Making Sense of Your Data: A Spreadsheet Setup Walkthrough

This session covered how to turn the new monthly class metrics into a clear picture of what’s working and what to change.

Watch the recording: Zoom recording
Slide deck: Here

Setting up your data

• In the Insights dashboard, scroll to Downloads and choose Download Classes Data with the time period set to Month.
• Open the CSV in Google Sheets or Apple Numbers, freeze row 1, and hide (don’t delete) the columns you don’t need.
• Group the data by activity_id (Sheets: Group by column, Numbers: Add Category) so each class’s history sits together.
• Sort period_start_date newest first, and format currency and percentage columns so they’re readable.
• The most recent month is always partial, and each download reflects data through that day.

Three ways to use it

1. Listing health (the Marketplace views → Clicks → Purchases funnel)
   • Low marketplace views: update the title and short summary to match Outschool’s latest listing recommendations.
   • Low click rate (page views ÷ marketplace views): refresh the thumbnail, borrowing what works from a high-click class.
   • Low conversion: check for price or schedule changes and make the learning goals and description clearer. Test clarity with AI or a friend.
2. Seasonal trends: Booked dollars show when families book. Before reacting to a dip, compare the same months in past years. Check click rate and booked dollars too, because a big drop in views doesn’t always mean lost revenue.
3. Profitability: Average hourly earnings are a better signal than total dollars. Decide your own target, then weigh any downward trend against seasonality before phasing a class out.

Key takeaways

• Compare your data to your own baseline, not to a universal “magic number.”
• Make one change at a time (title and short summary count as one unit), wait about 2 months, and account for seasonality when judging results.
• Optimized titles get you found in search, so save the fun, creative names for your thumbnail.
• Your historical metrics stay in the CSV, so there’s no deadline to rush.

Want help with titles and summaries? Bring them to office hours (Ask Me Anything mentor hours or pathway hours) or share them in Slack for feedback.

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