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Q&A Can "numbers" be good doc performance metrics? Is there a way to meaningfully interpret the quantitative user data we gather?

I work on developer documentation at a tech startup. As of now, we implement the following feedback mechanisms: We have a thumbs-up/down feedback system on each page of the docs site. If a user c...

2 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by Amruta2799‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T08:04:47Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/33592
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Amruta2799‭ · 2019-12-08T08:04:47Z (about 5 years ago)
I work on developer documentation at a tech startup. As of now, we implement the following feedback mechanisms:

- We have a thumbs-up/down feedback system on each page of the docs site. If a user clicks thumbs-down, we show a pop-up with more granular options about why they found the doc unhelpful and how we can improve it. This is invaluable feedback, however, it is qualitative.
- We also track the number of visitors to our docs site and the average time they spent. This is a more quantitative metric, and I usually feel better when the number of visitors goes up. However, I am not sure that's always a good thing.

I want to understand the techniques other tech writers use to know if their docs are serving the purpose. Do you track the number of visitors? Do you map the visitor trends to certain events like product releases? In short, how do you make sense of the numbers?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-01-26T14:48:11Z (almost 7 years ago)
Original score: 12