Build a Data Explorer report

Last updated: April 21, 2025 16:44

Data Explorer is a custom reporting tool that helps you analyze how visitors interact with your product. You can build a report to explore product usage, compare behaviors, and uncover trends.

This article explains how to build a Data Explorer report. For instructions on analyzing, saving, and sharing a report after it’s built, see Analyze and share Data Explorer reports.

Decide what you want to explore

Start with a question or area of your product you want to investigate. Data Explorer helps you analyze how users interact with your product based on specific events, which include Feature clicks, Page views, Track Events, and guide views.

You can use Data Explorer to:

Analyze usage across many events.
Compare behavior between segments.
Explore feature adoption by role, region, or device.

You can also use Data Explorer to answer general visitor or account questions, like how many customers exist in each industry using your application, or more targeted, event-based questions, like which industry uses a specific feature the most or least.

Some example questions include:

Which revenue tier uses the “CSV download” feature the most?
Which roles used the Dashboard page the most in the past 30 days?
What are the five most-used features by different browsers in the past 90 days?
What features are most commonly used by paid users?
What are the top 10 buttons used across my application?
What are the most-used Features, Pages, or Track Events within a specific product area?

When you have an idea of what you want to explore, open the Analytics module from the left-side menu, then select Create report > Data Explorer.

Alternatively, you can go to Analytics > Data Explorer to view all existing Data Explorer reports in your subscription, then select Create Data Explorer report in the top-right corner of the page.

Select events for your report

Event groups define the data you want to analyze. An event group can represent any of the following:

Activity across one or more apps.
Activity across one or more events.
Views across one or more guides.

In the Query section, choose + Select events. This opens the Select activity side panel with filters to help you find specific events.
Events is the activity type selected by default, which lets you choose any Features, Pages, and Track Events in your apps. To narrow the list of available events, you can filter by: Event types, Product Areas, and Apps. Use these filters if you want to focus on specific types of events, features owned by a certain team, or events within a single app.
- Use case examples: Assess app-wide behavior differences between segments or device type (an event property) over time. Choose events that show a given product team's adoption rates for a new feature by segmentation.
If you want to analyze all activity across your selected apps, rather than specific tagged events, select Any activity from the top of the side panel. This includes all activity, including Features and Pages that aren't tagged.
- Use case example: Measure trends, like device types over time, without focusing on a specific Feature.
To measure guide usage, select Guide views from the top of the side panel.
- Use case example: Analyze whether guide views contributed to increased feature adoption after launch.
After selecting your events, select Apply in the bottom-right corner of the side panel. Your selected events appear in the Query section as event group A.
Optionally, name your event group for clarity. Select Name event group, enter a name, then press < Enter > or < Return > on your keyboard. This name appears on axes labels, in the breakdown table, and in the formula selection.
To add a second event group for comparison, select + Add event group and repeat these steps. This group appears as event group B.
- Use case example: If you want to know how visitor usage is growing over time respective to the total number of Feature clicks or Page views, you can create two groups and use both the Total events and Number of unique visitors measurements, which are explained in Set measurements below.

To edit an event group, select the pencil icon to the right of the group. To delete an event group, select the trash icon to the right of the group. You can also select + Add or remove events at the bottom of your event group to modify your event selection.

Set measurements

Measurements define how Data Explorer calculates your specific events.

After selecting your events, choose how you want to measure each event group. The default is Total events.

Available measurement options include the following:

Measurement	Description
Total events	Total number of event generations related to the event group, such as total Feature clicks, total Page views, or total Track Event calls. When apps are selected in the event group, total events includes both tagged and untagged events.
Visitor event average	Average number of event generations for each visitor associated with the event group.
Account event average	Average number of event generations for each account associated with the event group.
Median events	Median number of event generations related to the event group.
Total time	Total amount of time visitors spent on Pages or applications associated with the event group.
Average time per visitor	Average amount of time each visitor spent on Pages or apps associated with the event group.
Average time per account	Average amount of time each account spent on Pages or apps associated with the event group.
Number of unique visitors	Total number of unique visitors who generated events related to the event group.
Percent of visitors	Total percentage of visitors who generated events related to the event group. This includes all visitors within the specified segment who used any of your subscription's apps during the specified time period.
Number of unique accounts	Total number of unique accounts that generated events related to the event group.
Percent of accounts	Total percentage of accounts that generated events related to the event group. This includes all accounts within the specified segment that used any of your subscription's apps during the specified time period.
Error clicks	Instances where a Feature click caused a client-side JavaScript error within 100 milliseconds of the click.
Rage clicks	Instances where repetitive clicks occurred in a focused area of your UI within a short timeframe.
U-turns	Instances where a visitor navigated to a Page and returned to the previous Page within seven seconds.
Dead clicks	Instances where clicks occurred that have no effect in a focused area of your UI.

Note: Measurements vary based on the filters chosen in the Select activity side panel.

Apply event property filters

Event property filters let you narrow your report results based on data captured at the time an event occurs.

