The Tool You Need To Analyze Your eLearning Audience
Are you curious what your learners really think of your courses and what you can do to improve them? Are you sure there’s more you can do to optimize the course journey for users? There is usually a way to improve lesson delivery - you just have to know your audience. This is how you can easily analyze your eLearning audience and find out which areas to improve upon.
A critical element of eLearning analysis is monitoring - you must collect data before you can make any sense of it. When compiling key information, ask these central questions to stay in alignment with your primary objective:
- What are your audience’s primary goals?
- What is the educational background of your learners?
- When and where will learners take your course?
- What information and skillsets will your audience need?
- What are your learners’ technical requirements and limitations?
- What are the learning preferences of your audience?
The above questions are offshoots of the central question: “What will increase engagement from learners?” Keep them in mind as you explore data with Google Analytics (GA).
How To Access Powerful Insights With Google Analytics
Google insights aren’t just for corporations. In fact, GA will provide you with invaluable Big Data. So, if your website or Learning Management System isn’t connected to GA yet, it’s time to begin monitoring. You’ll be able to learn a tremendous amount about your learners. Here’s exactly what GA will help you discover:
Course Visitor Demographics (Age, Location, Etc.)
Imagine that GA allows you to see that the majority of your traffic is coming from females located on the East Coast between the ages of 18 and 34. You can learn so much from this simple fact. For one, those interested in your course are predominantly millennial women (they’re progressive, independent, etc.).
Also, your learners are likely going to have an interest in topics that are hot on the eastern side of the US, so you can integrate targeted, trending storylines that keep them interested. Use demographics data to structure your courses for optimal engagement.
Page Bounce Rates (Quick Page Exits)
The higher bounce rate on a page, the less engaging it is. If any of your pages have a bounce rate higher than 41%, they could use some work. Seeing this through the GA dashboard gives you an idea which pages need improvement. Scrutinize and adjust any page that falls above an average bounce rate of 41%.
Which Devices Are Being Used By Learners (Android, iOS, OS X, Etc.)
As best practice, you should create responsive pages that allow your learners to access your course via mobile and PC. Mobile learning (mLearning) is disrupting the way consumers educate themselves. But, before you go out and re-build your entire course to meet mobile standards, check out your GA reports to see what devices are actually being used in your courses and on your website.
If 90% of people are using PC, then you can hold off on optimizing for mobile. On the contrary, you may find that learners are viewing predominantly from Android devices while you’ve optimized for iOS; knowing for sure will help you decide which devices to optimize your pages for.
Advertising And Social Media Effectiveness (Referral Traffic Sources)
Have you been promoting on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter? GA shows which of your efforts are working. You may unexpectedly see an organic referral from LinkedIn that sends you more traffic than the other platforms. This would be an indicator that you may be promoting on the wrong platform.
Monitor to find which of your efforts are working and which are not. When you run reports, use the data to restructure your marketing efforts for the best results. No two marketing campaigns are the same, so it’s impossible to attain ultimate success without insights about your own.
Time Spent On Pages (Especially Helpful With Video Content)
You need to know how long people stay on your pages so that you know how long to make your content. If you find that learners stay on your pages an average of 3 minutes, then keep your lessons brief. If your learners like to delve into your courses, staying 15-30 minutes or longer, you are safe to stick with the traditional method of breaking courses into just a few sections (this may work well with baby boomers who didn’t grow up with the internet.).
Younger audiences and typical eLearners might be inclined to prefer “bite-sized” learning materials. People don’t seem to have the ability to focus for more than 20 minutes at a time. Small doses of information are often better absorbed online.
Bonus: Use Survey Software
Surveys are the customary tool for gaining eLearning insights, and they’re not dead. Interview your target audience, current learners, and authorities with cutting-edge survey software. Google Surveys 360 will provide you with insights based on location and user list contact targeting.
What To Do With All This Information
Now that you have a profile of your eLearning audience, it’s time to create the best possible eLearning course for them. Make sure you implement everything you've learned through the analysis into your course architecture, the visual and the text parts. Also, make sure that you pay close attention to your copy to avoid grammar mistakes.
Conclusion
When you’re ready to learn more about your learners and customize their experience, enlist the aid of Google Analytics for Big Data fuel - it’s the only thing that will ensure that your eLearning vehicle runs for many years to come. First, build reports based on demographics, bounce rate, devices used to access your courses, marketing efficacy, and the amount of time spent on your pages. Then, use advanced survey software to get opinions straight from the horse’s mouth. Finally, restructure your courses knowing exactly what is going to engage your learners.
