This presentation was delivered at the Calgary Web Strategy Summit in May of 2009. The presentation description is as follows: What metrics do you use when the bottom line for an organization is not measured in profit margins or sales figures? Raised Eyebrow Web Studio Inc has specialized in working with the non-profit sector since 2000 to create organizational websites, online campaigns and to develop online communications plans that base their success criteria outside of the more traditional return on investments metrics. In the non-profit sector, resources are often limited (both financially and staffing) which can influence how decisions are made about resource investment for online communications, impacting everything from ongoing content development to engagement strategies for Web 2.0 activities within an organization. Whether or not resources are limited the bottom line in a non-profit situation is not the same as those in the corporate world. Over their years of working in the sector, Raised Eyebrow has developed alternative frameworks to aid their clients in measuring success outside of the profit motive.

1. Measuring Success
When Profits Are Not the
Bottom Line
Emira Mears | Partner
Raised Eyebrow Web Studio, Inc.
emira@raisedeyebrow.com
Twitter: @emiramears
Google Profile: emiramears

2. What Do We Mean by ROI?
• Created in 1920s to measure
performance & profit margin in industry
• Evaluation process looking and pre &
post implementation metrics
(very difficult to measure after if you don’t measure first)
• Measuring Cost, Benefit & Value

3. Business Vs. Non Profits
Traditional ROI Variables
• Profit
• Cost of Doing Business or Cost of Goods
Non Profit ROI Variables
• Operating Costs
• Donations & Revenue
• Engagement & Awareness

4. Business Vs. Non Profits
How are they similar?
• Both share a need to measure success in
reaching larger goals
• In order to measure ROI you need to
know your goals ahead of time

5. Value of ROI for Non Profits
• Getting organizational/leadership
buy-in
• Grants/Funding
• Increase strategic use of resources
• Process enables learning

6. Measuring ROI for Non Profits
Quantitative
Donations
•
Volunteers
•
Page Views/Site visits
•
Take Action #s
•
Email Sign-ups
•
Twitter activity/hash tags
•
Facebook Activity
•

7. Measuring ROI for Non Profits
Qualitative
Awareness Raising
•
Numbers of Views vs. Level of Influence
•
Resources reallocated
•
Investigating not just changes in
•
understanding but changes in actions/
behaviors of your audience

8. Value of Internal Resources
Can not be underestimated
•
Resources are often scare and should be
•
used stratetically
Good ROI/Strong Analysis should enable:
Streamline processes & ability to be more
•
strategic about outreach

9. Quantitative Measurement Tools
Google Tools
• Set up Goals as you might with E-commerce
• Time spent on site
• Trafficed pages
• Benchmarks and trends (1 month, 3 months, 6
months, etc.)
Donations
• Online vs. Offline
• E-Newsletter vs. Traditional Mail Out
• Campaign Comparisons

10. Quantitative Measurements Tools
Memberships
• List growth
• Member engagement/volunteering etc.
• New vs. Longterm
Email List/RSS Subscribers
• List size & #s
• Multi-variant testing for emails
• Open rates and click throughs
10

11. Quantitative Measurements
Social Media Metrics:
– Twitter
• Followers
• Retweets
• Hash Tag tracking
– Facebook
• Members/Fans
• Wall Posts/Comments
• Funds Raised
– Other
• MySpace, Second Life, etc.

12. Qualitative Measurements
Listen to what people are saying not just how often/how much
– Observe, record and analyze
– Use monitoring tools to gather data
• Custom RSS feeds
• Hash tags
• Delicious.com
– Create a media citation style report
– Don’t be afraid to go after the negative info
– Share within the organization and elevate important info
right to the key staff person

13. Metrics & Benchmarks
Track before and after data
•
– What will success look like for your
organization?
– Set metrics that match your goals
Look to see what others are doing that is similar
•
Industry benchmarks may apply
•
Be sure to save/document all the data you are
•
collecting to build your own benchmarks

14. What Next?
Listen, Learn, Adapt
Don’t be afraid to tweak/evolve over the
•
course of your measurements
Incremental change can be less risky
•
Ask users for feedback and have the capacity
•
to evolve/change quickly
14

15. Case Studies

20. Measurement Tools
Q: So what metrics should you use?
A: Anything that helps you measure
whether or not you’re reaching your
goal.
20

21. Quantitative Tools
• Google • RSS
• Analytics/Goals • Feedburner
• Blog Searches • Stats
• Custom searches/
RSS Feeds
• Facebook
• Twitter • Page/Group Stats
• Members/Fans
• Hashtag.org
• Bit.ly/
Hootsuite.com

22. Qualitative Tools
• Surveys/Feedback
• Scanning/reading comments
• Google keyword searches
• Listen & Learn

23. Compiling Data
• Track progress & document
learnings
• Story telling: combine the hard
data with the qualitative
• Don’t get overwhelmed with
data/collection

24. Resources & Links
• NTEN Benchmarks: www.nten.org/research
• Social Media Metrics: www.thesocialorganization.com/
social-media-metrics.html
• Setting up Google Goals:
www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/
answer.py?hl=en&answer=55515
• 10 Must Track Google Analytics:
www.webanalyticsworld.net/2009/03/10-must-track-
google-analytics-goals.html
• Twitter Search Operators: search.twitter.com/operators
• Social Media & Non Profits: www.bethkantor.org