This article provides an overview of best practices for account setup to get you prepared for using Pendo Feedback, including segmentation with Product Areas and Tagging, collecting feedback with Request Forms, and branding.
To get started with Pendo Feedback, there are six tasks that we recommend you complete in the following order:
- Create Feedback process guidelines.
- Define metadata.
- Set up auto-tagging.
- Create Product Areas.
- Set up request forms.
- Populate Feedback with requests.
Metadata and auto-tags are defined in the Pendo install script, commonly referred to as "the snippet". See the Developer’s guide to installing Pendo and the Developer’s guide to installing Feedback for more information.
Product Areas, request forms, and branding are configured in Product Settings. For more information, see Settings for Pendo Feedback.
Create Feedback process guidelines
Creating Feedback process guidelines involves the following activities:
- Create a Feedback Workflow and Product Feedback Policy. For guidance, see The Feedback Workflow and Product Feedback Policy articles.
- Define status names (awaiting review, planned, building, and so on) that represent different phases in the development cycle. For guidance, see the Request status updates article.
- Decide on Product Areas in advance of creating them. For guidance, see the Product Areas in Feedback article.
Define metadata
Metadata in Feedback refers to anything that you can report on by default in the Feedback UI, including Account details, Visitor details, and advanced filters.
Metadata in Feedback is good for identifying Visitors (users) and Accounts (customers), and for analyzing requests according to customer value, along with other Feedback-specific indicators. For example, you can view data and prioritize requests according to whether customers are paying and how much.
Metadata isn’t visible to your end-users in the request form.
You give us this data by editing the initialize method during your Pendo installation or when you make an adjustment to the installation code. See the Developer’s guide to installing Pendo and the Developer’s guide to installing Feedback for more information.
The following metadata is required or strongly recommended for optimal use of Pendo Feedback:
|
Metadata |
Field |
Data type |
Format (examples) |
|
Visitor name |
full_name |
String |
Jane Doe |
|
Visitor email |
|
String |
Jane.Doe@acme.org |
|
Account name |
name |
String |
Acme Corp |
|
Account ARR |
monthly_value |
Numerical (without commas) |
20000 |
|
Paying status |
is_paying |
Boolean |
true |
Set up auto-tagging
We highly recommend creating auto-tags. Auto-tags are labels created for grouping requests by categories at the Visitor and Account levels only.
Auto-tags allow you to view requests and reports related to specific Account and Visitor groups without having to manually tag them as they come in, which is good for efficiency and scalability. You can also, optionally, map auto-tags to Engage metadata that can’t be sent to Feedback.
Auto-tags, like manual tags, aren’t visible to your end-users (Visitors).
As with metadata, you create auto-tags by editing the initialize method during your Pendo installation or when you make an adjustment to the installation code. For instructions on how to make changes to the installation code, see the Developer’s guide to installing Feedback.
For more information on auto-tagging, see Tagging in Feedback. This article also describes manual tagging, which is highly flexible and useful for labeling process-oriented projects and activities. You can then use these tags to take a closer look at your data with Feedback Reports.
Define Product Areas
You define your Product Areas when you create your Feedback Workflow.
Product Areas are high-level categories that represent tangible locations in your product. Use Product Areas for filtering requests based on what parts of the UI the requests relate to and during triage based on Product Area ownership.
By default, Product Areas are visible to your app Visitors. Visitors select the Product Area that their request relates to at the point of submission, and can search for existing requests to vote on. For information on how to choose whether your Visitors see your Product Areas, see Settings for Pendo Feedback.
Good Product Areas in Engage don’t necessarily make good Product Areas in Feedback, and you don’t have to use Product Areas in Feedback at all. You can limit Product Areas to Engage if they’re unhelpful in Feedback.
Best practices for Product Areas in Feedback include:
- As a new Pendo Feedback customer, set up Product Areas as soon as possible.
- For manageability and to encourage engagement, make your list of Product Areas short.
- Be intentional with your Product Areas in Feedback. Document how they're going to be used.
- For usability, create Product Areas that represent broad, recognizable areas of the product.
Creating Product Areas in Feedback also creates them in Engage. Engage doesn’t associate Product Areas with an App.
If you want your Engage Product Areas to appear in Feedback, you must manually associate them with an App. In Feedback, navigate to Settings > Product Settings > Product Areas and select the link in Create/Edit in Pendo Settings to associate existing Product Areas with an App.
If you don’t want your Engage Product Areas to appear in Feedback, ensure no App is selected when you create a Product Area.
For more information on Product Areas, including how to set them up and use them, see the Product Areas in Pendo Feedback article.
Set up request forms
Whether you make Feedback available to your end-users or limit it to internal use, you collect feedback through request forms.
Internal users find and submit requests by logging in to Pendo. For more information, see Launch Feedback and gather requests internally.
How your end-users (Visitors) find and submit request forms depends on which method for adding Feedback to your app that you choose: portal view, widget view, a module in the Resource Center, or Intercom. For more information, see Grant Feedback access to customers.
You can customize the form that your end-users and teams use to make a request, editing the layout and the questions so you can collect the information that’s most relevant to you, your team, and your organization. For guidance on creating request forms, see Request form setup and customization.
Populate Pendo Feedback
After configuring your basic account settings, you’re ready to start collecting feedback. You can start adding requests to Feedback in any or all of the following ways:
- Import historical data (before launching Feedback). For instructions on importing historical data, see Import historical data into Pendo Feedback.
- Add new requests on behalf of your customers and prospects. You don’t have to make Feedback publicly available to take advantage of this option. For instructions, see Launch and use Feedback internally.
- Launch Feedback to customers to increase the amount and quality of your data. For more information on how to do this, see Grant Feedback access to customers.
If you want to take a more conservative approach to launching Feedback, Grant Feedback access to customers also describes how to introduce Feedback to your end-users with limited visibility.