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Get started with Pendo

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Once installed and configured, Pendo tagging, in-app messaging, and feedback collection are codeless. Analytics are collected retroactively.

We recommend installing Pendo as soon as possible so that you can take advantage of the ability to:

  • Identify otherwise invisible friction on the most traveled user journeys with Funnels and Paths in Analytics.
  • Launch new features and create personalized onboarding with the Resource Center.
  • Use in-app messaging to communicate with users using Guides.
  • Monitor user engagement and health with NPS and PES.
  • If you’re also a Feedback customer, collect product feedback and requests from your users to help you decide what to build next.

For information about the security and privacy of Pendo, see the Data Privacy & Security at Pendo and articles in the Security and privacy section of the Knowledge Base.

What implementation involves

Although you don’t need to be a developer to use Pendo, implementation involves someone with a technical background to either insert the Pendo install script (“snippet”) into your product or deploy the Pendo Launcher browser extension, depending on your use case.

  • A direct implementation of Pendo involves your development team inserting the Pendo install script into your application code.
  • A browser extension implementation of Pendo involves your IT team deploying the Pendo Launcher through device management.

In either case, installation and configuration is the only technical piece of the initial Pendo implementation. For information, see Implementation options.

Get started

If you’re not ready to implement Pendo, whether because you’re not the decision maker for this kind of action, because you’re uncomfortable installing and configuring Pendo yourself, or because you’re having trouble or would like some advice, this article provides guidance and an overview of next steps.

Step 1. Get company buy-in

If you’re not the final decision maker for implementing Pendo or you don’t have company buy-in, you can share the business case for Pendo and real stories of results achieved by our customers using Pendo. You could share something like the following:

I’ve been researching Pendo, and I believe it has everything we need to improve our user experience. It’s a trusted tool within the product-led space and a leader amongst its competitors. 

Pendo’s powerful suite of tools will give our team speed and intelligence with product analytics, so we can make better decisions and execute no-code in-app messaging quickly. Once we install, Pendo starts collecting product data immediately. Here’s more info on security and ease of installation, if you need it.

We have various Return on Investment (ROI) calculators, including the following:

You can also invite the relevant decision makers to join you in the product so that they can see the value of Pendo for themselves.

Step 2. Identify your implementation method

There are multiple methods for installing and configuring Pendo, including:

  • Inserting the Pendo install script directly into your application code. 
  • Inserting the Pendo install script through a tag manager.
  • Having your IT team deploy the Pendo Launcher browser extension.
  • Using the Pendo mobile SDK.

The method you choose for installing Pendo depends on your particular use case. For an overview, see Implementation options.

Step 3. Identify an engineer or IT resource that can implement Pendo

Although implementing Pendo is quick, we understand that it can be intimidating without the right context and instructions.

If you don’t have a technical background or the authority to install Pendo at your organization, identify the appropriate point of contact in your engineering or IT team to install Pendo for you.

Once you’ve identified a point of contact in your organization that can help, share the appropriate resources with them:

After implementation

After Pendo is implemented in your product through the install script or, if using third-party applications, using the Pendo Launcher browser extension, your product data is collected for you to use for Pendo Analytics, Guides, and Feedback (depending on your subscription).

1. Review subscription settings

You receive an email when we begin receiving data. It can take up to two hours for data to start appearing in Pendo. 

In Settings > Subscription Settings, verify that Pendo is recording your data in the Raw Events tab. You can also do things like change your time zone and enable various AI features from your subscription settings.

2. Invite internal users

After you've verified that Pendo is recording your data, you can start inviting other internal users to help set up your subscription. Internal users can have different roles with their own sets of permissions. This allows you to give internal users the access they need whilst also protecting your subscription settings. For instructions, see Roles and Permissions.

3. Review data mappings

Your metadata is viewed, configured, and managed in the Data Mappings page in Pendo, which has a separate tab for Visitor Level Data and Account Level Data, as well as Parent Account Level Data if you have multi-level accounts enabled. This is where Admin users can specify the type of data fields that are sent to Pendo. The more data you pass into Pendo, the greater your return on investment (ROI), as more data allows you to enhance your filter options for data analysis and improve your segmentation capabilities for guides.

To view your data mappings, navigate to Settings > Data Mappings, where you can see the names and types of data Pendo uses for analytics. For more information, see Configure visitor and account metadata and Data mapping and data types in Pendo.

4. Set up Pendo

Organize the data in your Pendo subscription by defining the URLs, UI elements, areas of your product, and people you want to track and interact with using Pendo. You should do this before you start using analytics and guides to build a foundation for your Pendo subscription that gives you room to grow as you use Pendo.

  • Tag URLs in your application as Pages so that you can track how users navigate through your application.
  • Tag UI elements in your application as Features so that you can track user interactions with important parts of your application.
  • Set up Product Areas based on tangible areas of your application that you can then use as categories for filtering and visualizing data.
  • Create segments of your visitors and accounts based on defined features that address your key use cases.

Note: If implementing Pendo through the Pendo Launcher, you also need to create at least one app in Pendo that corresponds to a specific website you want to run Pendo on. For more information, see Add extension apps.

5. Explore Pendo

After organizing your data, you're ready to start making use of Pendo. The following list of activities isn't exhaustive, but provides some key areas to help you start realizing value from Pendo. For an overview of functionality and the user interface, see Take a tour of Pendo.

  • Start gathering insights on user behavior with various process and product analytics features. Build a report based on Product Areas and segments to understand product usage based on key user groups.
  • Create guides to onboard and engage your users, and to capture sentiment with polls and NPS surveys. Create a Resource Center to give your users access to your guides, announcements, and onboarding checklists.

Get help

If you’re having trouble installing Pendo, you can:

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