Five Analytics UX Challenges SaaS Products Face
Today, almost any SaaS platform offers a reporting or insights module. But how are users experiencing these features? What do they like? And more importantly, what don’t they like? User research is the best way to find out.
A little investigative research on G2 uncovered the top 5 analytics UX mistakes made by SaaS vendors. Here are the top complaints distilled from 4,600 G2 product reviews of 140 top SaaS vendors.
1. Difficult to use interface
71% of the researched platforms are considered too difficult to use. Users describe this overall poor UX experience in multiple ways:
- A time-consuming process
- Too difficult to learn
- Clunky and confusing interface
- Insights are spread out across multiple sections
2. Lack of relevant insights
55% of SaaS platforms receive complaints about relevancy. Customers are frustrated because the reports don’t present the data they really need. Some examples are:
- Dashboards are cluttered
- Or the insights are too superficial
- No option to drill down into data
- Insights aren’t adjusted to the user’s role
- For deep analysis, data export to Excel is the only (time-consuming) option
3. Lack of customization options
46% of SaaS platforms don’t offer an interface to edit dashboards or create custom reports. With view-only, static dashboards, customers have no control over the insights they can extract.
4. Problems with pulling data and reports
Customers experience problems with pulling data or reports in 30% of the researched platforms. Most G2 reviews report that the requested data exports are inaccurate or even false.
The fact alone that users are relying on data exports is proof that the in-app analytics experience leaves something to be desired.
5. No interactivity
Finally, 28% of SaaS platforms lack interactivity in their reports. Common complaints about interactivity are:
- Limited options to filter data
- No possibility to set alerts when KPIs are met
- No options drill down into a specific metric
An opportunity for product builders
94% of the researched SaaS platforms receive at least one negative review about their analytics features. This flaw creates a massive opportunity for smart product builders. Platforms investing in a good customer analytics experience will gain a competitive edge and win over frustrated users from their competitors.
Initially published as the State of SaaS analytics research report on the Cumul.io blog.
Special thanks to Tremis Skeete, Executive Editor at Product Coalition for the valuable input which contributed to the editing of this article.
