out of your marketing, make palns to attend. We’ll be giving the seminar twice. The first live broadcast will be on Monday, March 26th at 1:00 PM EST, and the second live broadcast is on Tuesday, March 27th at 10:00 AM EST.
Matt Bailey is the owner and founder of SiteLogic and has over a decade in the web marketing industry. He focuses on consulting and training to help companies take control of their websites and marketing strategies.
In my seminars, I enjoy teaching analytics because the fun is in finding effective and memorable methods to help people understand the concepts. One of my favorites is an analysis of the Red-Shirt Phenomenon in Star Trek.
What? You don’t know about the Red Shirt Phenomenon? Well, as any die-hard trekkie knows, if you are wearing a red shirt and beam to the planet with Captain Kirk – you’re gonna die. That’s the common thinking, but I decided to put this to the test. After all, I hadn’t seen any definitive proof; it’s just what people said. (Remind you of your current web analytics strategy?) So, let’s set our phasers on ’stun’ and see what we find . . .
The basic stats:
The Enterprise has a crew of 430 (startrek.com) in its five-year mission. (Now, I know that the show was only on the air for 3 years, but bear with me. 80 episodes were produced, which gives us the data to build from.) 59 crewmembers were killed during the mission, which comes out to 13.7% of the crew. So, that will be our overall conversion rate, 13.7%.
Data Segmentation:
However, we need to segment the overall mortality (conversion) rate in order to gain the specific information that we need:
Yellow-shirt crewperson deaths: 6 (10%)
Blue-Shirt crewperson deaths: 5 (8 %)
Engineering smock crewperson deaths: 4
Red-Shirt crewperson deaths: 43 (73%)
So, the basic segmentation of factors allows us to confirm that red-shirted crewmembers died more than any other crewmembers on the original Star Trek series.
However, that’s only just simple stats reporting – ready for some analysis?
In-depth Analysis:
Analysis involves asking questions about the data. Analysis attempts to bring reason and cause to the reported data in order to find why something is happening. With that data, one can improve the situation based on the intelligence gained from the analysis.
Q: What causes a red-shirted crewman to die?
On-board incident – 42.5%
Beaming down to the planet – 57.5%
There were also many fights during the mission; on the Enterprise, on planets, and various space stations. The fights were also divided between alien races or crazed crewmen (usually wearing red shirts).
There were 130 fights over 80 episodes.
18 of the 130 fights resulted in a fatality.
13 of the 18 fatal fights resulted in a red-shirt fatality.
It was found that red-shirted crewmembers tended to die in groups. In 17 red-shirt fatality episodes, 8 were multiple incidents, 9 were single incidents. In a little less than 50% of the fatal red-shirt situations, multiple crewmen were vaporized.
Q: What factors could increase/decrease the survival rate of red-shirted crewmen?
Besides not getting involved in fights, which usually proved fatal, the crewmen could avoid beaming down to the planet’s surface, which is inherent to their end. However, that could result in a court-martial for failure to obey orders.
Besides not beaming down, another factor that showed to increase the survival rate of the red-shirts was the nature of the relationship between the alien life and captain Kirk. When Captain Kirk meets an alien woman and “makes contact” the survival rate of the red-shirted crewmen increases by 84%. In fact, out of Captain Kirks’ 24 “relationships” there were only three instances of red-shirt vaporization.
The caveat to this is when Captain Kirk not only meets the local alien women, but also starts a fight among alien locals. The combination of these events has led to the elimination of 4 crewmembers (3 red-shirts).
Here are the statistics:
Red Shirt Death episodes = 18
Episodes with fights = 55
Probability of a fight breaking out = 70%
Kirk “conquest” episodes = 24
Kirk “conquest” + fights = 16
Kirk “conquest” + red shirt casualty= 4
Red shirt death + fight + Kirk “conquest” = 3
And the data trends;
Probability of a red-shirt casualty= 53%
14% of fights ended in a fatality (with a 72% chance the fatality wore a red shirt)
Probability of a red-shirt “incident” when Kirk has a “conquest” = 12%
The red-shirt survival rate is slightly higher when Kirk meets women than when a fight breaks out. This trend necessitates the question: How often did Captain Kirk “meet” women? In 30% of the missions.
