Why a Measurement Plan Matters — Learning from Friluftsfrämjandeförbundet
When I started my training in digital analytics at Medieinstitutet, I expected that we would dive straight into Google Analytics (GA4) or Google Tag Manager (GTM). And yes, we did—but only after taking one important step first: creating a measurement plan.
At first, this surprised me. Why not begin with the tools themselves? But I quickly understood why. Without a clear plan, even the most advanced analytics setup won’t deliver meaningful insights. You might collect huge amounts of data—but not the data you actually need.
What Is a Measurement Plan?
A measurement plan is a simple but powerful framework. It connects goals with metrics, ensuring that every number you track has a clear purpose. In practice, this means defining:
- Objectives: What do we want to achieve?
- KPIs: How do we measure success?
- Metrics & Tools: What do we track, and with which system?
- Frequency & Responsibility: Who collects the data, and how often?
It’s basically a map: it makes sure you don’t get lost in dashboards but focus on what matters.
A Real Example: Friluftsfrämjandeförbundet
To practice, our group created a measurement plan for Friluftsfrämjandeförbundet—a Swedish outdoor recreation organization whose mission is to give as many people as possible an active life in nature, in line with the principle of allemansrätten.
Their goals are diverse: raising awareness, gaining and retaining members, training leaders, and increasing revenues. Our plan showed how each of these big objectives can be translated into concrete KPIs.
Here are some of the key findings:
- Brand Awareness
- Measure unique visitors on the website to track how many people know the organization.
- Monitor growth of social media followers and engagement to see how campaigns perform.
- Track signups for newsletters as an indicator of ongoing interest.
- Membership Growth and Retention
- Number of new memberships per month shows recruitment success.
- Member activity (bookings, trying multiple activities, renewing membership) indicates long-term engagement and loyalty.
- Collaborations with companies and redeemed member benefits highlight the value offered to members.
- Leadership Development
- New leaders registered and trained = growth in capacity.
- Retention rate of leaders after two years shows sustainability.
- Visits to “Bli ledare” (Become a leader) pages reveal interest generated by campaigns.
- Revenue Generation
- Tracking projects with corporate partners and institutions like MSB.
- Measuring total revenue from these projects to evaluate financial growth.
Why This Matters
What struck me most is how a measurement plan transforms broad ambitions—“more people in nature,” “more members,” “more leaders”—into something tangible. It forces clarity: What do we actually mean by success? How can we see it in numbers? And how do we connect those numbers back to strategy?
In the end, a measurement plan doesn’t just guide analytics. It makes an organization’s goals visible and measurable. For me, coming from the humanities, it felt familiar: it’s like moving from abstract ideas to a concrete framework—without losing sight of meaning.
What’s Next
In the coming weeks, I’ll dive deeper into how measurement plans connect to implementation in GA4 and GTM. After all, once the plan is in place, the next step is making sure the data you need is actually being collected.