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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Case Studies

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

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

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

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

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