Using Google Analytics to respond to lost clients
Google Analytics is generally thought of as a quantitative data tool that can reveal how people view a page, for how long, and what they may have clicked on. These data can be difficult for people to relate to without a personal story attached to them. Thankfully, we have more qualitative data through the feedback form at the bottom of each page. The feedback comments are collected in Google Analytics and enable us to compare quantitative data with feedback from site visitors. Originally intended to gather insights on missing information or broken links, the form has become a way to understand how our website is (or isn’t) responding to people’s needs.
P-EBT (Pandemic-EBT) was created when COVID-19 closed schools across the country and many children not able to attend school in person where no longer able to receive free or reduced-price meals. To address this important nutritional need, families who are eligible for this help received a one-time payment of $365 per child via CalFresh EBT (food stamp) cards. The EBT cards function like credit cards and are accepted by certain businesses. The families of 3.4 million California children applied or received benefits by mid-July, 2020.
(https://abc7news.com/cap-ebtorg-wwwcap-ebt-p-ebt-p-ebt-ca/6317543/)
Many people understandably don’t need to know that the state government managed P-EBT, but that everyday EBT cards are the responsibility of county government. In mid-May comments regarding P-EBT cards began flooding into our agency’s website feedback form. The total number of comments coming in regarding P-EBT in a single day started to become as much as we received for all comments in an entire month, pre-pandemic. A couple of things quickly became apparent from the comments. People were struggling to activate the cards with Personal Identification Numbers (PIN). This is an example of the PIN related comments, “The p-ebt cards info states to call the 1–877 # and make pin. There is no way to make a pin or talk to someone live. It also states to go on the website that also states invalid. How do we make pin ???”
We forwarded the comments to our Communications Team, who manages website content. The hundreds of comments were forwarded to Sacramento. Based on the client feedback, the state government sent us revised instructions, which included helpful tips on navigating the online phone help system.
Generally speaking, when a visitor to our site leaves a comment in the feedback form, they are probably sharing an issue many others have experienced as well. The comments are also helpful to illustrate to our colleagues the frustrations are clients may be experiencing.