Preferred user research and analytics tools
We’re about to onboard our first users on our b2b Saas and I would really like to capture some insight into how they use it. We have Google Analytics implemented but it won’t be quite as useful yet because it’s such a low volume of users and we only have a few pages in the application. So I’m looking for something that tracks sessions and clicks like Hotjar, Fullstory, Pendo, etc. just wondered if anyone has specific recommendations for one that works well and has a decent free plan that would last us a while. (Like I said, very first users, so we’re a long way from being willing to pay for a monthly software cost for this.)
I recommend Mixpanel for this use case. It does indeed capture sessions and clicks against individual user profiles, and even has features that let you send targeted messaging against certain user actions in your app. It has a generous free tier but is also scalable should your app scale as well.
By the by, I've written a book and email course on exactly this. The email course is free, feel free to have a look: https://signup.analyticsforindies.com
Clarity is a good free version that does some of what HotJar does.
However, like you said, with a low volume of users quantitative data is not going to be very useful.
I would suggest trying usability testing which is literally watching someone attempt to use your app for the first time and seeing where they are confused, frustrated, or whatever.
There are paid services for this (I made one), but you can also just go to a cafe or wherever and ask people for their time - maybe bribe them with some cookies.
Here's a good article on guerrilla usability testing
Thank you! this was very helpful. I didn't come across Clarity in my research so great recommendation.