PRODUCT USAGE

 Product usage analytics is the analysis of data produced by users that interact with a product. It’s a
quantitative measurement of how a product is used and its general performance rather than a subjective
observation. This type of analytics should be performed on a regular basis, particularly after a product goes
through a redesign or new features are added.
 Product usage metrics reveal the relationship the customer has with the product—and provide context for
the relationship companies should be having with their customers. By capturing day-to-day information on
how customer uses the product, companies can shape their actions to increase overall experience and drive
value.
 It is the process of analyzing in-product data to understand how users interact with the product, and why
they do the specific things with the product. It differs from things like traditional surveys and customer
interviews by helping you find out what your users really do, based on user-level data in a digital product—
not just what they say they do—so product teams can prioritize development efforts with speed and
confidence.

Need of Product Usage Analytics

 More often than not, product teams are limited to surface level data which doesn’t let them understand how
their product gets used. Furthermore, product teams are quite often constrained in analysis due to
bottlenecks with analytics teams. But, as we know, the most innovative companies turn to data to get a
clear view on their users so they can build better experiences.
 Product usage analytics solves both these problems by helping product teams track important product usage
data, and then analyze it themselves so they can learn what works (and what doesn’t) directly from user
data, and stay on top of important product usage metrics like stickiness and activation. Product usage
analytics can help you figure out:
 Which features are most popular.
 Overall product performance.
 How engaged users are.
 The type of users that use the product most heavily/often.
 Whether users find value in a product/service/plan.
 What friction points or issues users are running into.
 The stickiness of the product.
 Effectiveness of engagement strategies and campaigns.
 What a user workflow looks like.
 How adoption or retention vary across user segments.
 When and how you need to communicate with your users.
 The results of A/B testing on user behavior.

Importance of Product Usage Analytics

Knowing exactly how customers are interacting with your product provides invaluable insight. These logs of data
are more beneficial than beta testing, usability tests and customer interviews because it tracks how real customers
use the product in a real world setting in real time.
Access to this type of data can help you:
 Evaluate product performance
 Locate and fix bugs
 Improve the product quality
 Improve user experience
 Increase conversions
 Retain more customers
 Craft messages

Product Usage Metrics:

Once you start digging into product usage data, what metrics should you examine? With product usage it’s easy to
venture into information overload territory because there’s so much data available. Below are product usage metrics
that are commonly tracked:
  Usage Frequency – Usage frequency tells you how often customers are using your product. The goal is to
have customers use your product on a regular basis, which indicates satisfaction and that it’s meeting
customer needs.
 Time Spent Using the Product – If customers only use your product for short periods it could be a sign
that the user experience needs improvement. Customers should also be able to perform tasks in a
reasonable amount of time.
 Bug Reports – How many bug reports do users send in? A sizeable number of bug reports indicates that
product quality could be lacking.
 Customer Retention – Product quality is directly related to how well you hold on to customers.
 Churn Rate – Metrics related to churn rate, the percentage of customers that stop subscribing to a product
or service, are ideal for product usage analytics. Insight into how your product is used can reduce churn rate
and increase the lifetime value of customers.

Advantages of Product Usage Data

Product usage data can be extremely actionable when it is parsed out and put into a format that is easy to understand.
It can be used by product managers, account managers, sales managers, developers, marketers and user experience
teams.
Product usage data is commonly used to:
 Identify Trends: Visualizing the data in graphs and charts allows you to identify trends that can be used to
improve your product, target a customer base or create more effective marketing campaigns.
 Enhance the Experience for Struggling Customers:Paying customers that are having difficulty using
your product are less likely to renew their subscription and purchase upsells. Customer retention is crucial
for profitability in the SaaS and app industries. With product usage data you can figure out where
customers have hang ups and make improvements. Once the improvements are made you can use it as an
opportunity to reach out to customers and let them know the product was redesigned to better meet their
needs.
 Pinpoint Customer Characteristics: User behavior is part of product usage data. Not only can you tell
how customers use the product, you can also get a gauge of their knowledge level, the type of operating
system they’re most likely to use, where they live and more.
 Convert More Trial Users :Trial users are giving a product a test run. If they come across problems or
hang ups using the product they are more likely to churn during the trial period. Product usage data can tell
you what issues trial users are running into so they can be fixed.
 Upsell Free Subscriptions: If you have free and paid versions of a product usage data can help you
convert more free users into paying customers. The data can tell you which paid features appeal most to the
free users and which paid features they tried to access.
 Gauge Feature Popularity: Knowing which features are the most and least used can inform future product
development.
 Improve Flow and Efficiency: Product usage data gives you an understanding of how users move from
task to task. The information can be used to improve workflows and efficiency.
 Create Product Training Tools: The data you collect can be used to create product training tools that help
future users and reduce customer service requests.