Last year a client asked us to integrate web analytics into their Intelligent Assistant to measure how much it was being used. The request came late in the project, but the idea was to correlate Intelligent Assistant usage with a decrease in call center inquiries. Rather than reinvent the wheel, we integrated Google Analytics with the assistant, since after all a web app is just a special case of a website. What started off as something of an afterthought turned out to be the most compelling aspect of the project.

As planned, we gathered basic statistics on the usage of the application (visits, unique visitors, returning visitors, etc.) and the content (page views, average page duration, pages per visit, etc.). But we also got detailed information on the pathway through the application – we could tell if we were successful in answering questions, and if not, why not:

• What are the work contexts in which the Intelligent Assistant is most frequently invoked?
• Are we anticipating the questions that will be asked and are our Best Bet answers on-target?
• How often is search being used to make up for shortcomings in our Best Bets?
• What content is missing or inadequate?

In the end, our client was able to gain insight from analytics to set the agenda for creating new content. It was clear what content was critical to end-user success. So not only could they show that their current content was driving the desired business result by answering critical questions, they could continuously improve and make even more progress by answering more questions through  targeted content development.  Now they were creating content in response to real demand, to meet real and measurable needs. Priorities were clear and fact-based.

Do you measure how your users engage with our content? Do you have real-time insight on how additional content could improve your business impact? Do you connect the dots between content engagement and business impact? 

For a look into how we use taxonomy and metadata to build effective enterprise content and knowledge management systems read our whitepaper: Searching for Gold, Harnessing the Power of Taxonomy and Metadata to Improve Search