{
    "version" : "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1",
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    "title" : "DigitalGov Summit Recap: Leveraging Open Analytics |Digital.gov",
    "description": "DigitalGov Summit Recap: Leveraging Open Analytics",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/08/07/digitalgov-summit-recap-leveraging-open-analytics/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"DigitalGov Summit Recap: Leveraging Open Analytics","summary" : "While government agencies may not have big budgets for data analysis, we do have tons of data—survey data, usability data, campaign data—that should be leveraged to drive decisions.","date" : "2015-08-07T11:10:54-04:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"andreanocesigritz" : "Andrea Sigritz"},"topics" : {
        
            "analytics" : "Analytics"
            },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"2015-08-07-digitalgov-summit-recap-leveraging-open-analytics.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2015/08/2015-08-07-digitalgov-summit-recap-leveraging-open-analytics.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2015/08/2015-08-07-digitalgov-summit-recap-leveraging-open-analytics.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2015/08/2015-08-07-digitalgov-summit-recap-leveraging-open-analytics.md","slug" : "digitalgov-summit-recap-leveraging-open-analytics","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/08/07/digitalgov-summit-recap-leveraging-open-analytics/","content" :"\u003cp\u003eSeven million dollars is a big price tag. That is the amount Forbes predicts organizations will spend on analytics-related initiatives in 2015, according to a recent report.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2015/04/600-x-400-Computer-keyboard-with-infographics-element-stevanovicigor-iStock-Thinkstock-478655615.jpg\"\n    alt=\"A keyboard key has a green button with a bar chart on it.\"/\u003e\u003cp\u003estevanovicigor/iStock/Thinkstock\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhile government agencies may not have big budgets for data analysis, we do have tons of data—survey data, usability data, campaign data—that should be leveraged to drive decisions. This idea was the subject of a panel discussion during the second annual \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/06/12/digitalgov-citizen-services-summit-reflections-from-our-livestream-host-and-full-recording-now-available/\"\u003eDigitalGov Citizen Services Summit\u003c/a\u003e, held in May.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHow can you bring all your data together to tell a story, drive decisions and make a change, asked Marina Fox, manager of the government-wide \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/guides/dap/\"\u003eDigital Analytics Program\u003c/a\u003e and panel moderator.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"define-your-goals-then-apply-the-tools\"\u003eDefine Your Goals, Then Apply the Tools\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe most important thing is to define your goals, or Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and then develop a hypothesis and action plan, which can be informed by a suite of tools, said Sam Bronson, digital analytics manager at the Department of Health and Human Services.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese tools can also be used to find out at which points you’re “losing customers” in your agency’s website and how to make your site “stickier” to retain those customers, said David Cooper, psychologist and mobile applications lead at the National Center for Telehealth \u0026amp; Technology.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Analytics affords us a way to gather data from the thousands visiting our site, and we can use that data to see how users are using our site,” Cooper explained.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"data-should-drive-decisions\"\u003eData Should Drive Decisions\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) used customer satisfaction data to launch a regular email newsletter recap that had an “amazing” response, said Anne Henderson, new media and web content manager at PBGC.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe satisfaction data showed that customers wanted more communication with the agency, so Henderson convinced her coworkers to combine disparate agency blogs and resources into one newsletter.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter sending out the first email newsletter, the agency’s Web traffic more than quadrupled that day, and the email itself had a 44% open rate.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBuilding a behavior flow is also important with mobile apps, Cooper said.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You need to segment your audience and see how many of your users are using your app as intended,” he explained. “If they aren’t, find out if you need to add or subtract features.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor one of the National Center for Telehealth \u0026amp; Technology’s apps, Cooper’s team looked at the number of people who installed the app (not just downloaded) and realized it wasn’t worth their effort to support it in the future.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"data-analysis-doesn8217t-have-to-cost-a-lot\"\u003eData Analysis Doesn’t Have to Cost A Lot\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you can get people to agree to collect data in a spreadsheet, you can make decisions, Bronson said.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRegression analysis can be done in a spreadsheet, added Fox. You don’t have to invest a huge amount of money. “We are all analysts these days, and making sure you leverage the data to make the experience of websites better for consumers is really our duty. It’s what we do,” Fox explained.\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
  ]
}