WEBSITE EVALUATION

Marketing on the internet- Website evaluation

Abstract

During the last year and half Victoria University Library website has commenced using analysis tools such Google Analytics and Crazy Egg to monitor and track client usage patterns. These products provide the library with a large volume of data on users' origins, hit patterns, click preferences, length of stay and movement from the site. This paper originally had a twofold aim. Firstly to demonstrate how data, which is readily available to all website owners, could be usefully manipulated into standard statistical tests to study impact of web site change on user

patterns.

Marketing On the Internet- Website Evaluation

Introduction

Impressed by the genuinely unique nature of the product Victoria University committed to purchasing and implementing Encore. It was hoped Encore would enable the Library to leap forward and harness Web 2.0 to present clients with an interface and environment similar to those they utilise in their everyday lives on the Web. The implementation of Encore was seen by the Library and the broader University as a cutting edge development in the provision of the catalogue as a discovery tool. Architecturally Encore sits on a separate server from the Millennium ILMS and provides an interface that offers Web 2.0 features such as search facets, tagging and, if the Library has purchased the module, patron reviews. Encore has the look and general feel of an online bookseller such as Amazon.com.

Even though Encore has been live for over a year, the statistical analysis has not been completed. There are a number of factors influencing this. Reflecting on these and exploring the nature of a Web 2.0 shift in relation to a user interface has raised some issues worthy of further exploration in themselves. One of the most significant challenges is possibly the nature of Web 2.0 and its incremental and “perpetual” development (O'Reilly, 2005). Changes to user interfaces and redesigns or relaunches of web sites have, traditionally, often been easier to define in relation to their introduction and the phasing out of the previous incarnation. However, in a Web 2.0 environment, new versions of an interface may coexist with the older interface for months at a time.

In February 2007 at the Information Online conference at Darling Harbour, Sydney, integrated library management system vendor, Innovative Interfaces demonstrated Encore, a new search and discovery platform aimed at integrating Web 2.0 elements with the traditional strengths of the ILMS.

That Was Then, This Is Now

It was in this context that the original intention of this paper was developed - to examine via statistical analysis, the impact that the move from the traditional web opac to Encore had on the behaviour of users. Did the introduction of Web 2.0 features have any impact at all? The study that was planned for completion aimed to utilise readily available web usage and click analysis services such as Crazy Egg and Google Analytics to determine the level and presence of the change to user behavior and note any issues that the introduction of this new interface ...