Communication SaaS Analytics Sentiment Report

Miscommunication is costing businesses up to $450,000 per year. But if they don’t have insight into their mistakes, it’s difficult to improve. Luckily, communication software platforms possess the data these businesses need to make confident, data-driven decisions in their communication. Well… in theory.

In reality, very few communication software products actually succeed in making that data insightful for their customers. We analyzed user reviews of the top vendors on G2, and found that 8 in 10 products get negative reviews about their client-facing reporting dashboards.

Read the in-depth findings of our research and learn how your communication SaaS platform can take the lead. Here’s what to avoid and embrace to build the reporting experience your users desire.

Methodology

For this research, we analyzed the user reviews of 57 Communications Tech platforms. We looked at vendors in the three biggest communication software categories on G2:

• Business Instant Messaging Software
• Employee Communications Software
• Video Communications Software

The research only includes vendors with at least one review mentioning analytics. We reviewed a selection of 20 vendors per category (or if there are less than 20, we analyzed every vendor in the category). The 57 selected vendors are balanced across all G2 quadrants, ranging from category leaders to niche software.

We categorized over 1,000 reviews with keywords like ‘reports,’ ‘dashboard’ and ‘analytics’ into positive, negative or neutral sentiment.

Besides user reviews, we assessed how each vendor advertises and monetizes its analytical features by looking at:

• Feature pages on their websites
• Pricing pages mentioning analytics

Here’s what we found.

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Bad analytics practices your communication platform users hate

In the analyzed reviews, most users express similar complaints. Their top complaint is the lack of relevant data. 61% of communications tools do not present the data their customers need.

Strikingly, some reviews even mention that there simply aren’t any analytics.

Besides the lack of useful metrics, 47% of tools have a clunky, confusing or difficult-to-use analytics interface according to user reviews. Users commonly describe the analytics as “confusing”, “busy”, and “inaccessible”.

For 40% of communications tools, their customers found their analytics to be static or too generic. While some users wish to edit reports to find the insights they need, others wish that more in-depth metrics were available out of the box.

Some other concerns came up in reviews:

• Insights are disconnected from normal workflows (30%)
• No possibility to edit reports (26%)
• Cluttered design (25%)
• Inaccurate data (23%)
• Difficulty in sharing insights (21%)
• No automation or collaboration (16%)
• Slow loading (14%)
• Dated or ugly design (12%)

All these problems contribute to a suboptimal user experience. Communication platform users have difficulty finding the information they need, which slows them down when making important decisions.

These struggles are a risk for communication platforms, causing:

• Negative word of mouth
• Lower customer satisfaction
• Less engagement with your product
• And potentially, more churn

Communication analytics is still in its infancy

Only 6% of all communication platform reviews mention analytics. In comparison, for the top G2 categories, as much as 20% of all reviews mentioned the analytics experience.

Besides the limited market feedback, the reviews reveal proof that customer-facing analytics are still developing within the communication SaaS vertical. For example, the majority of positive reviews praise the “analytics integrations”. So although users are clearly searching to make confident and data-driven decisions, they are finding their insights elsewhere.

Smart communication SaaS platforms have a massive potential to improve the customer experience by bringing analytics straight to their application. The first one to jump on the bandwagon will set itself apart from its competitors.

What users praise about analytics in communication SaaS

Besides user complaints, there is a lot to learn from positive reviews as well. In positive reviews, users are unanimous about the main advantage of a good analytics experience. It helps them make better, more confident decisions.  

Here’s what users mentioned repeatedly to define a good customer analytics experience:

• intuitive, straightforward interface
• actionable dashboards that drive better decisions
• detailed insight adapted to their needs
• finding insights with as few clicks as possible

A key selling point for communications platforms

Besides the reviews, we also researched vendor websites to assess how they advertise and sell their analytics feature set. Even though analytics is still being developed, a lot of vendors already showcase reporting features as a selling point on their website. 68% have a full page dedicated to analytics.

This statistic hints that communication platforms understand the importance and appeal of analytics. But at the same time, 77% receive negative feedback about their analytics. Providing a good analytics experience is crucial to live up to the expectations you set from the first touchpoint on your website.

The state of customer-facing analytics in communications platform

Even though most communications tools have reporting features, a lot of users struggle to analyze their data. Either the analytics don’t reveal the insights they need, or they are too difficult to use.

For product managers in communications platforms, this struggle presents a massive opportunity. By offering an engaging analytics experience, you can turn a basic insights module into a competitive advantage your customers will keep coming back for.

With the help of an embedded analytics platform, you can start building better SaaS analytics today. And our team is here to help! Schedule a free consultation or product demo today.