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  • Favorite Tool: Google Page Analytics Chrome Extension

    For me, 2017 is all about productivity hacks and working more efficiently. Recently, I’ve been diving deep into the world of Google Chrome extensions to help me streamline as much of my work (and personal life) as possible.

    One of my current favorite tools is the Page Analytics extension for Chrome. With just a quick glance, it shows you how your users are interacting with your site, in an easily digestible format.

    How does it work?

    Once you have the extension installed and turned on, you will see the analytics data pop up on any webpage you visit that you have access to in Google Analytics. Keep in mind that this requires that you are logged into the Google account in Chrome that is tied to your Google Analytics account.

    When the extension is turned on, you’ll be able to see:

    • Metrics such as pageviews, unique pageviews, average time on page, bounce rate, and exit percentage. You can also use the date comparison and segmentation tools directly in the extension for these metrics.
    • The number of active, real-time visitors on your site.
    • In-page click-through rate analysis.

    I love that in the middle of a marketing meeting when someone asks, “Hey – does anyone know if our users are actually clicking on the calls to action in our rotating branding area?” I can quickly pull up our website to see how many people have clicked through in the last month. It’s also a heck of a lot easier to take a quick, high-level peek at the traffic on any given page of our website than it is to log in to Google Analytics and dig for that information. Pretty great, right?

    While I still very strongly suggest doing a deep dive into your Google Analytics reports once a month at minimum, it’s great to be able to get a rough idea of what pages users are visiting, what’s working, and what’s not working in a matter of seconds.

    One very important thing to note about the click analysis, however, (and one of my only gripes with this extension as I think it’s a bit misleading at first glance), is that the click-through rate is for each destination page. For example, if you have three separate links to your events page on your homepage – in the navigation, right rail, and footer – they will all show the same number of clicks, even though the link in the navigation may have gotten the most number of individual clicks. Therefore, the click analysis isn’t good indicator of the success of link placement. Just something to keep in mind!

    What are some of your favorite Chrome extensions for working more efficiently?

  • Members Want Curation and Insight from Their Associations – Part One

    Members Want Curation and Insight from Their Associations – Part One

    One of the best parts of my job is conducting user interviews. Nearly every Matrix Group project starts with a User Persona exercise where we interview staff to glean their most important target audiences. Then a team of Matrix Group staff interview people in each group. Whenever I can, I help conduct these interviews because I like doing them and I learn so much about what members and non-members want, their pain points, their challenges, and what ultimately motivates them to act.

    Over the past year, across industries and professions, across trade association and professional societies, here’s what people have told us:

    • Surfing to find out what’s new is dead. It doesn’t happen anymore. Any web surfing is done to meet a specific need.
    • People are overwhelmed with data and information. When they Google, they get too many results. They find their association home pages too cluttered.
    • Members wants their associations to keep them up to date on important trends and give them insight into the future.
    • Members want fewer emails, shorter emails, less cluttered web pages.

    Over and over again, we heard, “Our association needs to tell us what we should be paying attention to. I don’t want the same news I can get elsewhere. Tell me the 5 or 6 most important things I should be doing, reading, attending.”

    Even if Matrix didn’t do interviews for you this past year, I bet your members would say much the same things. And if your members are hungry for curation and insight, what are YOU going to do about it?

  • Should You Crowdsource the Session Topics at Your Next Conference?

    Should You Crowdsource the Session Topics at Your Next Conference?

    Teri Carden, Founder of ReviewMyAMS, has a unique take on conference sessions. She crowdsources several of the sessions at AMS Fest. AMS Fest is an event that brings together AMS (association management software) vendors with association executives looking for a new AMS. It’s basically corporate speed dating.

    Teri held AMS Fest events in Chicago and in Washington, DC last year. She accepted proposals to speak at AMS Fest. But she didn’t choose who got to speak and she didn’t pull together a committee to review and vote. Here’s what she did instead:

    • At registration, each attendee got 5 star stickers.
    • The session descriptions and titles of prospective sessions were posted on a long wall without the name of the presenter or presenter’s organization (no popularity contest here!).
    • Each attendee voted with their stickers. Attendees could cast one star vote for the top session of choice, or they could cast up to five votes for the session they really, really wanted to see.
    • The top vote-getters got to present.

    Yup, it meant that some folks who prepared sessions didn’t get to speak BUT it also meant that conference attendees got to hear speakers on topics they really wanted to hear about.

