3 questions on #highered analytics to Mandee Englert, Digital Strategist – Penn State University

Mandee Englert, Digital Strategist – Penn State University, is one of the 12 presenters of the 2019 Higher Ed Analytics Conference.

In this 3-question interview, Mandee shares with us thoughts on what’s next for higher ed analytics in 2019, advice to get more strategic with measurement and tips to make analytics reports more efficient

1) What will make a big difference for higher ed analytics and measurement in 2019? Where do you plan to focus your analytics efforts?

Data visualization tools are making it easier than ever to tell a story with metrics and reports. In 2019, we are going to see a lot of higher education professionals turning towards Google Data Studio for more of their reporting and data storytelling needs.

With its easy-to-use interface and now available data-blending options, I could really see this begin to take off in the new year for higher education professionals. I know in my role, I’m beginning to use these dashboarding features to provide leadership with data without making them log in to the Google Analytics interface or look at a hideous designed report generated from analytics. As we continue to connect our data together these types of visualization tools are becoming more important to our everyday work and help us prove value in our marketing efforts.

2) What’s your advice to adopt a more strategic approach to analytics and performance measurement?

Creating a data-driven culture is really the first step in becoming more strategic with analytics and performance measurement. Without a data-driven culture to lean on, only some decisions will be data-driven and therefore marketing plans will never meet their full potential return on investment (ROI). My advice for building a solid analytics strategy revolves around thought leadership and transparency:

Provide thought leadership in analysis techniques and new solutions to problems. Helping your colleagues learn about analytics and how they can use it can help bring people into the fold of a data-driven culture where they are looking at data themselves, presenting it to their leadership and providing insights that help the organization as a whole.

Create dashboards with tools like Tableau or Google Data Studio that will bring transparency around data and make it accessible in an instant which can help people turn to data more often when new projects arise.

3) Analyzing the data and unearthing analytics insights is half the battle. What are your top tips to present/share analytics reports that drive action?

Sharing analytics reports that drive action is always a challenge, it isn’t always about analyzing the data itself, it is really about mapping it back with what stakeholders want to see and what is interesting from the results that can help them make better decisions in the future.

My tips for success are:

• Know who will be receiving the deliverable and adopt a language that is suitable for these folks. This often means toning down the analytics language and translating sophisticated metrics into more common data components.
• Map your data back to your business challenge, and stop showing data that doesn’t affect that overall business goal or challenge. We want to show every number that we pulled because we are proud and want to show it off, but if it doesn’t relate to the business challenge or what will impact your future marketing strategy – take it out.
• Stakeholders don’t care about numbers, they care about what the numbers are telling them – you need to tell a story. You should be building your results reports as a story – Make sure you answer these questions:
  1. Why are you providing this analysis?
  2. Why do the results matter?
  3. What actions should be taken as a result of this analysis?

A conference focusing on higher ed analytics?

The 2019 Higher Ed Analytics Conference (#HEA19) is a must-attend event for higher ed marketing professionals and teams looking for inspiration, ideas and best practices to step up their analytics and measurement game in 2019..

Read below what your higher ed colleagues who attended the past editions of the Higher Ed Analytics Conference said about their experience.