Tips for Boosting Dashboard User Adoption

Are you struggling to get the business to adopt your dashboard? Try this: 1) ask them all the questions they would like the dashboard to answer. 2) select the 10 most critical 3) map the words in the questions to columns in your database or logic within a query 4) highlight gaps 5) rename metrics and attributes to words used by business users 6) rename visuals to the questions being asked 7) present to business and talk through gaps 8) repeat. Why this works: The business can better think about the data in a way that makes sense to their process, and the data professional can think about business requirements as they relate to their process. This makes it easier to solve the problem in a more collaborative way. Rather than the data is wrong do it again… Hopefully helpful!

I come across a number of product onboarding mishaps, especially for those launching a self-serve offering: 🚫 The product is too confusing w/o sales or success helping out 🚫 There's too much of a blank slate 🚫 It's unclear 'what's in it for me' as a user 🚫 There's no personalization for specific use cases, jobs to be done or levels of intent Yaakov Carno adds another mishap: there's not enough "healthy" onboarding friction. He worked with Databox (~$8M ARR) on 20+ product improvements over the last 6 months, ultimately improving activation from ~30% to >40% of new users. Don't miss the story in Growth Unhinged: https://lnkd.in/e_KAyrrs The TL;DR: 1. Instead of just reducing friction, try increasing *motivation* -- giving people a reason to take the next step. 2. Remember that users are often beginners. Avoid jargon and use onboarding to educate them. 3. Activation is more of a score than a binary yes/no. Conversion increases dramatically as the score goes up. 4. Reverse trials can improve activation by removing barriers to trying premium features. Reframe these as 'gifted opportunities' without any commitment or cost. 5. An opinionated 'getting started' checklist can sometimes go a long way. Can't wait to hear what y'all think! #plg #product #selfservice #onboarding

Tuesday Tip - A Thoughtful User Experience What is the easiest thing an admin, architect, consultant can do for their end users as they configure? Something that doesn't take a ton of time. Something that doesn't cost a ton of money. Something that can demonstrate an attention to detail. Be thoughtful, prescriptive and careful about what your end users see when they log into the org. Look through their eyes (using the login as features). What App is default? What Tabs show (on the main tabs and in the App Launcher)? What do page layouts look like? Are they out of the box lightning (yuck) or have you rearranged to meet the needs of the persona? Are there fields on the pages that aren't needed for that profile or user base? Are there buttons that aren't needed? Are the Lightning Actions in the same order across objects? A little extra attention to these things can go a LONG way to increasing user adoption. Decrease Clutter. Decrease Confusion. Decrease Fear. Decrease the chance for someone getting to something they shouldn't. Increase Adoption. Increase Understanding. Increase Usage. Spend a little time sprucing things up before you hand things over. Teach others to do the same. Join Eric Dreshfield and I tomorrow as we talk about the importance of the User Experience! (link in comments!)

Most frustrating moment in people analytics is spending DAYS building a dashboard that doesn't get used. It's not you, it's the dashboard. Each dashboard is a manifestation of a people analyst's thoughts, analyses, and they've poured so much effort into building it that it's sometimes hard to step back. But not building the right dashboards can often be a huge set back for a PA team. Leaders need data to make decisions and the PA team's job is to deliver that data. By not delivering the right dashboard, leadership starts to look elsewhere for the data OR (even worse) they make decisions without the data. 99% of the time, correcting these mistakes will prevent the dashboard delivery from going awry: 1. Share iterations of the dashboard early and often -- make it regular practice to share the unfinished product with leadership to see if you are heading in the right direction -- treat it like we treat our MVP 2. TEST, TEST... TEST -- share a smaller version of the dashboard with end users and see if they can gather the data they need to make decisions -- if they can't, change it up 3. Less is more -- it is harder to fail big if you put less data in the dashboard -- your users need to know where to look, if there are 100 places to look they'll get confused -------------- Build with the end-user in mind and your dashboards will succeed. #peopleanalytics

