Track your website data

Data tracking for NPOs

Your nonprofit wants to track its data efficiently, but doesn’t know where to start? We’re here to help!

What does it involve?

Data tracking is the process of collecting and analyzing data related to the behavior of your online visitors. For example, your nonprofit may collect data on user behavior, such as pages visited, time spent on the site or interactions with content. You can analyze this data to understand trends, improve the user experience, personalize content and better meet the needs of your community. Several tools are available free of charge, such as Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics and Google Looker Studio, to help you carry out detailed data tracking.

Why should your nonprofit track its data?

Keeping track of your data is essential to get a better view of your digital performance. This follow-up enables you to:

  • Evaluate the impact of your marketing efforts;

  • Better understand your community;

  • Make more informed decisions to meet your nonprofit’s needs

Data tracking provides crucial information for improving program effectiveness and demonstrating your nonprofit’s positive impact. It must be carried out ethically and in compliance with legal obligations in terms of confidentiality and data protection.

Where to start?

Starting data tracking at your nonprofit may seem complex, but by following a few simple steps, you can establish a solid process. Here’s a guide to get you started:

1. Define your goals

Clearly identify your organization’s objectives. Defining your objectives is a crucial step in identifying the data you need to track on your website. Here are just a few examples:

  • Increase your donations
  • Get new members
  • Increase your visibility

2. Identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Determine the indicators that will measure the success of your activities. These indicators may vary depending on your nonprofit’s field of activity. Here are some examples of common KPIs:

  • Number of conversions: A conversion is an action that is important and significant for your nonprofit. This action will be performed by a visitor, such as completing a registration or form, making a donation, and so on.
  • Website traffic: If your aim is to get as many people as possible to your website, you’ll need to monitor the number of visitors and visits to your website.

3. Select and configure your tracking tools

Choose the monitoring tools and methods best suited to your needs. Several tools are available, but Google tools such as Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics are the most commonly used, given their flexibility and accessibility (it’s free!).

If you’d like to explore the various options, our pilots are on hand to advise you.

4. Protect the confidentiality of your users’ data

Make sure you comply with legal obligations regarding confidentiality and data security. In Quebec, for example, all organizations (including NPOs) must implement a number of practices to comply with Bill 25.

5. Analyze and interpret data

It can be difficult to properly analyze and interpret data when faced with a galaxy of raw data. Tools such as Google Looker Studio allow you to create tables that facilitate the analysis and interpretation process. Consult our pilots to develop a dashboard that reflects your needs!

Get support

Configuring analysis tools efficiently is a complex process. In order to achieve a solid long-term configuration and facilitate the interpretation of results, data tracking must be effectively planned. Discuss your objectives with one of our pilots, who will guide you through effective data monitoring!

Psst, our advice is free for our members!

F.A.Q.

What are the best data tracking tools?

The choice of data tracking tools largely depends on the specific needs of your non-profit organization (NPO), the nature of the data you’re collecting and the objectives of your tracking.

There’s a whole range of tools you can use. However We recommend Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager and Google Looker Studio more often than not for effective tracking of your website data.

To find out where your website traffic is coming from, you can use web traffic analysis tools. One of the most commonly used tools for this purpose is Google Analytics. Contact our experts to help you configure this tool.

To find out which pages are performing best, check out the engagement reports available in your Google Analytics property.

The Google Tag Manager tool lets you quickly implement conversion tracking tags on your website and effectively measure the results of your campaigns. Our experts are available to help you configure them!

UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) parameters are tags added to the URL of a link to track and analyze the performance of online marketing campaigns. These beacons are particularly useful for measuring the effectiveness of marketing efforts, by identifying the source of traffic, the specific campaign, the advertising medium and so on.

Here are the three main UTM parameters:

  • utm_source : The source of the traffic, indicating the site, search engine, newsletter, etc., that generated the click. .
  • utm_medium: The marketing medium used, such as cost-per-click (cpc), e-mail marketing, social networks, etc.
  • utm_campaign: The name of the promotional or advertising campaign.

Google Looker Studio is a free platform for creating reports and dashboards. Benefits include:

  • Easy integration with other Google products;
  • Extensive report customization and interactivity;
  • Real-time collaboration;
  • Connectivity to multiple data sources,
  • Automatic updates

This solution is suitable for users of different skill levels to visualize and share data efficiently.

Ask our pilots for help!

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