A killer homepage from Chartbeat Publishing client Primera Hora

We’re still dusting off dried cake crumbs from our fourth birthday celebration at the Chartbeat HQ.  This has been an incredibly busy month for us as we’ve reflected on the past four years, explored new channels for sharing insights and strategies, and last but not least, released new products. 

For the past 4 years, we’ve been lucky enough to partner with a growing roster of incredible clients, who have helped us make real-time data into something that is both compelling and powerful. We’ve had the distinct privilege of building and iterating on products to help clients create some of the most dynamic destinations on the web. 

Although we tend to be about all things real-time, crossing the four-year milestone seems like a great opportunity to look back and celebrate all the awesomely innovative ways clients have been reacting to and making decisions based on data. As a Chartcorps member, part of my job is collecting our clients’ stories– both to better understand the industries we serve, but also to get insights that make our products better and more integrated into the workflows and goals of our clients.

Across countless kinds of sites, we’ve seen and heard how our clients use, adapt, and build strategies around data. From blogs to newsrooms to e-commerce sites, we know that real time data is more than a one-size-fits-all game to win. Our savvy clients analyze, react to, and create their own benchmarks with data – data that gives them hard facts to confirm what they already know about their audience. I’m happy to share some client success stories to really put this celebration into context.

Developing new strategies

The Mirror’s Big Board looking mighty fine

Editors at the Mirror in the UK have been taking a multi-faceted approach to using Chartbeat’s real-time data. First, they analyze the data to gauge their readers’ interest in the day’s stories. Based on reader consumption trends – that is, the content that keeps readers actively engaged, editors then decide how to adapt, honing in on what stories they will focus on, repurpose and promote throughout the day. After giving a little extra TLC to the highest performing stories, editors check back in to validate their content strategies in real time. The Mirror’s strategy allows editors to surface big-potential articles and to use already top-performing stories to drive readers deeper into their site.

Writing new rules for web content

For every product, we’ve seen our clients take strategic approaches to making their data work for them. Our pals at GFR Media (home to El Nuevo Dia and Primera Hora), have been using the Heads Up Display for over a year to dynamically program their homepage. With hard data on their side, editors can easily identify their top 10 most clicked links by placing them above the fold. Those links that don’t make the cut get some extra love and attention from the editors and the links are then promoted out on social media. If the link still doesn’t perform, the editors push those under-performing links further down or drop them from the home page entirely. We’re pumped that GFR has been empowered to create new web editorial rules for their homepage based on hard, real-time data evidence.

Creating bespoke customer profiles

As one of the largest multicultural e-commerce websites in the U.S., Telegaleria is analyzing real-time data to identify customer behavior on the site. The site uses data to confirm personas of their customers. Moments after dropping a campaign targeting a particular persona, they analyze the campaign in real time and tweak images, colors, and content to reach sales goals. They are constantly testing and analyzing customer behaviors  to tailor content to that fits targeted demographics and their overall sales strategy. Telegaleria’s site remains incredibly agile and adaptive – a huge advantage in an every-second-counts industry.

As you can see we’re fiercely proud of the great things our clients do with our data – it’s what gets us out of our beds in the (sometimes mid-) morning. Our clients’ stories are part of everything we do here – whether we’re designing a new product or training a new Chartteam member, it’s our clients’ experiences that inform how and why we do the work we do.

So cheers to four years’ of great stories, and we look forward to many more!