👇🏽 My post on dashboards unexpectedly got popular. The comment section was amazing, and the following data practitioners shared their expertise on dealing with the challenges of dashboards not being used: Jose Gerardo Pineda Galindo: "Understanding the business is key to deliver an actionable Dashboard... [Also make] your dashboards simple and not a Dashboard with 20+ mixed with graphs, metrics, tables." Robert Odera, MBA: "Start with users and uses... socialize what the dashboard does, reiterate what the dashboard doesn't do, ask what outcomes the changes will drive..." Anna Decker Wilson: "The dashboard is a square peg in a round hole attempt at a solution to the last mile problem in data - it seems like the dashboard will fill the need, but it seldom does..." Daniel E. Thompson: "Most of the dashboards I create for clients involve a 'Business Recommendation' page in PowerBI that covers 4-5 main KPIs, strategy, important metrics, and steps for short/long-term planning." Eric Gonzalez: "1. Gather requirements, 2. Wireframing, 2a. Get stakeholders out of “this is how we’ve always done it” mentality, 3. Monitor usage consistently, 4. If usage is low, ask why and redo 1-2" Anna Bergevin: "Start by asking what they need the data for... Then decide if a dashboard is even the right solution (maybe it’s not - maybe it’s alerts, maybe it’s email report delivery, maybe it’s a curated table they can pull into excel and explore)." Kobe W.: "Start from a business problem and create dashboards as solutions to these problems. Take it up a notch by including the consumer in the design process. Mimic their workflow in the design... [so it's] an integrated part of the process..." Idriss Shatila: "[Educate] them, you're the expert, they came to you, so you tell them what can be done and what cannot be done so that they would learn." Kaleb Thompson: "Stop building dashboards. Most of the time it’s not even the right solution to drive the desired business outcomes... I think the future of BI is a handful of high level enterprise KPIs and the rest being data driven alerts and triggers that lead to real actions." Marco Giordano: "... I insert dashboards into the 'process.' The fact of using the dashboard is tied to some actions they can take. So if they don't use the dashboard(s), they miss a piece!" Andrew C. Madson: "I have my teams get to know their stakeholders and deeply understand their roles, responsibilities, and needs... Then, build a product with quick iterations and tight feedback loops, enabling them to do their job better." Robert Harmon: "[The] first step is [to] stop being reactive with dashboards. Start being proactive with timely messaging. If the data's off, you'll know in like 10 minutes. The users will definitely tell you..." Yuki Kakegawa: "You leave the data industry." (this one is my favorite 🤣) There were more, but I hit the word limit for the post 😅 #data #datascience #analytics

Hey, Data Analysts! Are you tired of your dashboards being ignored? I've got you! Here are the top 5 reasons stakeholders won't use your dashboards and what you can do about it: ➡️ Overwhelming Complexity - When a dashboard feels like a puzzle, stakeholders quickly disengage. Keep it straightforward and focused. ➡️ Irrelevant Information: It will be ignored if the dashboard doesn't address your stakeholders' needs. Build your design around your audience. ➡️ Bad Design: Ease and intuitive use is crucial. A dashboard that's hard to navigate won't be used. ➡️ Outdated Data: Stakeholders need up-to-date information to make informed decisions. Outdated data undermines your trust and credibility. ➡️ Mobile Incompatibility: Executives are often mobile-first. If your dashboard isn't accessible on the go, it won't be used. Ready to learn? Check out: 💡Alex Freberg - Dashboard tutorials on YouTube and Analyst Builder 💡Luke Barousse - Tableau tutorials on YouTube 💡Andy Kriebel - Design thinking and tutorials for Tableau 💡Aurélien Vautier - Data visualization design newsletter 💡Dawn Harrington - Expert Tableau tips on a world-class blog 💡Nathan Yau - Creator of FlowingData 💡Nick Desbarats - Author of "Practical Charts" 💡Alberto Cairo - Author of "The Art of Insight" What tips do you have to increase dashboard usage? Happy Learning! #dataanalytics #datavisualization #dashboarddesign