Before Getting Started…

I recommend that you read my article on Product Usability and Engagement Metrics. The most important thing to do before you begin evaluating different vendors is to make sure you have clearly identified the questions and hypotheses you would like answered. Every software company is different, with their own use cases and user needs.

At two different companies, I have rolled out user event tracking software. I’ve gone through a lot of trial and error, but ultimately these tools are the best weapon a Product Manager can have. Remember, we are NOT the user. Having an unbiased measurement of how our users are performing is truly the only way we can measure our successes and failures.

Tool Summaries

Note that the summaries below were researched and put together in early 2018. I am not affiliated with any of these companies and am only providing my personal opinion. My few bullets on each do not do each company justice, but my hope is that it at least gives you a guide for what solutions are out there and the subtle differences between them.

Mixpanel - Event Tracking + Analytics
- Requires events defined up front and engineering resources to add each new event moving forward
- Events are not retroactively captured (UPDATE: This appears to have changed in 2019 with their latest release but I have not personally tested this)
- Optimized for mobile app A/B testing
- Clean interface for advanced analytics
- HQ in San Francisco, CA
Amplitude - Event Tracking + Analytics
- Requires event tracking defined up front and engineering resources to add each new event moving forward
- Events are not retroactively captured
- Caters primarily to an in-depth analysis of user behavior
- Strong in identifying users cross-device
- HQ in San Francisco, CA
Segment - Middleware
- Consider Segment if you want to plug and play a number of tools across multiple departments
- Built for developers
- Cross-channel analytics
- HQ in San Francisco, CA
FullStory - Rewind customer sessions + Analytics
- Watch full video playbacks of your user sessions
- It masks PII data (personal information or anything you dub as sensitive data)
- Very powerful for understanding user flows
- HQ in Atlanta, GA
Heap - Tracking + Analytics
- Does not require events defined up front - Client side event tracking handled by them
- Allows for retroactive event tracking from deployment date
- Features:
  - Tagging (create individual events)
  - Grouping (organize events)
  - User segmentation
  - Funnels
- HQ in San Francisco, CA
Pendo - Tracking + Analytics + Guides
- Does not require events defined up front - Client side event tracking handled by them
- Allows for retroactive event tracking from deployment date
- Analytics Features:
  - Tagging (create individual events)
  - Grouping (organize events)
  - User segmentation
  - Funnels
  - Paths
- Guide Features:
  - Poll Responses
  - Guides - Customizable tooltips, Guide House (similar to Intercom bubble that lives on the page with unique content), survey options (ex: in app NPS), and Walkthroughs (interstitials)
- HQ in Raleigh, NC
WalkMe - Guides + Tracking
- Provides very sophisticated in-app user guides and tutorials
  - Note: It can become quite complex to maintain overtime
- Ability to add tool tips, shout-outs, step-by-step guides and more
- Provides tracking metrics on guides usage
- Weak on user event tracking - they are moving into this realm, but it is not their bread and butter
- Allows you to play back user sessions
- HQ in San Francisco, CA

Ultimately, I chose Pendo for my user event tracking needs. I wanted a tool that required very little reliance on my engineering team to implement and maintain, so that eliminated Mixpanel and Amplitude at the outset. At the end of the day, I needed the flexibility to create and track events on the fly. Their interface was very easy to configure and the out-of-the box features were exactly what I needed. I especially loved their Path analysis (shown below).

It shows me where users came from before they took a specific action. For example, I wanted to know where users were before they clicked on our Help icon to get to our knowledge base. By looking at this Path I could identify which pages needed attention. It turns out many users were clicking the Help icon when they were in our settings pages. This was a good indication to me that these pages needed some attention. It was a good starting point to start digging further.

Ultimately, there are many great tools out there and as they continue to improve I’m sure the market will become more and more competitive. Take some time to explore these different tools and choose the right software that suits your business needs.