Benefit measurement methodology

The object of our group project is the build a methodology to measure the internal benefit from the SEPO website. Our first step is to define the internal benefit.

The major benefits are:

1.   SEPO can calculate the usage, the user amount and the work amount of each department website. Based on the audited data, we can adjust the budget distribution of each department website, and can know whether the service of each website is completed or not.

2.   The efficiency and performance raised by the website.

3.   SEPO provide a standard platform for all government website. It makes integration easier. In the future, government website can develop based on the same standard.

4.    To be added…

We have found a reliable methodology for the first benefit from Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards 4 (JICWEBS).

http://www.jicwebs.org/standards.php

The factors we take into consideration when measuring website usage:

1. Unique Browsers

2. Page Impressions

3. Visits

4. Visit Duration

The first three factors should take the time duration into consideration. (users/month)

We have analyzed on this website further to build a well defined method.

1. Unique Browsers 

Definition: The number of Unique Browsers is the total number of unique devices (e.g. computers or mobile phones) that have made requests to the site in the period being measured.

Why measure it: We can get the total user number of the website.

But there are too many uncertainty in measuring it.

The way to improve the accuracy:

Record the IP address and User-Agent.

Cookie. Users have to apply for account and password.

But there are still uncertainty, such as:

1. Different device access the website with the same IP address.

2. A single device access the website with different IP address.

3. Several people share the same account.

2. Page Impressions

Definition: The number of Page Impressions is the total number of requests (e.g. mouse clicks) made for a site’s content by users of the site (i.e. unique devices) in the period being measured.

Why measure it:  We can get the total volume of content being delivered by the website over a given time period.

Notice: 

1. When we measure it, we need to exclude the internal activities, such as automatic link.

2. One mouse click is one page impression, no matter how much data returned by the server.

There are uncertainty, such as: 

1. Non-human activity

2. Error messages

3. Redirects

4. pop-ups

3. Visits

Definition: A Visit is a single period of activity by a Unique Browser which ends when that Unique Browser has not made a valid request for content for a 30 minute period.

 

Why measure it: A high number of Visits per Unique Browser indicates that a site is one to which users tend to return.

4. Visit Duration

Definition: Visit Duration is the average length of time between the first and last Page Impression for Visits of at least two pages. 

Why measure it: Visit Duration can provide a measure of the level of engagement of website. If users spend longer on a website, they are more engaged.

These are the factors which help us count the usage of a website.

However, I have a different opinion in some point.

For a government website, a long visit duration may indicate that it is badly organized. Users are hard to find the information they want.