We have too much data. Not enough insights. Data can be conflicting or confusing.

But when analysed well and explained to journalists, data can unlock transformation and change that makes our journalism more relevant and important to our readers. 

Those were some of the thoughts and advice shared during the un-Webinar. Distilling it down, here are eight key lessons we learned from the conversation:

1. Make data immediately visible and accessible to journalists

At Politiken in Denmark, journalists who are logged in to the system will immediately see a variety of metrics accompanying each story, including reading depth, pageviews, average reading time, and subscriptions purchased off the article. Troels Behrendt Jørgensen, Politiken’s digital director, said the goal of their system, which is called ”The Insights” and was built in-house, is to ensure all journalists can see data in real-time. ”We believe that if you can find it yourself, you will be more interested in what you see,” he said. ”We wanted to do this instead of the big PDF sent every Sunday. This way, you can see how stories behave immediately.”

2. Ensure journalists understand what success looks like in the data

Newsrooms can measure any number of data points, but breaking it down into simple-to-understand success metrics is key. For instance, NTM, which has 18 newsrooms across Sweden, has created a “star articles” system for journalists. Jens Pettersson, head of editorial development, said stars are dependent upon click-through rate from the homepage, and anything above 50% click-thru-rate receives a star. “There are no excuses,” Pettersson said. “It’s very easy for them to use.”

3. Metrics don’t matter unless they lead to insights

Markus Rask Jensen, news director at Amedia Produkt og Teknologi AS in Norway, said their 100 local news brands are focused on translating data insights to journalists’ everyday jobs. Specifically, they pay close attention to how many subscribers are reading their stories: “If several journalists can improve those numbers, it makes a difference.” 

4. Pick one data point to start

Ole Petter Pedersen, publisher of Europower in Norway, said he started with one data point when he became publisher there a few years ago: weekly active subscribers. Their initial goal was 150% growth, which was achieved ahead of schedule. “We wanted one target for everyone,” he said. “With too many targets, people tend to stick to the one target they prefer or is easiest to reach. We can be awash with data, so we need to know what’s most important to our core business.”

5. Monitor metrics both in real time and trended out to see patterns

Alex Ptachick, senior director of new content initiatives at Hearst Newspapers in the United States, said teams there look at Parse.ly daily and also watch monthly reports on traffic, specifically looking at how newsletters, social media, and other traffic sources are performing. “If anything wacky is going on, it’s easy to quickly identify it,” she said of the daily focus.

6. Explain why metrics matter to your journalists

Simply tracking metrics isn’t enough, Pettersson said. “Journalists need to know why it matters that they are read or watched,” he said. “If no one is paying attention, we won’t be successful. Start out with as few metrics as possible so people can learn and understand them.”

7. Ensure your newsrooms are all looking at the same data points

For a regional brand like NTM, it was important to standardise data. Pettersson said the brands previously measured metrics like pageviews and subscriptions in different ways, but a project about three years ago led to standardised data: “Now we’re all seeing the same data and dashboards.”

8. Make the data visual

Simon Regan-Edwards, product director at the Daily Mail in the U.K., showed the audience their e-paper dashboard, which is highly visual and is displayed on screens around the newsroom. It shows reading time, how loyal the audience is, and what devices people access the e-paper on (iPads are the top device for that product). “We have so many chunks of data sets to look at on a daily basis,” he said. “We need to make it visually appealing.”

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