Event properties are values attached to all Feature clicks, Page views, and Track Events. Pendo captures several event properties by default, including browser name, browser version, device type, and operating system.

You can also configure custom event properties when editing a Feature in the Visual Design Studio or when initially setting up a Track Event. Examples include cart value, location or region, visitor source, and any other value captured at the time of click.

Use event property filters to focus on a specific subset of your data, like:

Mobile or desktop device usage.
A particular browser (like Chrome or Firefox).
A custom property that's specific to your product and the event you're trying to filter on. For example, a car rental company might want to filter by airport, whereas a retail store might want to filter by product types in cart at purchase time.

You can add event property filters at the event level or at the report level, including automatically-captured device data, historical metadata, and any custom event properties configured for click events and Track Events.

Note: Custom event properties aren't supported when analyzing Any activity for one or more apps.

Add event-level filters

Apply event property filters to a specific event if you want different filters for different events.

To add an event-level event property filter:

In the Query section, select + Add filter below the relevant event.
Select an event property from the dropdown menu that populates below the event, then select the correct operator. The default is is equal to (=).
Select one or more property values from the dropdown menu. Additional values use OR logic.
To add another filter to the same event, select + Add filter again, then select your property values. Additional filters use AND logic.
Repeat these steps for each event you'd like to filter.
To remove an event property filter, select the X icon next to it.

Add report-level filters

Apply event property filters at the report level to filter all selected events.

These filters work together with event-level filters, further narrowing your results. If a report-level filter conflicts with an event-level filter, the resulting data only includes events matching both filters.

To add a report-level filter:

In the Report Filters section, select + Add report filter.
Select an event property from the dropdown menu that populates below the event, then select the correct operator. The default is is equal to (=).
Select one or more property values from the dropdown menu. Additional values use OR logic.
Repeat these steps to add additional filters. Report-level filters use AND logic together and apply across all events in the report.
To remove an event property filter, select the X icon next to it.

Add formulas

Formulas let you combine data across events or calculate relationships between event groups to answer more complex questions. For more information about common use cases for formulas, see Formula use cases.

Use sum and division functions to calculate total usage or compare behavior between event groups.

When you apply a sum or ratio function, all usage counts across the specified event group are totaled or divided up and presented as a single line in the chart visualization and a single row in the breakdown table.
When you apply a relative percentage division function, the usage count for each event within each relevant event group is totaled and presented as multiple lines in the chart visualization and multiple rows in the breakdown table.

To add a formula to your query:

In the Formulas section select + Add formula.
In the dropdown menu, choose the formula that best matches the question you're trying to answer. The available options vary depending on the number of event groups and the specific measurements you selected for each event group.
- Sum. Sums help you get an aggregate understanding of how a specific set of events are used. A common use case is summing the clicks of multiple buttons that have the same or similar functions, such as an email app that contains three different buttons to send an email. You can also calculate the number of users who interact with all events within a specific Product Area.
- Ratio. This division function helps you understand the relationship between two events. A common use case for this division involves aggregating your selected events and performing ratio calculations. This allows you to examine the ratio of users who interact with a specific Feature when they view a specific Page.
- Relative percentage. This division function helps you understand individual event usage in relation to a larger group of events. It takes the total measurement of each event within an event group and divides that by the sum of all events within an event group. A common use case for this division involves looking at the relative number of Page views or Feature clicks over the total number of active visitors within an app if you have multiple apps.
If you selected a division function, the division is calculated as a percentage by default. If you'd prefer a decimal as the output, select Decimal from the dropdown menu.
If desired, enter a name for the formula. This name appears in the legend and as a table row. If you don't enter a name, the formula name shows as it's displayed below the question.
Repeat these steps to add additional formulas.

Apply segments

By default, the Everyone segment is selected. You can change this to view data for a specific set of users by selecting the Segment dropdown menu, then choosing the appropriate group of users you’d like to analyze.

If the segment you’d like to use doesn't currently exist, you have two options:

Create new segment. This appears at the bottom of the dropdown menu, and when created, the segment is added to the list of segments under People > Segments.
Create draft segment. This appears next to the Segment dropdown menu and creates a draft segment that is only used for this report, making it unavailable to use outside of this Data Explorer report.

For more information about creating segments, see Segments.

Create draft segment

Draft segments allow you to build a segment and run your report without adding a new segment to your subscription or changing an existing segment in the subscription. Depending on other selections in the query builder, you can add up to five draft segments.

To get started, select + Create draft segment to populate the segment rule builder.

By default, the segment is named Draft Segment A. If you’d like to change the name of the segment, select the name and enter a new value. Make your selections in the rule builder, and then continue to the next section.

Tip: If you decide that you want to save the draft segment to your subscription to use outside of this report, select the Save as Segment icon in the top-right corner of the segment builder, then update the segment name and visibility before saving it to the subscription.

Compare segments

If you have only one date range specified and five or fewer events selected, you can add up to five segments for further comparison. When you apply multiple segments, the query is repeated for each segment.