    What if a session was a bust or it got really sales-y? After one particularly sales-y presentation, Teri introduced a sales-o-meter, which allowed her to gauge the audience’s preferences and yank a speaker off the stage. As Teri put it, “My event, my rules, and it’s all about giving the attendees quality, content heavy, sessions. Vendors need to know that there is a time and a place for selling and the crowdsourced sessions aren’t it.”

    Crowdsourcing is not a new concept to associations. Want to start with something simple? You could ask members to recommend and vote on topics. You can ask attendees about their most pressing challenges on your registration form and then source speakers for those topics.

    You might be surprised at what you learn and you’d be gaining valuable insight into what’s keeping members up at night.

  • The Life Changing Benefits of Google’s Primary Inbox

    The Life Changing Benefits of Google’s Primary Inbox

    GoogleInboxsmI blogged recently that Matrix Group switched over to Google Apps. I have had a personal Gmail account for many years now and my family can’t function without our shared family Google calendar.

    So now I have Gmail at work and I’m loving it. I especially love Gmail’s inbox configurations. Here’s how it works.

    You can have one inbox and all of your email will flow into it. Minus the spam, of course, which Gmail does a great job of filtering. So far, no false positives.

    Or, you can configure your email to have multiple inboxes. The default setting divides your email into Primary, Social, Promotions and Updates. Gmail will automatically put email notifications from sites likes Twitter and Facebook into the Social inbox. Ecommerce promotional emails from sites like Nordstrom and Snapfish go into Promotions. Email newsletters and bulk emails usually go into Updates. Spam goes into a spam folder and you get a summary each day. Everything else goes into Primary.

    This auto sorting by Gmail has been life changing. I actually feel like I can focus on the emails that need my attention most. Like the email from a client wanting an update. The inquiry from a prospect. The request from a staff member for clarification on a set of project specs. My inbox has gone from hundreds of emails a day to fewer than a hundred.

    The best part? I can train Gmail to do a better job of sorting my emails.

    The emails to the DC Web Women list were going into Primary. I moved a message to Updates and Gmail asked if future messages should be sorted that way. Yes, please!

    Email newsletters from my sons’ school were going into Updates so I moved one into a Primary and now those messages go into Primary. Phew! Now maybe I won’t miss the next opportunity to come into the classroom and read with my son.

    It’s still a battle to manage all of my emails. I still have to go into each inbox and review the emails and take action, tag for later, unsubscribe or delete.

    But when I’m busy, I know that Gmail will do the first line of sorting so I can focus on the most important emails of the day. Yes, I still get behind, BUT I don’t feel as buried at the end of each day. This is a victory.

  • Why Matrix Group Was Finally Ready to Switch to Google Apps

    Google appsA few years ago, I blogged about Google Apps. I wondered if my business, and businesses everywhere, were ready to make the switch to Google Apps.
    Well, a few years later, we finally made the switch. A couple of months ago, Matrix Group switched over to Google Apps. We now use:

    • Gmail for email
    • Google calendar for our corporate calendar
    • Google slides for presentations
    • Google drive for file sharing
    • Google hangout for some internal meetings

    So why did we switch to Google Apps?

    First, the Google Apps suite is just so good, it’s hard to ignore as an offering. The calendar and email are terrific. Second, many of us use Office 365 but the file sharing is simply not as easy, fast or intuitive with OneDrive, so we started using Google Drive. Next, we were already using Google slides for presentations because it is simply awesome having five people work on slides at the same time during collaboration meetings. Finally, a friend who runs a private security firm gave Google the thumbs up, so any lingering concerns about security melted away.

    We timed the switch to coincide with our email renewal and discovered that switching to Google Apps is less expensive than the renewal for our email alone. And now we don’t need to worry about hardware, patches and upgrades.

    So what’s different and what have we learned?

    1. Most of us already use Google personally, so it wasn’t a huge stretch to switch to Google. We did find, however, that we needed to create new protocols for scheduling meetings. For example, we have a main calendar and a PTO calendar. The PTO calendar makes it easy to filter on who’s out. Only the admin staff can edit the PTO calendar.
    2. Even though it’s Google, training is still important. We’ve held several all staff trainings to review the protocols for calendar, email and security. IT worked with each staff person to make sure they downloaded the Duo app, which we use for two-factor authentication. We also have a Slack channel devoted to Google Apps issues, questions and discoveries.
    3. We are only scratching the surface of what’s possible. We embedded the Google calendar into our intranet, which was super useful because we can see everyone’s schedule, with the ability to filter by person. During the last staff meeting, I figured out how to create a Google hangout from the calendar detail page. Score! And we think there’s a way to create a hangout from a Slack channel. We’re learning new stuff every day.

