Super glad that this is on the frontpage. Dashboard design is probably the single biggest thing that analytics companies overlook when building product. It took us nearly 5 iterations to get our dashboard to a decent point.
What's worst is when offering free trials of an analytics product and then realizing that all freemium customers engage with a dashboard once, and then dropoff forever. Event tracking and various stages of a/b testing can be dangerous because they steer engineers to local minimums in designing a product.
Having a logical understanding of every element of the dashboard is the best way to approach the design.
Great post, we need more resources like this out there.
Don't forget to add realistic sample data for new customers, too, particular if you have a freemium model. An empty dashboard will turn some non-technical customers away -- it does not tell a story nor show how the product will serve a potential customer's needs.
Just make sure there's a very easy (and non-destructive!) way to switch between real data & sample data.
What's worst is when offering free trials of an analytics product and then realizing that all freemium customers engage with a dashboard once, and then dropoff forever. Event tracking and various stages of a/b testing can be dangerous because they steer engineers to local minimums in designing a product.
Having a logical understanding of every element of the dashboard is the best way to approach the design.
Great post, we need more resources like this out there.