July 18, 2005

Go Beyond “Hits” When Measuring Intranet Usage

Do you really know how employees are using your company’s intranet? If your only measurement tool is a hit report, you’re not getting the full story. To truly understand intranet usage, go beyond hits and dig deeper, with advanced usage reports and employee research.

The problem with hits
Hit reports have some value tracking activity around intranet usage. However, they don’t go far enough to provide a detailed analysis of how visitors are really using your site. Take a look at the following hit report from a company with 25,000 employees with online access:

Advanced tracking systems
Fortunately, there are a variety of advanced systems that offer a wider range of tracking options. For the most part, these systems are fairly easy and cost-effective to set up. Talk with your IT group about the different options available to you.

Dive deeper to know your audiences
As with all forms of research, the deeper you dive, the richer your findings will be. Here are additional strategies to help you fully understand if you’re meeting employees’ needs:

1. Conduct a survey
   If you conduct an annual survey to measure vehicle effectiveness, you should include questions on intranet usage. Make sure your survey questions reflect the functions your intranet was designed to fulfill. Here are some sample questions:
   
   
   
   
2. Use qualitative research
   Another way to learn how employees are using your intranet is to talk to them directly. Focus groups and one-on-one interviews can provide insights on the following types of issues:
   
   • What part of the intranet do you go to first?
     
   • What part do you visit most often?
     
   • How has the intranet made your life easier/more difficult?
     
   • What kinds of information haven’t you found on the intranet?
     
   • What is the intranet not being used for that it should be?
     
     
3. Hold user tests
   User testing is one of the most reliable ways to measure intranet usage because the results are based on actual experience vs. perceptions. A typical user test consists of a select group of employees who perform tasks on the intranet while others observe their behavior. Some of the information gathered through user tests include:
   
   • How fast do users complete a given task?
     
   • What paths do they take in trying?
     
   • Where do they stumble? What problems do they have?
     
   • Do users typically click through pages or do they use the search function?
     
   • How do they react to the download time for specific pages?