    So far, the switch has been terrific. For less money, we’ve added new functionality, made systems more intuitive and made our systems more secure. I’ll keep blogging about our journey with Google because I suspect the journey has just begun. If you are using Google Apps, why did you switch and what’s been your experience so far?

  • Pokémon Go

    Pokémon Go

    Can you tell we’re a bit Poké obsessed ourselves? We love the Pokémon Go site for it’s big, bold design and the simple yet effective copy about how the game works.

  • Histography

    Histography

    I could get lost in this interactive timeline for hours! Histography pulls historical events from Wikipedia spanning 14 billion years of time. You can filter by time period and category, too! (Note: this is only supported by Chrome at this time.)

  • I’ve Seen the Future and It Doesn’t Include Web Browsers

    I’ve Seen the Future and It Doesn’t Include Web Browsers

    M_and_tap_200For my birthday this year, my husband bought me an Amazon Tap. The Amazon Tap is a Bluetooth and Wi-Fi-enabled speaker that lets you use voice commands to play music, check the weather, order stuff on Amazon, look up things on Wikipedia, and on and on.

    Who knew that this little speaker would quickly become my gadget of choice? I carry my Tap with me everywhere!

    The Tap is powered by Alexa, Amazon’s voice-activated virtual assistant. I connected my Tap to my home and work Wi-Fi, my iPhone and my Alexa app. I then connected my Alexa app to my IHeartRadio app and my Amazon app. There are many more Alexa integrations to what Amazon calls Skills. And since I’m an Amazon Prime member, I have access to Prime Music.

    I mean, look at the kind of day I now have with the Tap around:

    • In the morning, I say, “Play NPR,” and Alexa starts playing the live stream from WAMU, the local NPR affiliate.
    • While I’m cooking or cleaning, I’ll say, “play 80s music,” and Alexa will say “Playing 80s on Prime Music.”
    • While getting dressed, I’ll say, “What’s the weather?” and Alexa will tell me the forecast from weather.com.
    • If I want to know about something, I’ll say, “Wikipedia Abraham Lincoln,” and Alexa will read the first paragraph about my favorite President. I can ask for more info, and Alexa will keep reading.
    • I can ask Alexa to read my Kindle books out loud.
    • And on Amazon Prime Day, I ordered a drone with just two voice commands!

    I haven’t yet tried it, but I can connect Alexa to a Domino’s account and order pizza by voice.

    I can’t do everything on my Tap, but it’s coming. And from what I read and hear, voice is the new new thing. The XFINITY voice remote already lets you search for programs by voice. We can already talk to our cars. And we endlessly give commands to Siri on our iPhones and iPads.

    Amazon allows developers to teach Alexa new skills. Apple just opened up Siri so that third parties can give Siri access to their apps.

    It won’t be long before we’ll talk to our refrigerators, stereos, ovens, and furniture, and interact with websites and apps with just voice commands.

    I’ve seen the future… er… rather, I’ve heard the future, and it sounds bright!

  • Maybe We Should Stop Trying to Generate More Traffic to Government Affairs Web Pages

    Maybe We Should Stop Trying to Generate More Traffic to Government Affairs Web Pages

    STOP_sign_smI attend a lot of redesign kickoff meetings. Clients almost always list as one of their top goals,
    “Increase traffic to the website.” Sounds reasonable, right? Organizations are competing for eyeballs, so traffic means organizations are getting attention and their content is being read and hopefully appreciated.

    Indeed, nearly every client I work with has a government affairs department that laments the low number of visits to the government affairs portion of their site. Indeed, many government affairs departments don’t post much meaningful information on their portions of the website, preferring to communicate with members and legislators via email and phone.

    So during every redesign, we discuss ways to drive members to the government affairs portion of their sites and increase engagement via the web. Again, makes a lot of sense.

    But does it? I’m told that government affairs staff at companies across the US are busy, they travel a lot, they rely on email and phone, and they are demanding. When they need information, support or guidance from their association, they pick up the phone or they send an email. Indeed, across nearly all Matrix Group clients that have a government affairs function, government affairs newsletters get the highest open rates when compared with the regular membership newsletters, journals or magazines. Moreover, they have the highest involvement in committee conference calls on important issues.

    So let’s get this straight: members interested in government affairs call and email, behaviors that are consistent with high engagement. Why are we trying to change this behavior? Is it because email and phone are high touch, labor intensive interactions? Or do we simply believe more traffic is better?

