For this blog, I
will use the following report (Fig. 1)
on search traffic and offer my analysis on how to provide context to the data.
Fig. 1:
The first thing I would do to provide context is establish a benchmark for the line graph depicting the number of
visits. This report does not inform the viewer of whether or not this graph is
showing improvements or the start of a downward trend. I feel that some
comparable data from the previous year would be helpful in determining if the
company’s website is serving its purpose.
Another thing I would do to add context would be to compare
this information to that of a competitor’s website. The current reports does
offer a comparison to the averages, but that is not an indicator of how the
sight is performing for a particular industry. Let’s pretend this report is for
an auto manufacturer. Looking at the data, you can see areas where the site
could improve. How much improvement is dependent on how well the websites for
companies like GM and Ford are doing. If this company’s website is
outperforming the competitors, than only minor changes need to be made.
However, if the competitors’ websites produce significantly higher numbers,
then the some major modification may need to be made.
Context is important when analyzing information because it
puts numbers into perspective. Without it, reports are left to the
interpretation of the viewer. Take for example the number visits reported,
24,292 visits. Someone might look at this number and think that is a lot of
visits…others might think it is too low of a number. Only when this number is
compared to similar websites, can an accurate comparison be made. If a
competitor’s website produces only 10,000 visits, then the numbers in this
report look extremely good. Conversely, if a competitor’s website produced
50,000 visits, then numbers reported are low and the website material should be
re-evaluated. Without context, the
numbers reported have no value. With it, a company can identify areas that need
improvement and areas that are performing well.
I agree on the context points. The weekly dips are about the only thing that can be taken away from this report without additional information. You can't tell if this is any sort of improvement or decline from previous data and/or competitors.
ReplyDeleteWith some simple additional information this goes from useless to insightful very quickly.
I totally agree with your point. the competitor data was important comparing part for context analysis.
ReplyDelete