To add an additional segment, select Compare Segments and choose the appropriate segment or create a new segment.

To remove a chosen segment, select the X located to the right of the segment.

Group your data

The Group by option allows you to group your data by visitor metadata (like role or region), account metadata (like industry or account tier), or an event property (like browser name or device type). This is typically used to easily understand usage trends across different cohorts based on metadata or event properties. With groupings, you don’t need to create a separate segment for each group of visitors/accounts you want to compare—allowing you to uncover insights quickly and efficiently.

Without a grouping applied, the report summarizes your usage data by combining all metadata and event properties for each event. If you apply a grouping, the report shows you separate usage quantities for each grouping/event pair. For example, if you have one event group for a Feature called “Add New button” that's measured by “Total events” and you use the Group By visitor metadata option to show user role, the breakdown table contains a row with each unique visitor’s role and tells you how many times they clicked the Add New button in the given time period. You can group by a maximum of 50,000 events.

To categorize your data with a grouping:

In the Group by section, select + Add group.
From the dropdown menu, choose the type of data you'd like to group by.
- Visitor Metadata. Visitor-level metadata and Account ID. Available fields are listed under Settings > Data mappings.
- Account Metadata. Account-level metadata. Available fields are listed under Settings > Data mappings.
- Historical Metadata. Visitor or account metadata that's enabled as historical. For more information, see Historical metadata.
- Event Property. Data associated with a Feature click, Page view, or Track Event at the time that event was interacted with. Available fields vary depending on the type of event property.
- Parent Account Metadata. Parent Account-level metadata. Available fields are listed under Settings > Data Mappings.
Select the specific field you'd like to group by from the second dropdown menu.
To add multiple groupings, select + Add group and repeat these steps for each new grouping. Up to five groupings are supported.
- To adjust the order of the columns as they appear in the table, simply select the dotted icon to the left of the grouping and drag the field to your desired placement. Multi-column sorting isn't currently supported in the breakdown table.
- When you run the report, each grouping value is added as a separate column in the breakdown table.
- If you have 10 or fewer events selected, the breakdown table shows up to 10,000 rows for each event. If you have more than 10 events selected, the table shows up to 10,000 rows across all events. This means that we show up to 50,000 rows of data for one event with five groupings.

To remove an applied grouping, select the X icon next to it.

Considerations when grouping

When using Group By to group your report data, there are a few considerations to keep in mind:

Groupings are only supported if you select only one segment and one date range.
Metadata and event property values must be categorized as string or boolean. Data categorized as text, number, date, or list don't appear in the dropdown menu.
When grouping, the report returns all possible values of the selected metadata or event property field and includes that in the report, even if it doesn't have data within the given constraints.
When applying a segment and grouping together, all Group by values appear in the table regardless of segment. For example, if you're grouping by Account ID, then all Account ID values are shown. However, the values outside the segment display as 0s.
When you have more than 10 events selected, the breakdown table or CSV export only displays 10,000 rows of data. If you're dealing with 10 or fewer events, the breakdown table can show more than 10,000 rows of data, but for better performance, we recommend exporting to CSV for more efficient data analysis.
While there's no limit to the number of values you can group by, there are limits to the number of values displayed in your report. Our data reporting stops after we detect more than 50,000 unique group by values. If you hit this limit, you’ll see a message confirming that not all data is being displayed. To avoid this, consider applying more precise filters or groupings and then re-run the report.

Define date ranges

From the Date Range dropdown menus, select the timeframe you’d like to analyze usage of the selected events and select the data breakdown within the date range. The data is aggregated according to the breakdown frequency in the data visualization.

The date range options available in the first dropdown menu are as follows:

Today
Yesterday
Last 7 days (doesn't include today)
Last 30 days (doesn't include today)
Last 90 days (doesn't include today)
Last 180 days (doesn't include today)
Custom Date Range (max of 180 days)

For the data breakdown, you have the following options in the second dropdown menu:

Hourly. Default for one-day selection.
Daily. Available for 2 to 59-day date ranges.
Weekly. Available for 14 to 180-day date ranges (Sunday–Saturday).
Monthly. Available for 60 to 180-day date ranges.

Compare date ranges

If you have five or fewer events selected, you can add a second date range for further comparison. Comparing date ranges repeats the query for a different time period and allows you to compare your analysis for the same group at different times in one data visualization.

To do this, simply select Compare Date Ranges and choose the appropriate values. The second date range must be the same duration and breakdown as the first date range selected. The default selection is the date range immediately before your first date range.

When comparing date ranges, the chart displays the previous period with a dashed pattern so that you can differentiate between the current and previous data sets.

To cancel the date range comparison, select the X located to the right of the dropdown menus.

Run your report

When you’re finished building your query, select Run to create your report.

Tip: The fewer events and filters applied, the quicker the report loads.

For help analyzing, saving, and sharing your report, see Analyze and share Data Explorer reports.