    I think the goal instead should be to get more members involved in government affairs, across the board, in the way they want to interact with the association. Getting more members interested in government affairs will likely mean getting them on the website to learn more about an organization’s issues and positions, which will result in more traffic to the website. BUT, engagement in government affairs will ultimately end up looking like traditional government affairs involvement: via phone, email and events. The challenge then becomes measuring the number of people involved with government affairs, measuring their level of involvement and getting to know them so as to move them across the continuum toward more active engagement.

    In the end, if an association has high government affairs involvement from the membership and those interactions don’t involve the website much, we should be okay with that.

  • Why This Mom Loves Pokémon Go

    Why This Mom Loves Pokémon Go

    Pokemon Go | www.TheMatriXFiles.com
    Here I am, catching a Bellsprout Pokemon in my neighborhood.

    Unless you’re living under a rock, you’ve heard about Pokémon Go. Pokémon Go is an app that lets you use your phone’s GPS and clock to detect where you are in the game and make Pokémon “appear” in your physical world so you can catch them, level them up, and battle your Pokémon against other Pokémon. It’s an augmented reality version of the Pokémon games on the Nintendo devices (e.g., Nintendo DS, GameCube, etc.) where players run around, catch Pokémon, level them up and battle against other trainers and their Pokémon.

    Pokémon Go is the brainchild of Google spinoff Niantic, which is based in San Francisco. Niantic partnered with Nintendo, the creators of Pokémon, to create Pokémon Go. The Niantic connection is an interesting one and very telling. When you play Pokémon Go, you are presented with a map of your surroundings; this map data comes from Google Maps and Google Earth. When you run around looking for gyms and Pokéstops, you’re really looking for Ingress portals. Ingress is the other blockbuster app created by Niantic several years ago. Here’s a fascinating story about Pokémon Go’s mapping service on Mashable.

    Anyway, my son heard about the game through YouTube and asked his dad to download the app the minute it became available in the US last Thursday, July 7 (the game was released earlier in Australia and New Zealand the day before, God only knows why). Trouble was, CJ could not get connected to the server. And no wonder, Pokémon Go topped the US App Store “Top Grossing” list within 24 hours of its release. I finally got him connected on my iPhone on Friday night and he begged me to go outside with him to go hunt Pokémon. We were supposed to watch a movie at home, but what the heck, it was an opportunity to be outside on a beautiful summer evening. My two sons and I ended up staying outside for nearly an hour as we hunted Pokémon all over our neighborhood.

    The next day, CJ could not contain himself. At every opportunity, he was running around the neighborhood, looking for and trying to catch Pokémon, getting Pokéballs and other gear at Pokétops, and doing battles at a “gym” in our neighborhood. On Sunday, he begged me to invite some friends over for an afternoon of Pokémon. By 1pm, two of his best buddies were over and they were outside until 6:30pm. Armed with water bottles and slathered in sunscreen, they went tromping all over the neighborhood for more than five hours! Five hours! Normally, they would have been parked in front of YouTube or Minecraft and I would have had to beg them to spend a little time outside.

    Monday was more of the same. CJ and two friends spent pretty much  all day outside, catching Pokémon and doing battle. I sure enjoyed their shrieks as they caught Legendary and Rare Pokémon. The restaurant in my neighborhood was the scene of many battles and depending on which team won a specific battle, that gym turned blue, yellow or red.

    Yep, the news is already full of the scary stuff associated with Pokémon Go, including gangs using “lures” to attract Pokémon Go users, people walking in front of cars, and a girl finding a dead body. Yep, I have duly lectured the boys on street safety, not falling prey to “lures” where a crowd is gathering, keeping their stranger danger antennas up, and checking in with the adults in charge of them that day every couple of hours.

    But this mom loves, loves, loves that Pokémon Go is getting my son excited about being outside. He’s walking, walking, walking because the eggs he found need to be incubated, and you can only incubate eggs by walking; the app can tell if you’re in a car by the speed of your travel. Nice! He’s running because that Gengar down the street might be gone anytime. And he’s interacting with his friends, not via chat, but in person. Imagine that!

    Pokémon Go is so fun that I’m thinking of starting my own account and going hunting with some mom friends. CJ says I need to be on the blue team. My avatar will definitely have spikey, purple hair.

    Want to know more about Pokémon Go? Here are some good resources:

    How about you? Are you playing Pokémon go? What level are you and which team are you playing for?