By Sara Feldman | STC Member
You may be hesitant to take the time to incorporate content analytics into your work processes. There is already so much else to learn to keep your skills current and competitive. Companies often have entire positions or full teams dedicated to analytics. Perhaps you even pursued a writing career to avoid math and numbers altogether! I know I did.
However, during my career it has become increasingly evident that technical writers have a lot to gain by caring about analytics. Consider a few things that content analytics can help you accomplish:
- Professional development—Expand your skill set to help you get a job, earn a promotion, or even be kept onboard during layoffs.
- Prioritize your work—Leverage content data for content migrations, localization initiatives, or when time is limited.
- Support content strategy—Gain insights to improve decision making, justify resources, or measure content return on investment.
Content Analytics Basics
A popular definition of analytics, written by Avinash Kaushik, says that “digital analytics is the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data from your business and the competition to drive a continual improvement of the online experience that your customers and potential customers have which translates to your desired outcomes (both online and offline).”
Content plays a pivotal role in achieving business objectives, or outcomes, per Kaushik’s definition. Therefore, content goals should align with business objectives, which are measured by interactions called conversions.
Businesses track both macro and micro conversions to get a granular understanding of what is contributing to each business objective:
- Macro Conversion—An action that connects directly to a business objective (e.g., to complete a purchase, start a trial, submit a lead form).
- Micro Conversion—An action that indicates someone is moving toward a macro conversion (e.g., to sign up for newsletter, read blog post, share on social media).
Content is very often tied to micro conversions, particularly within content marketing efforts. However, content may be considered part of a macro conversion if the key business objective is online support (i.e., prevent a customer service interaction).
At a minimum, it is important to know which conversions are measured at your company. More specifically, it’s vital that you understand how your content connects to the measured conversions. That connection is how your work directly contributes to the bottom line.
Learn More
Beyond understanding conversions, content analytics can provide a breadth and depth of insight that can significantly bolster the effectiveness of your content. The data will show you how users are engaging with your content and reveal trends about successful and unsuccessful interactions. The more you are familiar with high-traffic customer segments and sources, the better you can frame your content to suit your users.
A great first step is to explore your company’s current analytics initiatives, if that’s an option for you. Ask to be copied on current report distributions, or shadow a meeting, or request read-only access to analytics tools being used.
To learn more on your own, Google Analytics Academy (https://analyticsacademy.withgoogle.com) offers free courses and in-depth resources on analytics processes and tools. Avinash Kaushik (http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/about) is an expert in the field who has written popular books and is an excellent person to follow to find more resources.
Sara Feldman | STC Member | VP of Programs, San Diego Chapter
