Pendo supports both low-code tracking and Track Events for collecting data in your mobile app. This article provides details about each one and provides some example use cases.
To help determine whether you can use low-code tracking or track events in your mobile installation, see Plan your mobile implementation or visit Pendo Academy for a video on how to plan your installation.
For more information about Track Events in Pendo, see Track Events or visit Pendo Academy for a video about sending mobile track events.
Low-code tracking
Low-code tracking refers to the collection of data, and displaying of guides, without manually inserting code for every interaction within your mobile application. The Pendo mobile SDK provides low-code, retroactive analytics across all of your app versions and supports lightboxes, tooltips, and multi-step walkthrough guides built with Pendo’s Visual Design Studio. Retroactive analytics means that data collection begins immediately after installing the Pendo mobile SDK.
The Pendo Mobile SDK automatically tracks user actions, such as screen views, button clicks, and other in-app interactions, without developers needing to code them explicitly. Track Events are also available in all supported frameworks.
For more information about the frameworks supporting low-code tracking, see Supported mobile frameworks.
Track Events
A Track Event is a specific type of event that you can configure to gain insights into user interactions within your app. Track Events programmatically notify Pendo that a particular action occurred at a specific time and associate this event to a designated visitor and account. You can define custom metrics that are relevant to your app’s functionality or business objectives, then partner with your engineering team to implement tracking code using the Pendo SDK.
Track Events can include both client-side (for example, user actions, app events) and server-side events (e.g., API calls, server responses, error codes). Track Events allow you to record any actions your users perform, including any properties that describe the action, so that you can use this data to track user behavior in your mobile apps with Pendo's analytics. Track Events can also be used to launch in-app guidance.
Track Event use cases
You can use Track Events to report on any event happening in your app, such as:
- In Track Event-only frameworks, you can use them to track the Feature clicks and Page views, which aren’t collected automatically by the Pendo SDK.
- Change of a user's status.
- Actions performed by your user, such as important business transactions.
- Input fields, such as search terms, to understand the most common searches.
- Data about elements interacted with.
- App exceptions and errors with details. For example, Track(“Error” Type=”400” Description=”[text]”).
- Events with data fields. For example, when a user taps on a property record in a real estate app and wants to capture details, such as address, price, or type of the viewed record.
- Field entry values, like a search field input. Avoid collecting any fields that might contain PII or PHI.
- Background tasks that don't have a corresponding UI element, such as downloading or uploading a file.
- Device metrics, such as signal strength.
- IoT device status and properties. For example, connected fitness monitor battery level, signal strength, or DBM or RSS.
- Displaying guides after a background process starts or completes
- Any place you might want a guide to display based on a Track Event property at the time of interaction.
In general, you can prompt guides to start on app launch, Page views, Feature clicks and Track Events. If using a Track Events-only framework, you can supplement the low-c-de events, such as Feature clicks and Page views, with a Track Event to launch a guide. Tooltips aren't available with Track Events.
Plan your Track Events
When planning which Track Events to have your engineers develop for your mobile app, there are several important considerations. Here are some key points to think about:
- Strategic objectives. Start by aligning Track Events with the strategic objectives of your product. What are some key metrics that indicate success of your application? Track Events should be directly tied to those metrics to ensure that you’re collecting relevant data.
- User journey mapping. Understand the user journey within your app. Identify key touch points and interactions that users have with your product. This allows you to determine which events are most important to track to gain insights into your visitor behavior.
- Feature usage. Monitor how users are interacting with specific features within your app. Track Events related to feature usage help to understand which features are most popular and which might require improvement. This can help prioritize development efforts and guide product roadmap decisions.
- Error tracking. Consider tracking errors within your app. These events are critical for identifying technical issues that might impact the user experience negatively. By monitoring server responses that indicate an error has occurred, you can quickly assess issues and improve overall stability and performance.