Analytics measurement and metrics
How to build a web analytics dashboard people use
Organise a compact dashboard around decisions, owners and meaningful comparisons.
A dashboard should make it easier to notice a change and decide what to investigate. More tiles usually create more scanning, not more understanding.
Design around recurring decisions
Ask which questions a team answers weekly or monthly: where visitors came from, which pages help them progress and whether key outcomes changed. Give each chart a clear owner and purpose. Leave out metrics that nobody can explain or act on.
Put it into practice
See your traffic, funnel steps and site performance clearly in Alexander.
Try Alexander freeShow comparisons and definitions
Include a relevant prior period, segment or target and make the date range visible. Pair rates with counts and identify the denominator. Avoid comparisons distorted by differing weekdays, campaign launches or tracking changes; annotate those events.
Make the next investigation obvious
Use a small number of charts with descriptive labels and a path to detail. When a number shifts, the next view should help isolate page, source, device or funnel step. Review the dashboard with its users and remove components that do not change a decision.