# Site metrics → *Thriving Together* KPIs **How the Guilford website + GA4 analytics work ladders up to the Board's strategic-plan dashboard.** Ellis Agency · Website & Analytics Refresh (Phase 1) · analytics reporting plan addendum. > **Grounded in the plan.** Read from Guilford's *Thriving Together: The Path to 2030 and Beyond* > (Board narrative + trustee slides, shared by Ty 7/10). The website + analytics work is the engine > of the plan's **fifth pillar — "Telling Our Story"**, which names the 2026 website upgrade directly > and ties storytelling to measurable outcomes: **inquiries, applications, yield, retention, alumni > engagement, donor participation, media visibility, and campaign readiness.** The target figures > below are the Board's own, from the plan's **"Measuring Progress"** section (FY2030). The value of > this page is the *mapping*: every outcome has a site behavior that moves it and a GA4 metric that > proves it, so the analytics deliverable reports in the Board's language, not web jargon. > > **Board targets (Measuring Progress, by FY2030):** Net revenue/student **$23,500+** · Total net > enrollment revenue **$28.2M** (1,200 students) · Out-of-state **>40%** · Retention **≥80% > fall-to-fall** · Comprehensive campaign **≥$75M by 6/30/2030** · Endowment +3%/yr (~$130M). --- ## The mapping at a glance | KPI (Board target, FY2030) | Plan outcome(s) it serves | What the website moves | GA4 metric / key event | GA phase | |---|---|---|---|---| | **Inquiries, applications & yield** — 1,200 students, $23.5K net rev/student | inquiries · applications · yield | Prospective journey: program pages → Request Info → Apply Start → Apply Submit; visits | `request_info`, `schedule_visit`, `apply_start`, `apply_submit` (cross-domain); Admissions **funnel**; program engagement; assisted conversions | P4 · P5 · P7 · P8 | | **Geographic diversification** — out-of-state **>40%** | (Board KPI #3) | Reach + convert non-NC prospects | Region/metro on **conversions** (not just traffic); out-of-state share of inquiries/applications; campaign geo; audience "Out-of-state prospects" | P7 · P8 · P9 | | **Retention & student experience** — **≥80% fall-to-fall** | retention | Current-student self-service (the ~60% direct/repeat) + belonging + findability | Current-student engagement, search-success proxy, returning-user engagement, service-page bounce *(leading indicators; retention % from SIS)* | P3 · P7 · P9 | | **Alumni, donors & campaign readiness** — campaign **≥$75M by 6/30/2030** | alumni engagement · donor participation · campaign readiness | Give journey + the prominent new Give CTA; alumni/events | `donation_start` → `donation_complete` **with value** (cross-domain); giving **funnel**; average gift; campaign attribution | P4 · P5 · P7 · P8 | **The cross-cut — media visibility:** the plan's eighth outcome is the reputation layer — organic + branded search, direct traffic, and news/referral engagement (the same signals the parallel branding project moves). **Phase 9's** Looker dashboard rolls the four KPIs above **plus** this reputation panel into a one-page **"Thriving Together" board view**, refreshed weekly to senior leaders and shaped to the trustees' "Measuring Progress" dashboard. That is the artifact that ladders up to the Board. --- ## KPI by KPI ### 1. Enrollment yield & new-student growth - **Site's job:** move prospective students & families (audience priority #1) from discovery to a submitted application, and get more admits to enroll. - **Report:** the Admissions funnel (Program interest → Request Info / Visit → Apply Start → Apply Submit), conversion rate at each step, drop-off, time-to-apply, and which channels/campaigns drive admit-intent actions (assisted conversions). Segment by first-time vs. returning. - **Leading indicators for yield:** post-admit engagement (admitted-student pages, deposit/next-steps page visits) once those states are trackable. - **Builds on:** Phase 4 (mark `apply_start`/`apply_submit` as key events), Phase 5 (cross-domain to the application system), Phase 8 (funnel), Phase 7 (prospective audiences). ### 2. Geographic diversification (out-of-state) - **Site's job:** broaden the top of the funnel beyond NC and convert non-NC prospects. - **Report:** state/metro breakdown of engaged sessions **and** admit-intent conversions (not just raw traffic), out-of-state share of Request Info + `apply_start`, and geo performance of campaigns. Stand up a GA4 audience **"Out-of-state prospects"** for activation and remarketing. - **Builds on:** Phase 7 (audience), Phase 8 (funnel segmented by geo), Phase 9 (geo view on the board dashboard). ### 3. Student success & retention - **Site's job:** the site can't retain students by itself, but it removes friction (findability, self-service) and reinforces belonging for the ~60% direct/repeat audience — both support retention. - **Report:** engagement of the current-student segment (My Guilford, resources, academic calendar, registration paths), a **task-success proxy** (site-search success rate, quick-links CTR), returning-user engagement rate, and bounce/exits on high-traffic service pages. These are **leading indicators**; the retention % itself comes from the SIS and is shown alongside for context, not attributed to the site. - **Builds on:** Phase 7 (current-student audience), Phase 3 (engagement definitions), Phase 9 (student-experience view). ### 4. Advancement & campaign readiness - **Site's job:** convert the prominent new Give CTA and the alumni/community journeys into gifts, and give Advancement a measurable, campaign-ready funnel ahead of any comprehensive campaign. - **Report:** `donation_start` → `donation_complete` with **transaction value** (cross-domain to the giving platform), giving-funnel conversion, average gift, alumni/events engagement, and campaign/source attribution for giving. Ties directly to the design decision to make Give far more prominent. - **Builds on:** Phase 4 (donation value), Phase 5 (cross-domain giving), Phase 8 (giving funnel), Phase 7 (donor/alumni audience). --- ## What changes in the analytics plan (deliverables #2 / #6) 1. **Phase 9 (dashboard + automated reports) gains a "Thriving Together" board view** as an explicit sub-deliverable — one page, the four KPIs above, refreshed weekly, emailed to senior leaders. 2. **Phase 3/4 event + custom-definition list** is checked to ensure each KPI has at least one backing metric (geo dimension on conversions; donation value; current-student engagement; apply funnel steps). 3. **Phase 7 audiences** explicitly include *Out-of-state prospects*, *Current students*, and *Donors/alumni* so each KPI has an activatable segment. 4. **Reporting cadence** aligns to the Board rhythm: weekly operational report + a monthly/quarterly roll-up in the Board KPI shape, so the same data serves both the team and the trustees. *Open items:* which figures are near-term site KPIs vs. FY2030 institutional endpoints (most Board targets are multi-year; the site reports the leading indicators that ladder toward them); the giving platform (GiveCampus?) and application system for cross-domain setup (Phase 0/5, gated on Gloria Thornton/IT access); which retention leading-indicators to surface; and whether the Board wants media visibility on the same one-page view.