After Pendo is installed in your product, all of your product data is collected for you to use for Pendo Analytics, Guides, and Feedback (depending on your subscription). Once installed, 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 Security and Privacy articles.
What installation involves
Although you don’t need to be a developer to use Pendo, installation involves someone with a technical background, typically an engineer in your organization, to insert the Pendo install script (“snippet”) into your product.
Installation also involves adding variables under the visitor and account sections of the install script as metadata. For more information about metadata, see the Visitor and Account Metadata article.
Adding the Pendo install script is the only technical piece of the initial Pendo installation. Once installed, Pendo tracks visitor events, such as page loads and feature clicks, loads guides, and captures session metadata.
You can also track anonymous visitors (users that don’t sign in to your app). In Subscription Settings, admin users can enable the ability to see the data of anonymous visitors and to target guides at anonymous visitors. For more information, see the Anonymous Visitors article in the Help Center.
Get started
If you’re ready to install Pendo, read the Planning your Pendo Installation article and the Developer’s guide to installing Pendo. The Installation section of the Help Center also includes articles that cover different requirements and configuration options.
If you’re not ready to install Pendo, whether because you’re not the decision maker for this kind of action, because you’re uncomfortable installing 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 installing 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 an engineer that can install Pendo
Although installing 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 team to install Pendo for you.
Step 3. Give installation instructions to the engineer
Once you’ve identified an engineer from your organization that can help, share the following resources with them:
- Planning your Pendo Installation: This article summarizes the key considerations for accurately capturing visitor data and metadata with your Pendo installation.
- Developer’s Guide to Installing Pendo: This article describes the key components and steps involved in a Pendo installation from a more technical standpoint.
- Pendo Install Wizard: This takes you into Pendo and provides step-by-step installation instructions.
Get help
If you’re having trouble installing Pendo, you can:
- Ask questions and get support in the Pendo Community where you can find Installation Best Practices and an Installation Discussion Forum.
- Go to the Tech Corner of Pendo Academy to learn more about things like Verifying Your Pendo Installation and to get summaries of key features such as Track Events.
- Explore our Help Center for more guidance on things like Visitor and Account Metadata in Pendo and Installation Best Practices.