User Analytics and the Federal Web
June 6th, 2012
"You can't manage what you can't measure." This is as true of the web as it is of any business venture. Data-driven user analytics provide quantitative metrics of success, but that only tells half the story.
On May 23, 2012, the White House released a new mission statement entitled, “Digital Government: Building a 21st Century Platform to Better Serve the American People”. In it, the White House lays out a ten-point strategic plan to help Federal agencies improve their digital presence over the next twelve months.
We applaud this effort and recognizes the importance of each of the objectives. At the same time, we know from hard-won experience that the mission statement doesn’t give you the full picture. The report does a great job of telling Federal web managers where to end up, but not how to get there.
Here’s the crucial point: Federal web managers could accomplish each of these goals and still not provide any meaningful service to the American taxpayer via the digital channel. Over the next several weeks, NavigationArts will release a series of articles to addresses these objectives. We’ll share insights on how to accomplish these goals, how to get the most out of these efforts, what risks and roadblocks you may encounter along the way, and what the Digital Government report doesn’t tell you.
This article deals with Point 8: Measure performance and customer satisfaction to improve service delivery. Federal agencies will be required to use data-driven user analytics. but these metrics only tell part of the story. We explore what you need to achieve a complete picture with analytics and answer the important question of "Why?"