As the data shows, Captain Kirk “making contact” with alien women has an impact on the crew’s survival. The red-shirt death rate is higher when a fight breaks out than when Kirk meets a woman and a fight breaks out. Yet the analysis shows that meeting Kirk meeting women only happens in 30% of the missions.
Conclusion:
We can reliably improve the survivability of the red-shirted crewmen by only exploring peaceful, female-only planets (android and alien females included).
Reporting the Data:
Now, researching the data can be fun and informative. However, that is only half of the battle. The interesting part comes when you have to communicate not only the data, but your conclusions in an effective, persuasive manner. The best analysis won’t go far if you can’t communicate the conclusions in a manner that people understand.
There are a few options at our disposal. First, the PowerPoint Method.
There are a number of things wrong with the typical method of presenting data. For starters, this presentation could bore even the most hardened Starfleet manager (CEO). The typical corporate PowerPoint slide design is obnoxious and does not leave room for information, the charts are redundant, even unnecessary, and it does not do a good job of communicating the information or the analysis.
In most cases, PowerPoint is NOT the recommended tool for communicating analytics data. It is not the right tool for the job. Communicating analytics data involves providing conclusions based on facts, tests, comparisons, and research. In order to display the necessary data, a better method must be used, and not one that forces redundant bullet point and “snazzy” charts.
Visualizing the Data:
There are some necessary elements required in developing a chart for this type data:
A list of the specific episodes
Events that happened in each episode
The number of events that happened in each episode
An easy way to identify data, then compare and contrast actions in all episodes
By seeing all of the available data in one chart, associations, patterns and conclusions can be drawn simply by comparing the relationships as they are presented. This is something that I learned from Edward Tufte – 1. More information is needed to simplify data presentation. 2. Unless all of the data is presented, there is no data integrity.
Information is Primary to Design
This is critical in developing a chart of information – the information is primary. List the necessary data elements first. Then, develop the design around the information, and not the other way around. Otherwise, a beautiful chart will lack the critical information necessary to support your conclusions. The graphing software that I found extremely effective for communicating the episode data for this Star Trek analysis is Microsoft’s Office 2007, and in Apple’s OS X graphics software.
click for full-size version
I like this chart – eliminating the need for a legend is critical to allowing the information to flow. The data is the same color or object as the information we are trying to convey. Because there is no suitable color for Captain Kirk’s affairs, we substituted a very flattering picture. Fights are represented by tiny phasers, which are not the best representation because of the size, but can easily be determined by the process of elimination. This chart allows conclusions and observations that simple charts, numbers, and explanations may never bring to the surface. It allows for easy comparison, both to other shirt colors, and in relation to other episodes. It also looks as though Kirk was a very busy man.
In the first year of the series, red-shirt casualties were lower than other color-shirted crewmembers. The second and especially the third seasons were especially brutal. In the third season, only red-shirted crewmembers died; maybe because the other colors enacted better safety protocols, or maybe because they avoided the bridge when a new planet came into view, for fear of beaming down with Cpt. Kirk.
Summary:
Of the elements that helped to provide this analysis, segmentation was key. Segmentation of groups allows for comparisons. Comparisons allow you to spot trends that by be different from the rest. Asking questions of the data allows you to dig into specific trends and spot additional factors that have affects the original analysis. Unless we dug into Kirk’s personal life, we may never have spotted the contrast of Kirk’s attraction to alien females as it related to saving red-shirt crewmen’s lives.
Remember, when you have to account for lost crewmembers, your report needs to account for the how, the why, and the ability to draw specific conclusions as to how to affect the trends in the future. Depending upon your approach, you could either doom the project, and future red-shirted crewmen, or you could be visiting planets full of peaceful alien women.
Addendum:
I found this motivational poster, that could well be hanging in a cubicle at Starfleet headquarters . . . (courtesy of StarTrek Motivational Posters).
Matt Bailey is the owner and founder of SiteLogic and has over a decade in the web marketing industry. He focuses on consulting and training to help companies take control of their websites and marketing strategies.
Ben cites some amazing statistics of the phenomenon that is American Idol. I’ll admit it, I won’t consider myself a fan, but I watch the show. I already have a few favorites, one is a young man named Sundance Head. If you didn’t hear his audition, check it out. You will probably hear of him very soon. Wait, I guess that does make me a fan . . . drat!
