If you’re responsible for onboarding new clients or users, you know how easy it is to get buried in spreadsheets or random status updates. You want to know: Are people actually getting through onboarding? Where are they stuck? Are things getting better, or just busy? This guide is for anyone who uses GuideCX dashboards (or is considering it) and wants to get real value from onboarding metrics—without the hand-waving.
Let’s get into how to actually use the dashboards in GuideCX to track, analyze, and act on onboarding performance.
Why Onboarding Metrics Matter (But Only The Right Ones)
You can measure just about anything. But if you try to track everything, you’ll drown in data and miss the point: spotting problems and making onboarding smoother for customers and your team.
Here’s what actually matters:
- How long does onboarding take (on average)?
- Where do projects get stuck?
- How much work is stuck with the customer vs. your team?
- Are things getting better, or just busier?
GuideCX dashboards promise answers to these questions. But before you get lost in the charts, let’s get clear on which metrics are signal and which are just noise.
The Key Onboarding Metrics to Track in GuideCX
There are dozens of numbers you could look at. Here’s what’s actually useful in GuideCX:
1. Project Duration
- What it is: Time from project kickoff to completion.
- Why it matters: It’s the simplest measure of how fast you’re getting users to value. If this is trending up, something’s broken.
- Watch out for: Outliers. A few zombie projects can skew your averages. Use medians, not just means.
2. Task Completion Rate
- What it is: Percentage of tasks completed on time, late, or not at all.
- Why it matters: It shows if your process is realistic and if your team (or your customers) are overloaded.
- Watch out for: Tasks marked “done” just to clear the queue. Dig into what’s actually getting done vs. just checked off.
3. Bottleneck Analysis
- What it is: Where projects are spending the most time waiting—by phase, by person, or by role.
- Why it matters: This is where GuideCX dashboards can shine. If all your projects stall during “Customer Training,” you know where to focus.
- Watch out for: Blaming the customer for every delay. Sometimes your own process is the real holdup.
4. Owner vs. Customer Task Distribution
- What it is: How much of the workload sits with your team vs. your customer.
- Why it matters: If you’re putting too much on the customer, onboarding will drag. These charts help you see if you’re asking too much.
- Watch out for: “Invisible work” that isn’t tracked as a task. If your team is doing lots of side work, it won’t show up here.
5. Active vs. Overdue Projects
- What it is: How many onboarding projects are in progress, and how many are behind schedule.
- Why it matters: This is your “canary in the coal mine.” If overdue projects pile up, something’s off.
- Watch out for: Projects that are technically “active” but totally stalled. Always look at last activity date, not just status.
Getting Started: Setting Up GuideCX Dashboards That Don’t Suck
The default dashboards in GuideCX are… fine. But if you just stare at them out of the box, you’ll get a lot of noise and not much insight. Here’s how to set up dashboards you’ll actually use:
1. Decide What Questions You Need Answered
Before you start clicking around, write down three business questions you want answered. For example:
- How long does onboarding take for our top three customer segments?
- Where do projects get stuck most often?
- Are we improving over time, or just getting busier?
If you can’t answer these questions with your dashboards, something’s wrong.
2. Clean Up Your Onboarding Templates
Garbage in, garbage out. If your onboarding projects are a mess—with inconsistent task names, missing owners, or random phases—your dashboards will be too.
Pro Tip:
Spend an hour cleaning up your project templates now. Standardize phases, tasks, and who owns what. Your future self will thank you.
3. Build Dashboards Around Real Business Questions
Instead of just using the default “Project Completion” or “Tasks Due” widgets, create custom dashboards that match your questions.
For example: - “Time to Launch” Dashboard: Show median project duration, broken down by customer type or project manager. - “Bottleneck Finder”: Show average time spent in each phase, sorted descending. - “Ownership Balance”: Pie chart of tasks owned by your team vs. customer.
Don’t get fancy just because you can. If a chart doesn’t tell you something actionable, kill it.
4. Set Up Filters and Segments
GuideCX lets you filter dashboards by customer, project type, owner, and more. Use these to spot patterns—like whether certain customer segments always get stuck, or one team member is overloaded.
Avoid:
Building dashboards that lump all projects together. The story for small customers vs. enterprise is probably very different.
5. Schedule Regular Reviews (But Keep Them Short)
Don’t make dashboards a “set it and forget it” tool. Schedule a quick (15-20 min) review every week or two. Bring up:
- What’s slowing us down?
- Are overdue projects increasing?
- Any surprises in workload balance?
Skip the slide decks and keep it practical: What do we need to fix before next week?
Reading Between the Lines: What the Metrics Don’t Tell You
Dashboards are great, but they don’t tell the whole story. Here’s what to keep in mind:
- Not all delays are bad: Sometimes a customer needs to pause for a real reason. Don’t chase every overdue task like it’s the end of the world.
- Beware of “happy path” bias: Your metrics will look great if you ignore projects that quietly died. Make sure abandoned or lost deals get tracked.
- Context matters: A jump in project duration could be because your product got more complex—or because your best project manager is on vacation. Always ask “why,” not just “what.”
What Actually Works (and What Doesn’t)
What Works: - Regularly reviewing bottlenecks and acting on them - Keeping dashboards simple and tied to real business questions - Standardizing onboarding templates so the data means something
What Doesn’t: - Tracking every possible metric “just in case” - Relying on dashboards alone—talk to your team and your customers - Ignoring data hygiene (inconsistent task names, missing owners)
Ignore: - Vanity metrics like “total tasks created” or “emails sent.” Focus on what moves the needle.
Pro Tips for Getting More Out of GuideCX Dashboards
- Automate reminders for overdue tasks, but don’t overdo it. Too many emails and people will ignore them.
- Export data to a spreadsheet if you want to do deeper analysis. Sometimes, the built-in charts aren’t enough.
- Get feedback from your team about what’s working—and what’s just busywork.
- Iterate on your dashboards. If a widget isn’t useful, kill it and try something else.
Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
The best onboarding teams don’t obsess over dashboards—they use them to spot real problems, fix them, and move on. Start with a handful of metrics, make small improvements, and don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
If you’ve got a GuideCX dashboard up and running, you’re already ahead of the curve. Keep it simple, review regularly, and remember: If you can’t explain what a chart means (or what you’ll do about it), it’s probably not worth tracking.