Beyond Usage Stats (Or, demonstrating value & marketing services when you have no money)

» This information underpins a strong marketing plan

» Market analysis» Messages» Channels?» Performance?

Beyond Usage Stats

Or, demonstrating value & marketing services when you have no money….

joy.palmer@manchester.ac.uk

The challenge...

Understanding the impact of JISC services on the UK knowledge economy

We can understandUsing audience research to drive engagement

Perceptions. Value. USPs. Benefits…

Benefits drive engagement (a.k.a. sales)

Not features…

Right now we only have a partial and skewed picture

Collecting meaningful web stats is an increasingly refined art

And there is a great deal those stats can’t tell us

Understanding impact & value means rethinking performance

Who exactly is using our services?

How much are we penetrating the market?

How much do users value services?

How are the services making a difference?

How unique are those services?

How we did it:

• On a shoestring!

• Following JISC

guidelines

• Online surveys (3 wks)

• Focus on role &

perceived value

• Follow-up interviews

The polite, insistent approach to surveying

(the art of covert passive aggression)

But there are some holes in this method…

19th Century Middle Eastern Studies

Comparative Law

History of Manufacturing

History of Telematics

Archaeology

African History

Food & Safety Law

Nursing and Midwifery

Health Policy

Social Anthropology

Acting as trusted & authoritative sources

Saving time, money, and duplication of effort

Fulfilling unique roles through breadth & depth of coverage

These services contribute by:

We can understandLet’s get back to the warm and fuzzy stuff

Benefits drive engagement

Benefits drive engagement (a.k.a. sales)

Not features…

These are not ‘benefits’…

Cross search of 183 archives!Web 2.0 functionality!

Interoperability!Linked & Open Data!!!

“A wide range of teaching resources”!!!

Nor are these, really

A simple and convenient cross search

Flexible web 2.0 functionality that supports

personalisation

» It is difficult to see the Mimas wood because all the product trees are currently standing in the way – some of which are tall and imposing, others less so

» For example, selling Mimas…

It is difficult to see the Mimas wood because all the product trees are currently standing in the way – some of which are tall and imposing, others less so

For example, selling the Archives Hub…

A single point of access to the 23, 078 descriptions of archives held in 189 UK repositories. At present these are at primarily collection-level, although complete catalogue descriptions are provided. The service is free to all users and is funded by the

What our users told us

The Archives Hub offers many benefits to users and kindred spirits, for example…

The possibility to scan the archival landscape instantly and decide in what direction your project needs to go…

The possibility to discover undiscovered sources, and create new knowledge, furthering your career…

The possibility to become a more technically savvy archivist, recognised & valued by your institution

There’s a lot more to do…

We need to learn to sell the benefits of serendipity

“One of the things I like about Zetoc is the serendipitous thing of having these table of contents delivered. You will come across things that you wouldn’t necessarily search for but actually would be useful.”

“I think it’s a unique first step into a whole network of all sorts of possibilities. Not just the high-tech ones and the digital ones, but also locating resources, locating people who know about them and developing your personal networks”

And the real-world benefits of saving time

“My time is everything. It’s at a premium. I would not have the ability to wade through journals in vastly diverse subjects...

It fixes it by doing all the work for me in that respect and without it I would not be able to maintain the scope of my journal searches”

And the real-world benefits of being up-to-date

“Without it, I probably couldn’t have included the most up-to-date research or found historical research”

“It’s about making sure you’re ahead of the game in a sense.”

“The alerts have enlightened me on many topics.

I can feel so much more confident that I am up to date.”

Next steps

More market analysis

Develop marketing strategy

Target audiences. Messages. Channels…

Performance measures…

» This information underpins a strong marketing plan

» Market analysis» Messages» Channels?» Performance?

Final thoughts

You don’t have to spend a lot

You’re sitting on valuable information already…