As I am writing this, YouTube is removing the American Idol audition clips for copyright violations. Great job AI, nice way to beat down a loyal audience. You have the ultimate buzz builder happening right in front of you and you kill it with lawyers, good call.
Anyway, the American Idol statistics are very interesting. The best album sales were in the first two seasons, and even though the viewership, ratings, ad costs, revenue, and total votes have increased, the sales have not kept the same pace; in fact the sales have declined in many years. They certainly don’t match the growth of the attention.
According to Ben,
As the audience for Idol has grown, as has the number of votes cast for its contestants, album sales of winning performers have not kept pace. First-season winner Kelly Clarkson is still the show’s reigning sales champ. If we divide the number of albums she’s sold against total number of Idol viewers for season one and call it a conversion ratio, Clarkson scored an impressive 65%.
The disparity between Idol’s viewership and albums sold is most pronounced in year three. That year, Idol’s viewership increased 16% from the previous year, and the number of votes cast increased 22%. Yet season three winner Fantasia Barrino sold 69% fewer albums than previous winner Ruben Studdard. Barrino’s conversion ratio was a paltry 9%.
Compare year one to year five and the numbers are even more dramatic: 12.7 million viewers in year one vs. 30.6 million in year five. That’s a 141% increase. But look at album sales: year five winner Taylor Hicks was no match for the petite yet powerfully voiced Clarkson: His album sales were four times less than Clarkson’s. Hicks’ conversion ratio? He’s in the basement at 7%.
That’s not to say Soul Man Hicks and the other Idol winners haven’t done well. Selling one million of anything is remarkable, much less two or five million. Idol remains a potent hitmaker for aspiring amateurs. No other program comes close to popularizing a pro-am approach.
When I first saw this chart I was amazed. This is much more a phenomenon and a cash cow for the producers - for the singers, not so much. When you consider the outgrageous growth of viewership and audience involvement, but yet the lack of album sales, it seems contradictory. The price increases for the 30 sec commercial far outpace the viewership, which is interesting.
There could be many contributing factors, one of which is that the contest itself is the attraction rather than the singers themselves. I enjoyed both Bo Bice and Taylor Hicks, but I haven’t bought the albums. Now that I think about it, I didn’t buy the Bo Bice CD because it didn’t sound anything like who he was on the show. I was looking for some throwback southern rock, not pop-produced psuedo-rock sound. A producer’s heavy-handed influence was very obvious, so it didn’t appeal. Maybe that is the key - the show is more exciting because the singers have a choice in what they sing, but seemingly no choice when they get the record contract.
However, in terms of success for the show - it’s outrageous. Ad revenues have skyrocketed and the buzz is mainstream. The singers after the show? Well, that’s just not the same . . .
Is the conversion less exciting than the journey? In this case, I tend to think so.
Matt Bailey is the owner and founder of SiteLogic and has over a decade in the web marketing industry. He focuses on consulting and training to help companies take control of their websites and marketing strategies.
I get questions all of the time about Google analytics. Many companies have opted for this service as, well, it’s free. You can’t beat the price.
I’ve always had hesitations about free analytics, and my main hesitation is someone else owning MY data. This is why I prefer weblog-based analytics. Sure, I supplement those with some JavaScript tagging, but ultimately, I rely on log files for many reasons. The first of which is that I own the data.
The next question is what happens if the free service stops being free – or even more, if it is simply not offered anymore? You are now without luck. It is any company’s prerogative to stop doing something that’s free. It goes against the business grain. (Remember Yahoo’s directory? Or, even Looksmart’s fiasco?)
When people skimp on their analytics, it shows me that they have very little understanding on the value of what analytics can bring. For a program that can potentially save and make you 10 times (or more) it’s cost within the first year, i think the price tag should not be an obstacle. Nor should the price tag of a good analylist, who will make sense of the data.
Ask.com’s blog takes a very humorous look at depending on free Google services. I also recommend adding the Ask Blog to your subscriptions. They have excellent resources, and highlight many of the new technologies and features.
Matt Bailey is the owner and founder of SiteLogic and has over a decade in the web marketing industry. He focuses on consulting and training to help companies take control of their websites and marketing strategies.
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Ben Bailey is an internet marketing analyst at SiteLogic focusing on SEO and analytics.
Matt Bailey is the owner and founder of SiteLogic and has over a decade in the web marketing industry. He focuses on consulting and training to help companies take control of their websites and marketing strategies.
