Digital Analytics Report for the Chinati Foundation Website & Vimeo Content
PROJECT
Chinati Foundation Evaluation Report
RESPONSIBILITIES
Digital Analytics
TEAM
Kate, Jay, Ji Young, Me
MY ROLE
BACKGROUND
Researcher
We conducted an analysis of the Chinati Foundation’s website, focusing primarily on demographic data and content interaction. We prepared recommendations for improving the Chinati Foundation’s use of Google Analytics, and provided findings that can be used to improve site performance. By adopting a digital strategy informed by this report, the Chinati Foundation can continue to answer questions about who uses their website and to what ends, and thus gain a deeper understanding of the varying needs, expectations, and behaviors of their digital and on-site visitors.
Objective
Audience Profile & Demographics: Define website user groups and determine whether they align with Chinati’s working understanding of their patrons (in regards to age, location, and other demographic factors).
Behavior & Engagement: Identify common user paths and trends through Chinati’s website in order to better understand key differences in how local and international visitors navigate and engage with this site.
Vimeo Analysis: Analyze Chinati’s original video content (in regards to engagement, reach, and other metrics of success).
Current Website
Recommendations
-
Establish goals and a digital strategy for each section of the website
-
Make video content more searchable and connected to promoted events
-
Improve site retention and engagement
-
Optimize Google Analytics
Process
Client kick-off meeting
Data access
Google Analytics
Google Data Studio
Tableau
Refine results
Presentation
Discover
Client Kick-off Meeting
We met with Chinati Foundation archivist Hannah Marshall to understand project goals and expectations.
Chinati Foundation implemented Google Analytics in March 2020. The Chinati Foundation began implementing Google Analytics in March 2020 alongside a major relaunch of their website. Our team therefore had access to roughly 13 months of Google Analytics data. Significantly, this data coincides almost exactly with the onset of COVID-19, during which individuals interested in Chinati were restricted from visiting the physical campus and were only able to engage with the foundation digitally. Additionally, Vimeo Analytics was established in March 2020 to track engagement with Chinati’s original video content on this platform.
Data Analysis
Methodology
After meeting with the Chinati Foundation to understand their broader mission and strategic digital objectives, we were granted access to the organization’s Google Analytics data and were sent CSV files containing Vimeo data from 2020. We interviewed Chinati Foundation archivist Hannah Marshall before viewing the data in order to gain a better understanding of both Chinati’s website and relevant questions and issues for us to pursue. We used Google Data Studio to create a high-level dashboard of Chinati’s website activity, structuring our analysis around user demographics, website behavior, and page-specific analyses. Additionally, we analyzed CSV files with Vimeo Analytics data to evaluate Chinati’s original video content, and used Tableau to generate visualizations.
Tools Used
Chinati Foundation
Google Analytics
Access and extract data
Google Data Studio
Create interactive dashboard
Vimeo CSV File
Exact and import Vimeo data
Tableau
Generate charts and graphs using Vimeo’s data
Metrics
Using Google Analytics, we were able to explore website data and identify trends related to the User Research Objectives stated above. We then designed an interactive dashboard in Google Data Studio using these key metrics, focusing on demographic data (location and age), acquisition trends, and behavioral patterns. Additionally, we created the second page of the dashboard that goes into further detail about each of the main sections of the Chinati website: “Visit,” “Collection,” “Programs,” “Support,” and “News;” this dashboard offers a high-level overview as well as more granular detail and metrics regarding each of the main sections.
The metrics included
users, sessions, unique pageviews, bounce Rate, average time on page, and entrances.
Segmentations (dimensions) included
city, country, age, default channel grouping, device category, medium, user type, the month of the year, landing page, page path (level 1), page title, and page.
Limitations
Only one year’s worth of data available (March 2020 - Present)
No data from the old website
Lack of event tracking on Google Analytics
Lack of search tracking on Google Analytics
Dashboards
Findings & Recommendations
Findings: Audience Profile & Demographics
1
Most users are from the U.S
78.1% of Users get to the site from Austin, Dallas, and New York, the United States.
2
Most users are 1st-time visitors due to the site was launch a year ago
The total number of users is 104,267 and the number of new users is 103,690.
3
Organic Search & Direct URL
Most users (50.44%) arrive at the site from organic (unpaid) searches, and the second largest group (34.33%) get to the site by typing the website’s URL into their web browser (direct).
4
Desktop User
63.5% of overall users browse the site on a desktop, while 34.3% of users use mobile devices.
Findings: Behavior & Engagement
1
New vs Returning Users
No major behavioral differences between “New” and “Returning” users
2
No major differences in page engagement based on location
Marfa users ’ most popular section of the site is Visit, followed by Collection
When filtered by major nearby cities in Texas (Dallas, Austin, and Houston), in addition to the Programs page and three pages of the Artist in Residence program, Internships was also popular.
In other major cities such as New York, Los Angeles, London, Chicago, and San Francisco, the most visited section of the page is consistently Programs.
3
Engagement spikes around the annual “Chinati Weekend” event in October
4
Top landing pages have a high rate of new visitors, some have high bounce rates
Findings: Vimeo Data Analysis
Vimeo Data Overview
1
Highest Completion Rate Videos
Event related videos such as Chinati Weekend 2020 receive high completion rates. Some videos are watched more than once.
2
Publish more videos ≠ More viewers
3
Most Popular Videos
Top 1 received overwhelmingly high views but the completion rate is very low. After we discussed this discovery with our client, we found out that this video is automatically playing as the background of the homepage. That is why it’s constantly getting view counts but can not be found elsewhere on the site.
Findings & Recommendations
1
Establish goals and a digital strategy for each section of the website
Identifying and establishing specific site goals using Google Analytics based on the behavior and needs of users from various locations. This process requires identifying strategic objectives for Chinati’s website, defining corresponding metrics for these objectives, and setting up “Conversion Goals” in Google Analytics.
2
Make videos more searchable and connect to promoted events
Streamlining these channels and ensuring that users on either platform(Chinati & Vimeo) are given opportunities to connect with and explore all available Chinati video content.
Adding a keyword-rich and relevant event name to the title of the video and a description to improve the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of the videos
Relocate videos so users can easily discover them, for example, "News" is a great location.
3
Improve site retention and engagement
Increase user session durations and decrease bounce rates on popular landing pages.
For example, adding buttons on Collection pages to “View Similar Artists” or “View Related Artworks” can help to sustain user attention and engagement on Chinati’s website.
4
Optimize Google Analytics
Chinati Foundation integrates “Event Tracking” as part of their Google Analytics set up.
By implementing event tracking, the Chinati Foundation will be able to precisely measure the exact numbers of clicks on particular links and buttons across the website. This data can also be used to understand trends in what content users are interested in based on specific demographics that utilize the website
Reflection
Despite the limitations previously mentioned, we are confident that our analysis, findings, and recommendations will help the Chinati Foundation craft a sustainable, scalable, and successful digital strategy. We also hope to have clearly and sufficiently addressed the User Research Objectives listed above. Though at times challenging, the relatively small amount of data available to us allowed us to hone our analysis and focus on information immediately relevant to the Chinati Foundation. Going forward, we hope this report provides actionable insights that result in increased engagement and enhanced user experience of Chinati’s website and original video content.