User actions - Best practices

Before creating User Actions, understand the end-user workflow in the application. While a process might have an expected sequence of steps, users might take different paths to complete the same workflow.

For example, a contact in the Salesforce Sales Cloud application can be accessed through both the Contact module and the Opportunity module. It is common practice to create User Actions in the Contact module, as this is the expected path for end users. However, missing User Actions in the Opportunity module results in a lack of tracking for users who access contacts through that module. Consequently, User Action analytics might indicate that Step 2 of a process has higher engagement than Step 1, which might seem illogical.

While selecting an element to create a User Action, add Display Rules to identify the element for which the action is tracked. Using Display Rules with User Actions enables improved performance in tracking actions.

Ensure that you add the correct Display Rules while creating User Actions.

Here are some commonly made mistakes that you can avoid while adding Display Rules to User Actions.

• Display Rules configured for one User Action conflict with another User Action, resulting in inconsistent latching behavior.
  Solution:
  Identify all possible paths in the application and check whether the CSS selectors used on one page or URL have been reused in configuring the Display Rule of another User Action.

• If the UI of the underlying application changes, the CSS Selectors used to configure Display Rules might also change. As a result, User Actions dependent on the Display Rules might not be evaluated.

  Solution:

  Reselect User Actions to manage UI changes and verify the User Actions before making them live on the application.

• An incorrect operator is used when more than one Display Rule is added. For example, the Display Rule is configured as Selector A AND Selector B instead of Selector A OR Selector B.

  Solution:
  Use the AND operator when the User Action needs to be evaluated only if all the conditions are evaluated as true.
  Use the OR operator when the User Action needs to be evaluated if any one of the conditions is evaluated as true.

While creating User Actions, always select the outermost individual element of the UI. This selection ensures that any action performed inside the element is also tracked as part of the User Action.

Adding relevant and recognizable tags to User Actions enables organization and filtering of actions specific to a particular page or process.

Add tags while creating a User Action.

After creating User Actions, push them to the Production stage to make them live for end users. Unless User Actions are pushed to Production, they cannot capture data.

For more information, see Push Whatfix content and widgets to Production.

Use the User Action Analytics insight to get the User Actions engagement data.

If User Actions are created in a sequence that represents a process, use the Funnel capability to identify the step where users drop off. Funnel insights also show how much time users take to complete a process.

For more information, see Funnels.

To use User Actions in Insights, that is, Funnels, Trends, User Journey, or Cohorts, the action must be completed at least once to appear in the Custom Events dropdown.