Analytics Should Help You Decide, Not Decorate Dashboards

Analytics tools can make a website feel sophisticated while still failing the business. Page views, sessions, and bounce rates are easy to collect. They are not always easy to act on.

A better analytics setup starts with the decisions you need to make.

Measure questions, not vanity

A founder might need to know which service pages create qualified leads. A marketer might need to compare campaign quality. A developer might need to see where form errors happen. Those are different questions, and they need different events.

The dashboard should follow the decision, not the other way around.

A lean measurement plan

• Track primary conversions and meaningful micro-conversions.
• Keep source and campaign data through the lead handoff.
• Separate internal traffic from real visitors.
• Name events in plain business language.
• Review the data on a schedule with someone empowered to act.

Analytics is useful when it changes what you do next.

Photo by weCare Media on Pexels.