Product analytics

Product analytics records the actions people take, such as signing up, creating a project or clicking a button, and ties them to a user over time. You can then ask questions like how many new users reached a key step in their first week. Tools such as Mixpanel, Amplitude and PostHog are built around this approach, which differs from basic traffic reports that mainly count page views and visits.

Page view counts do not tell you whether people use the product after they sign up. Product analytics shows where users drop out, which features keep them coming back and which groups of users stay longest. It matters if you run a software product or a service with a login. If you run a simple brochure website, a traffic tool is normally enough and product analytics adds setup work without much benefit.

• Ask whether you must plan and send events yourself or whether the tool records them automatically.
• Test whether you can build a funnel and a retention chart without writing code.
• Check whether you can follow one user across devices and sessions.
• Ask how long event history is kept on your plan.