Tech Note: Can I add Pendo to a third party product, which is embedded in my application?

UPDATE:  Refer to this newer article instead: Add Pendo to an embedded third-party product

Situation

There is a third party product embedded in my application. Can I add Pendo to understand usage and/or display guides within the embedded third party product? 

For example, your application (orange) has a third party product called ‘ BI Tool Dashboard Widget’  (pink) embedded inside it. You would like to add Pendo to the third party product, to understand the usage and/or display guides within it.

The answer is not always a straightforward yes or no. Below is a series of questions to help you evaluate the situation. 

Evaluation Checklist

1) Is Pendo already installed in the embedded third party product? 

You could use the function pendo.validateInstall() in the Developer Console to check. Follow the instructions in this article to learn how to check if Pendo is installed in an iFrame. However, we recommend asking the embedded third party product directly to be extra thorough.

The goal is to determine if there will be any situations where the embedded third party product is already using Pendo. This would look something like this:

• In the inner iFrame (pink), the embedded third party product ‘BI Tool Dashboard Widget’ is already using Pendo via their Pendo subscription
• In the top Frame (orange), you also have Pendo installed through your own separate subscription.

1a) If the answer is “No, the embedded third party product does not use Pendo at all”, you can proceed to #2. 

1b)  If the answer is “Yes, the embedded third party product is already using Pendo”, do not continue with the rest of the checklist. Instead, you will need to contact the third party to discuss what options might be available.

2) Is it possible to install the Pendo snippet in the embedded third party product?

This may require working with the third party to see if they will allow you to add the Pendo javascript code. If the answer is no, then you can’t continue.

3) Would you be able to pass useful visitor IDs? Would that information be available to pass through the Pendo agent installed in the third party product?

The recommended approach would be to use the same visitor ID values in both your application and the embedded third party product. You can then track usage for the same end-user across both your application and the embedded third party product under the same visitor record in Pendo.

If you are unable to use the same visitor ID value in both your application and the embedded third party product, you could use a different set of visitor IDs or allow Pendo to generate anonymous visitor IDs in the third party product. However, this is not recommended because of the potential negative consequences: 

• Usage for the same end-user on your application and the embedded third party product would be split across two different visitor records in Pendo. 
• This would also inflate the Monthly Active User count in your Pendo subscription. For more information, please see this article: Monthly Active Users
• There is a possibility of display issues with guides, especially for those with automatic activation.

For more information on visitor IDs, please see this article: Planning your Pendo Installation: Pick Visitor & Account IDs.

Another Option

If you have realized that you won't be able to add Pendo to the embedded third party product, there is one more option to consider for analytics (only). 

If you can track usage within the embedded third party product on your own, you can send that data to Pendo via track events. Keep in mind this would require developer effort to set up the track events, and you would still need to use useful visitor & account IDs.