Learn the facts before you install analytics tools
By: Elliot Harmon
Your website is a place where people – potential supporters, volunteers, and beneficiaries learn about your organization, but it’s also a place where you learn about them. Using various web statistics and analytics tools, you can learn how people are finding your website, where visitors are located geographically, and what parts of your site they’re visiting. You can judge the impact of a particular fundraising letter or ad campaign by finding out how many times the message resulted in an online donation, a newsletter signup, or any other desired action. Used thoughtfully, website statistics can inform website design choices, help you make your website more user-friendly and navigable, and influence your overall communications and marketing strategy.
But is your visitors’ information being used by others? What responsibility do you have to explain to your site’s users what information they’re giving away by visiting your site and to whom? In this article, we’ll explore some privacy issues surrounding web analytics and other website tools. Since Google Analytics (GA) is the most prominent third-party analytics tool on the market, we’ll pay particular attention to it, but the recommendations we offer apply to other third-party services too.
We’ll offer some tips on crafting a privacy policy that explains to your site’s users how you and others will use any information they provide. Having a clear, readable privacy policy is a great idea even if you don’t use GA or a similar service. We can’t decide for you whether to use a third-party web analytics service, but we can help you make a thoughtful decision and take necessary steps to educate your website’s visitors.
This article is intended for readers who are already familiar with the basics of site statistics. If you’ve never thought about utilizing statistics on your nonprofit’s website, start with Idealware’s A Few Good Web Analytics Tools .
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