Many organizations ask to collect good data. Other than collecting data via the right analytics platform, there are number of decisions an analytics implementation needs to consider. (Picking the ‘right’ platform is not the purpose of this article, but will be covered in a future discussion).



Obtaining ‘good’ data is easier to capture than it is to detect. Analytics projects need to pay attention to goal (or conversion) based data gathering instead of collecting data for the sake of having it. Otherwise an organization will find itself collecting everything, becoming lost in the ‘big data’ abyss, and not knowing what to make of it. Good information gathering is thoughtful in its detection, not its collection.

Capture and analysis of a user’s experience should always be conversion oriented:

What’s the vision of the mobile user experience (UX)?

What do you want mobile users to do? (What are the end goals/conversions?)

Place thought-out markers that will be key pivot points and auxiliary pivot points

But how do I identify pivot points?

Many people fall in the ‘big data’ trap by collecting as much data as possible. Pivot points are screens or buttons that begin (or continue) a flow toward conversion. Auxiliary points, on the other hand, are interesting UI points that may or may not lead to conversion (ex. swiping a carousel banner, but not clicking it). Try not to collect any arbitrary data via these auxiliary points; a good auxiliary point capture have thought-out signs or clues to see if it a user will convert.

Additional Thoughts

If possible, provide multivariate testing for different user journeys. By providing two or more experiences that lead to the same goal, you can test effectiveness of different user interfaces against each other. Great data collection means effective solutions. Multivariate testing allows you to tweak and evolve in an iterative process.

In next week’s post:

I plan to cover what to do after you’ve planned, implemented, and collected. Now that you have great data, what do you do with it?

