Dispatch click through rates

by **Seamus76** on Sun Jan 20, 2013 10:52 am

Hi all, is it possible to provide map makers with the click through rates for our maps that appear in the dispatch? I know from the last one I didn't have any comments, but it would be interesting to see how many people at least looked. It might be just a couple but I'd like to know mine.

by **koontz1973** on Sun Jan 20, 2013 11:23 am

For the dispatch no. The current subscriptions are at around 400 (sent via PM) and the last issue has 371 views so far in the announcements page. So around 800 players look at it each issue. How many of those look at the foundry section is any ones guess.

Look next to your thread title and look for views is the best option. Right now for 3 kingdoms you have 925 views with only 80 replies. This difference can be down to a few things but the main one is players not really seeing anything worth commentating on.

It comes out on the 1st and 16th so look at your view total before it comes out and again a day after. I have noticed a link between the dispatch and thread counts.

by **Seamus76** on Sun Jan 20, 2013 9:11 pm

koontz1973 wrote:For the dispatch no. The current subscriptions are at around 400 (sent via PM) and the last issue has 371 views so far in the announcements page. So around 800 players look at it each issue. How many of those look at the foundry section is any ones guess.

I was pretty involved in my companies enewsletter, which had over 750,000 subscribers, and even the most basic analytics and tracking software (including Google analytics which is free) will provide click through rates of links within the newsletter. It should be able to tell how many people clicked on the Three Kingdoms map, or whatever. Also, with approx 15,000 members on the site, only 400 subscribers is extremely low. The dispatch not only needs to be informative, it also needs to be a marketing and sales tool. There needs to be "dispatch" specific incentives to being on the list, and not just looking at it on the announcements page. Giveaways and contests for merchandise, possibly partner offers or discounts specifically targeted to CC audience, etc.

koontz1973 wrote:Look next to your thread title and look for views is the best option. Right now for 3 kingdoms you have 925 views with only 80 replies. This difference can be down to a few things but the main one is players not really seeing anything worth commentating on.

I'm very familiar with the views, I track them pretty compulsively, but I'm looking for number of click throughs specific to the dispatch, or possibly other avenues like Twitter, etc. When CC tweets out "Alamo needs gameplay input", it would be cool to know how many click throughs it had.

I know this is pretty much an all volunteer army, but if the dispatch, twitter, facebook, etc., are not being used as marketing(maps, tournaments, clans, etc.) and sales (premiums, merchandise, etc.) tools then a big opportunity is being missed.

koontz1973 wrote:It comes out on the 1st and 16th so look at your view total before it comes out and again a day after. I have noticed a link between the dispatch and thread counts.

Yes, I can see a little spike, but I want a big spike. I want to drive more people into the foundry. How do we do that? I know we talked about "marketing" our maps, but I think there needs to be a larger side conversation or panel to discuss ways to enhance the involvement of more players in every aspect of CC that will keep the site fresh, active, and thriving for many years to come.

by **koontz1973** on Mon Jan 21, 2013 12:56 am

Going to invite the hippo to come here to see if their is anything we can do about this.

by **thehippo8** on Mon Jan 21, 2013 1:06 am

Seems like you, Seamus, have a lot you can teach us. I wonder if you would be prepared to assist with getting us up to speed with twitter, facebook and the like. Not sure on analystic, I'll ask others to get involved in this thread too

by **chapcrap** on Mon Jan 21, 2013 1:27 am

I like where this discussion is headed. I'll monitor it, but I don't think I have anything to add except I agree with Seamus76 that we are missing seemingly easy opportunities.

by **koontz1973** on Mon Jan 21, 2013 1:29 am

Twitter and facebook might be a good idea. When a map is updated, is it possible to get it linked to the facebook/twitter account? Then every time a map is updated, it would be shown on the homepage and in the social media.

by **Dako** on Mon Jan 21, 2013 2:24 am

It is possible to track clicks. CC is connected to google analytics so we just need to create a unique link that will specify that user came from dispatch.

For example normal map thread looks like this:

Code: Select all: http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=583&t=183184

To track dispath we need something like this

Code: Select all: http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=583&t=183184&from=dispatch87

Then webmaster or rds can go into google analytics and sort by from parameter and see the number in web panel.

by **koontz1973** on Mon Jan 21, 2013 2:34 am

Dako, would that require us to do anything or is this something we would need for webM/rds to do for us?

by **Dako** on Mon Jan 21, 2013 3:36 am

Not from CA's. Dispatch writers should add unique links and they will be counted automatically. You can even go further and make two different links for dispatch newsletter and the issue on the forums.

You will need rds only for analytics because he is the one who has access there.

by **thehippo8** on Mon Jan 21, 2013 3:51 am

Dako wrote:Not from CA's. Dispatch writers should add unique links and they will be counted automatically. You can even go further and make two different links for dispatch newsletter and the issue on the forums.

You will need rds only for analytics because he is the one who has access there.

Lol ... I sense some delegation coming on ... hehe!

by **greenoaks** on Mon Jan 21, 2013 4:40 am

Dako wrote:Not from CA's. Dispatch writers should add unique links and they will be counted automatically. You can even go further and make two different links for dispatch newsletter and the issue on the forums.

You will need rds only for analytics because he is the one who has access there.

is it possible to create those unique links for sigs to see how many clicked on it and went to tournament threads advertised there?

by **Dako** on Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:33 am

greenoaks wrote:
Dako wrote:Not from CA's. Dispatch writers should add unique links and they will be counted automatically. You can even go further and make two different links for dispatch newsletter and the issue on the forums.

You will need rds only for analytics because he is the one who has access there.

is it possible to create those unique links for sigs to see how many clicked on it and went to tournament threads advertised there?

Yes.

by **koontz1973** on Mon Jan 21, 2013 6:03 am

Even if we did this once or twice only, the information would be invaluable to us all.

by **greenoaks** on Mon Jan 21, 2013 8:56 am

Dako wrote:
greenoaks wrote:
Dako wrote:Not from CA's. Dispatch writers should add unique links and they will be counted automatically. You can even go further and make two different links for dispatch newsletter and the issue on the forums.

You will need rds only for analytics because he is the one who has access there.

is it possible to create those unique links for sigs to see how many clicked on it and went to tournament threads advertised there?

Yes.

great, i post a lot in different forums.

decide on something you want to advertise. create a clickable banner for me (and others) to wear. give it a unique thingy and see if it works.

by **Seamus76** on Mon Jan 21, 2013 11:05 pm

This is good shit. And yes, I did fail to mention in my earlier post that I would be more than happy to volunteer my help in any way possible. Couple of things, I don't have the most free time, I might be one of the last people not on facebook, and I don't know much about the specifics of the technical side of things, but I'm sure we can all come up with a way to help promote Clans, SoC, Tournaments, Maps, Merchandise, and CC in general.

Again, I would love to be involved in a larger conversation on the next steps, etc.

by **DoomYoshi** on Tue Jan 22, 2013 1:39 pm

Dako wrote:Not from CA's. Dispatch writers should add unique links and they will be counted automatically. You can even go further and make two different links for dispatch newsletter and the issue on the forums.

You will need rds only for analytics because he is the one who has access there.

Thank you for this.