The missing link in your analytics: why measurement planning matters

What is a measurement plan?

A measurement plan sets out your main objectives, then ties each one to metrics you can actually measure on your site. Essentially, it does four things:

It sets a direction of travel

Where do you want to end up? A plan helps you prioritise what matters in the long term.

It explores what's important

It builds a shared view of what matters from your users' point of view, so you can have that conversation upfront rather than in the middle of a campaign report.

It's a living document

A measurement plan needs to be used, and if nobody is referring to it, that may be a sign it isn't aligned with your strategy. Charity objectives change over time, so it's worth revisiting the plan regularly to make sure it remains useful.

It isn't one size fits all

One plan won't cover everything, and that's fine. I've recently worked on plans for a new site launch, a donation process and content engagement. They were all different, but shared the same purpose of linking objectives to metrics.

Why measurement plans matter

We have lots of data. Google Analytics has around 1,200 predefined dimensions and metrics, and that's before you add custom ones. While cookie consent means we record less data than we used to, we can still see key journeys and judge how well they're working.

But having more data doesn't necessarily make it easier to understand what's happening. I once gave an editorial team access to GA4, thinking it would help them determine how well their content was performing. What they actually did was look at all the graphs… all afternoon.

On a recent project the social platform reported 70,000 visits, while GA4 reported 4,000. Both were right, they were counting different things. This led to a useful conversation about traffic quality, and it's a good example of how a measurement plan helps you agree which source to use for what.

Ultimately, we need to know whether what we're doing is working, and a measurement plan helps us agree what good performance looks like.

Charity journeys are different

Charity journeys don’t work in quite the same way as B2C or B2B. One website can support several distinct journeys, each starting and ending in a different place and, in some cases, having very little to do with each other.

Someone looking for help may be in crisis and need clear information quickly, along with signposts to other services. They might also be a friend or relative looking for information on someone else's behalf. A donation prompt at this point would feel out of place, and many charities have strict rules against asking people to donate when they're seeking help, for good reason.

Someone who initially visits for advice might come back later wanting to support the cause, but there isn't always a straight line from that first visit to making a donation.

That's important when deciding how to measure success. It doesn't make sense to judge an advice page on donations or conversion value when its purpose is to help people find the information they need. Advocacy, fundraising and giving might come earlier or later in someone's relationship with a charity, but each serves a different purpose and needs to be measured accordingly.

Where to start

Audit what you have

What can you get access to? Most organisations already have useful material, such as a charity strategy, personas, user journeys and dashboards.

Run workshops with people internally

Let people tell you what's important. They live this stuff. We generally run separate workshops for each team, such as individual giving and fundraising, because one plan can't hold all their competing objectives.

We also use Miro boards and lots of sticky notes. The aim is to get people thinking about objectives and actions, rather than metrics. As analysts, we can add the metrics later.

Check the digital strategy

Does it match the dashboards people actually use? Does the website support what the strategy says? If not, narrow the plan to what digital can deliver.

Look at key user journeys

Walk through each section of the site as a user. What should they be doing there?

Be channel specific

Email and paid traffic behave differently, so it's worth considering whether they share the same objectives and how each channel contributes to the whole journey.

A framework to get you started

Here's the structure we use. Each layer answers one question, and we run them as separate activities.

1. Objective - What do we want people to do?
2. User need - What need of theirs does that meet? A gift in wills guide is a good example. The user needs clear information before a big decision.
3. User action - How do we know they've done it? They download the guide, or click through to a will-writing service. In workshops, we stop here.
4. Metrics - How do we put a number on it? File downloads, page views. This often exposes gaps in your tracking. That's fine. A plan can hold current and future tracking.
5. Decision - What will we do to change the number?

That last step is the one most plans miss. Metrics tell you where you are, but decisions are the levers you'll pull to move things forward. Agree them in advance, so that when a number goes the wrong way, you already know what to try.

You can go one step further and add an OKR. Objectives are the goals, key results are measurable and time-bound, and initiatives are the actions that drive the key result.

Two examples

Here's how the framework could work for two different objectives: increasing regular giving and helping people find relevant advice, with illustrative figures.

The donations example shows one decision, but there could be many, so list every lever you have.

Your turn

Pick one section of your site and one goal for it. How would you know if people are doing what you want them to do? How will you track and monitor it?

That's the start of a measurement plan.

Final thoughts

I finished my MeasureFest talk with a passage from Alice in Wonderland on the dangers of not setting a direction.

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" said Alice.

"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.

"I don't much care where—" said Alice.

"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.

A measurement plan tells you where you want to get to, and everything else follows from that.