If your product team is tired of sifting through half-baked charts or arguing over metrics, you’re not alone. Dashboards are supposed to cut through the noise, not add to it. This guide is for folks who want to set up useful, not just flashy, product analytics dashboards in Pendo—the kind you’ll actually use, not just admire once in a team meeting.
No analytics background required, but some experience poking around Pendo helps. Let’s get hands-on, skip the buzzwords, and build dashboards that give you real answers.
1. Get Clear on What You Actually Need To Measure
Before you click anything, step back. The most common mistake: opening up Pendo and just adding every chart you can think of. Resist! Here’s how to get focused:
- Start with business questions, not features. What are you actually trying to learn? Examples:
- Where do users drop off during onboarding?
- Which features drive stickiness or churn?
- Are customers using the parts of the app you’ve invested in lately?
- Talk to stakeholders. A short Slack thread or quick call with sales, support, or product can surface blind spots.
- Pick 3-5 core metrics. More than that and your dashboard will turn into a junk drawer.
Pro Tip: If you can’t explain why a metric matters in one sentence, you probably don’t need it on your dashboard.
2. Set Up Your Pendo Data Foundations
Pendo is only as good as the data you feed it. If you skip this, your dashboards will be more confusing than helpful.
a. Check Event Tracking
- Are your core pages and features tagged? Go to the Pendo UI, and make sure your key flows (like signup, onboarding, and core features) are being tracked. If not, use Pendo’s Visual Design Studio to tag them. Don’t overdo it—tag what matters.
- Custom events: If you care about something specific (e.g., “Clicked Export to CSV”), set up a custom event. This sometimes needs dev help, but it’s worth it for critical actions.
b. Segment Your Users
- Create segments: You’ll want to filter data by user type (e.g., trial vs. paid), account size, or industry. Set up segments you’ll actually use—not every demographic under the sun.
- Don’t trust default segments. They’re often too broad to be actionable.
3. Build Your First Advanced Dashboard
Now, the fun part. Pendo dashboards are flexible, but it’s easy to go overboard. Here’s a practical way to build one that’s actually useful:
a. Start with a Clean Slate
- Go to “Dashboards” and click “Create Dashboard.”
- Name it something specific. “Product Analytics – Onboarding” beats “Product Metrics” any day.
b. Add Core Widgets (and Skip the Fluff)
You’ll see options like “Feature Usage,” “Page Views,” “Funnels,” and “Retention.” Here’s what’s actually worth your time:
Must-Have Widgets
- Feature Usage: Show how key features are being used over time.
- What works: Compare new users vs. power users to spot adoption gaps.
- What doesn’t: Don’t bother tracking every button—focus on features tied to business value.
- Funnels: Visualize where users drop off. Great for onboarding or checkout flows.
- Tip: Keep funnels simple—3 to 5 steps max.
- Retention: Are people coming back? This is your gut-check metric.
- Reality check: Retention graphs look depressing at first. That’s normal.
Nice-to-Have (If You’ll Use Them)
- Guide Engagement: If you use Pendo in-app guides, track which ones actually get clicks.
- Poll Results: Only add this if you’re running meaningful in-app surveys.
What to Ignore
- Vanity metrics: “Total sessions” or “page views” without context don’t help anyone.
- Overly granular breakdowns: If a chart makes you squint, leave it out.
c. Configure Filters and Segments
- Apply the segments you set up—see how your metrics change for different user groups.
- Use date filters, but don’t obsess over daily changes. Trends matter more than yesterday’s spike.
d. Arrange for Clarity
- Put the most important charts at the top. If someone only scrolls the first screen, they should get the main story.
- Group related widgets together (e.g., onboarding at the top, feature adoption in the middle, engagement at the bottom).
Pro Tip: Don’t cram everything on one dashboard. Split by theme or team if things get crowded.
4. Go Beyond the Basics—But Only If It’s Useful
Advanced dashboards are about depth, not decoration. Here’s what’s worth your time:
a. Correlate Features with Outcomes
- Use Pendo’s “Product Engagement Score” or similar composite metrics only if you understand what’s being rolled up.
- Better: Build a chart that compares feature usage against retention or expansion rates. If you spot a pattern, dig deeper.
b. Track Cohorts Over Time
- Set up dashboards that track new user behavior by signup month (“cohorts”). If a recent change improved onboarding, this’ll show it.
- Don’t overcomplicate cohort analysis; even a basic view can reveal if things are getting better or worse.
c. Custom Metrics
- Advanced teams sometimes push external data (like NPS, support tickets, or revenue) into Pendo. This takes dev work and isn’t necessary for most, but if you have the resources, it brings richer context.
5. Share and Iterate (Don’t Let Dashboards Rot)
Your dashboard is only useful if people actually look at it. Here’s how to keep it alive:
- Share with context. Don’t just drop a link in Slack. Add a 1-2 sentence summary of what you’re seeing or what decisions need to be made.
- Set a review habit. Add the dashboard to a recurring team meeting or a monthly review. If no one’s referencing it, something’s off.
- Prune regularly. Outdated widgets clutter your view and lead to bad decisions. Set a calendar reminder to clean up quarterly.
Honest Takes: What Works, What Doesn’t
- What works: Focused dashboards tied to real questions. Simple, visual layouts. Segments that match your actual user types.
- What doesn’t: Tracking everything “just in case.” Complex, multi-metric widgets no one understands. Ignoring your dashboard for weeks, then wondering why nobody trusts the data.
- Ignore: Overly broad “best practice” templates—your team’s needs are unique. Don’t copy-paste.
Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
The best Pendo dashboards aren’t built in a day. They’re a living thing—a tool to help your team make better decisions, not a wall of pretty graphs. Start with the basics, add only what’s useful, and don’t be afraid to delete what’s not working. The point isn’t to impress—it’s to know what’s actually going on in your product.
If you’re not sure your dashboard is useful, ask a teammate to walk you through what they see. If it takes more than a minute to explain, it’s time to trim. Keep it simple, keep it honest, and you’ll get far more value out of your analytics (and a lot less dashboard clutter).