Introduction

Understanding how your customers use your product is fundamental to identifying expansion opportunities. By collecting and analyzing usage data, you can uncover insights that reveal which features are most valuable to your customers and where there are potential gaps or needs for additional services. This step is the first in our series on accelerating expansion and sets the foundation for leveraging customer signals to generate a pipeline. As we move forward, we will explore how to use customer health scores and company intelligence to further refine these opportunities.

Why does this matter?

Collecting and analyzing usage data is essential for several reasons:

• Informed decision-making: Provides a clear picture of customer behavior and product engagement.

• Identify expansion opportunities: Helps pinpoint high-engagement areas where customers may benefit from additional features or services.

• Enhance product development: Offers insights into which features are most valuable, guiding future product enhancements.

• Improve customer satisfaction: By understanding how customers use your product, you can tailor your approach to meet their needs better.

How to get started

To effectively collect and analyze usage data, follow these steps:

Step 1: Set up data collection

1. Identify key metrics

   • Usage frequency: Track how often customers use specific features.

   • Engagement depth: Measure the extent of usage, such as time spent on features or number of interactions.

   • Adoption rates: Monitor how quickly and widely new features are adopted.

2. Implement tracking tools

   • Use tools like Gainsight’s PX to collect detailed usage data.

   • Ensure tracking is comprehensive across all customer touchpoints.

Step 2: Analyze the data

1. Segment your audience

   • Customer segmentation: Break down data by customer segments such as industry, company size, or usage patterns.

   • Feature usage: Identify which features are used most frequently by different segments.

2. Identify trends and patterns

   • Usage trends: Look for patterns in how different segments use various features.

   • Engagement metrics: Analyze metrics to determine which features drive the most engagement.

Step 3: Act on insights

1. Develop targeted strategies

   • Upsell and cross-sell: Identify opportunities to offer additional features or services based on usage patterns.

   • Product enhancements: Use insights to guide the development of new features or improvements.

2. Communicate with stakeholders

   • Internal teams: Share insights with product, marketing, and sales teams to align on strategies.

   • Customers: Inform customers about how their usage data is driving improvements and additional offerings.

Gainsight features you'll need

• PX or similar tools: For collecting detailed usage data.

• Dashboards: To visualize usage trends and metrics.

• Segments: To create a sub-group of customers.

• Journey Orchestrator: To automate communications based on usage data.

What’s next?

After gaining a comprehensive understanding of customer usage patterns, the next step is to leverage customer health scores to further identify expansion opportunities. Our upcoming article will guide you through using health scores to prioritize your efforts and ensure that your expansion strategies are aligned with customer satisfaction and engagement levels.

Further reading and inspiration

• Blog: How To Unlock Millions Of Dollars In Expansion Using Customer Data

• Pulse Video - Using Your Product to Drive Conversion, Retention & Expansion