Krista Seiden Answers Key Questions About Google Analytics

This October at Converge 2015, our focus is to bring the best and brightest together to revolutionize higher education. In this series of blog posts, Content Marketing Intern, Mikayla Wilson, asks our speakers key questions. Read on to find out more about our passionate speakers and the importance of their topics.

Name: Krista Seiden

Organization: Google

Session: Driving Action with People, Process & Platform

Date & Time: Thursday, October 22 | 1:30-2:30PM

Summary: Krista will share how to measure inbound marketing and provide higher-education-based examples around people, processes, and the platform. Learn why analytics is important, common problems with enterprise level Google Analytics setups, and how to get the most out of Google Analytics.

MW: Tell us more about yourself.

KS: I’ve had an exciting career so far. I started out in the digital analytics space working as an internal practitioner at Adobe. While there, I focused on web analytics for a freemium product offering using the Omniture suite of tools. In addition to web analytics, I also focused on optimization and helped run several A/B tests for their core cloud product offerings.

After Adobe, I spent some time at the Apollo Group (the parent company of the University of Phoenix) as a product analyst responsible for all digital metrics for the classroom social media platform and the classroom mobile apps. This was an interesting role that allowed me to grow my expertise across many toolsets and types of analysis. I also had the opportunity to learn and build a skill set around UX testing, and paired the qualitative data we received from user testing with quantitative data to tell a complete story.

After Apollo, I moved to Google, where I first ran the analytics and optimization program for the Enterprise Group. In that role, I managed the implementation and high level reporting for six core product offerings and ran an A/B testing program, which executed upwards of 50 tests per quarter.

After two great years in that role, I moved into my current role, where I am out in the market advocating for Google Analytics. In addition to my speaking and writing responsibilities, I also run our Google Analytics Premium training program, where I get to interact with thousands of our premium clients daily.

MW: What is new and next in Google Analytics?

KS: We’re moving fast and constantly innovating. We’ve been working hard on our core product and functionality and have some exciting new features in the pipeline. The future is looking bright!

We’re also strongly focused on education – we want to run digital analytics education at scale. To that end, we’ve built out a great set of courses available on our Analytics Academy, including our newest course for Google Tag Manager, which I happen to be the instructor for.

MW: What challenges have you seen in higher ed with web analytics?

KS: When I was at Apollo, our greatest challenge was tying all of our data together to tell a cohesive story about student success. I think showing the impact of various initiatives, whether they be online, offline, mobile, etc. on student success is important for any higher ed institution. We were able to get creative with our analytics data to show a positive impact of using our mobile app on student outcomes. These types of analysis and use cases will be key going forward for higher ed to continue to get the support and buy-in to invest in more digital resources.

MW: What are you most excited about for Converge 2015?

KS: I’m excited to hear how many different higher ed institutions are taking advantage of digital analytics insights to improve their programs, offerings, and student experiences.

MW: Attend Converge 2015 to hear Krista and many other great speakers. We hope to see you there!