Data is now at the heart of most business operations.
Gather the data, analyze the data, and you’ll walk away with insights that can help you make better decisions across the board.
The problem is, us puny humans are pretty terrible at parsing data in its raw form.
But we do great when the data is properly categorized, organized, and visualized for us.
That’s why dashboards are so important in the modern era.
And custom dashboards are even more valuable, filtering out all the unnecessary information and giving us all the information we truly need in a convenient package.
Accordingly, businesses and teams of all shapes and sizes are pursuing the creation of custom dashboards – and this includes some of your customers.
A couple of decades ago, the only option to create a custom dashboard was to build one from scratch.
But these days, you can use no-code apps and services to create brilliant, effective custom customer dashboards with minimal time and effort.
How do you do it?
Why Custom Customer Dashboards Are Valuable
First, let’s briefly explore why custom customer dashboards are so valuable.
- Consolidated information. Data used to be a precious resource, but if anything, today’s problem is that we have too much data. We have data from countless different sources in volumes that are beyond our comprehension, so we need platforms that allow us to consolidate and efficiently present this information. Custom dashboards allow us to do it.
- Streamlined functionality. Custom customer dashboards are also designed to be easy to use. Any layman should be able to pick up the basics of how to use the dashboard within a few minutes, and from there, they should be able to tinker with the variables, generate charts and graphs, and generally manipulate visuals to their liking.
- Mutual access and transparency. Custom customer dashboards are vital for transparency within the organization they’re designed for. It’s a way of creating a single source of truth for data, while simultaneously making the data available to as many people as are necessary. In some contexts, it may even make sense to create mutual transparency, retaining access to the dashboard while simultaneously handing it off to your clients.
- Reporting simplification. Reporting is a central function of many modern businesses, enabling them to quickly and easily convey information across individuals and departments. Custom dashboards make it easy to generate reports with just a few clicks – and in many cases, automate the generation and distribution of those very reports.
- Value addition. Creating a custom customer dashboard isn’t a ton of work, but it could be the cherry on top of your other services – and potentially a way to generate more revenue. If you have a loyal, lucrative client you want to keep, you might build them a dashboard for free. If you’re looking for new ways to generate revenue, you can offer this as a follow-up service.
- Time and cost savings. Finally, it’s important to recognize that custom dashboards save your clients time and money. They have the potential to save literally thousands of hours, while eliminating costly mistakes, with your tool.
In other words, if you don’t currently offer custom dashboards to your clientele, you’re missing out on serious revenue generating potential – and your customers are on the losing end of the bargain as well.
No-code Dashboard Building Tools
Developing a product takes a lot of time and effort (and usually a lot of money too).
But with no-code dashboard building tools, everything becomes much easier. As their name suggests, these tools are designed to enable the development of new tools without the need for coding or programming. Using highly intuitive, accessible tools like “drag and drop” boards and WYSIWYG editors, even people with little or no coding experience can create something simple like a dashboard.
Choosing the Right No-code Tool
There are many types of no-code apps available today, including popular options like Google, Microsoft, Knack, Canva, Tableau, and Infogram. Most of these will allow you to create custom customer dashboards from scratch with little time and effort, but some are going to be a better fit for you than others.
When considering which tool to use for your no-code custom dashboard, closely examined the following:
- Capabilities. What can you do with this tool? What are its inherent limitations? Will you be able to include all the features and functionality you want in your custom dashboard? Will this tool be useful for other types of projects in the future?
- Ease of use. Next, you’ll need to think about ease of use, especially if you’re on a time crunch. You need a tool that’s highly usable and intuitive, enabling you to get to work without wasting hours of time on bland tutorials. If you can’t pick up the ropes within the first hour of tinkering around with this tool, consider moving on to another option.
- Reliability. How dependable or reliable is this tool? Does it seem to work consistently? Are bugs and errors minimal? Can you grow to depend on this as your primary no-code development app?
- Legality and terms of service. While it may seem secondary or trivial, it’s important to pay attention to the legal aspects of the tool you choose, as well as their terms of service. Notably, you should make sure you’re able to sell or redistribute apps and platforms that you make using this system.
- Support. How much support does this tool seem to have? Are the developers consistently issuing patches and updates? Are new features being added in the future? Is there a road map for potential development in the years to come?
- Price. And of course, you’ll need to think about price. While it’s possible to find free or cheap no-code apps, not all of them are going to fit your needs. Your first priority is finding an app that allows you to do everything you need; finding a good price is only a secondary priority.
How to Build a Custom Customer Dashboard With No-code
So how exactly do you build a custom customer dashboard with no-code?
- Establish your goals and vision. Before you delve into app creation, you should establish your goals and your vision. What kind of dashboard are you trying to create? Do you have a sketch of how it should look? What are the most important features and how do they relate to each other? What defines the success of this project? With that in mind, you’ll be in a better position to choose the right tool and develop a stellar product.
- Set a budget. Next, set a budget. How much are you willing to spend on the no-code tool and peripherals you need to complete this project? How much of a profit are you going to make and can you use this tool for anything else that brings value to your business?
- Identify key metrics and functionality. Make a list of the key metrics that this dashboard is going to draw in and track. Depending on the complexity of the dashboard, you may be responsible for creating equations to process raw data into more digestible, immediately relevant forms. Similarly, you’ll need to outline the key functionality of this dashboard; what will the average user use this dashboard for? What kinds of action paths are they going to follow?
- Choose a no-code tool. We’ve already covered some of the most popular no-code tools and how to select one. If you haven’t selected one yet, now is the time to do it.
- Select data sources. The next stage of the process is to select sources of data, and you’ll likely need your customers’ help with this. Ideally, your custom customer dashboard will be able to draw data from many different sources simultaneously, making it a veritable single source of truth (SSOT) within the organization. However, you may encounter minor difficulties as you attempt to utilize APIs and make necessary connections.
- Visualize. Your customers probably won’t understand all the back-end magic you used in creating and testing the dashboard, but they will appreciate the visual dynamics you bring to the table. Accordingly, you should spend extra time designing and polishing the dashboard so that it looks as great as it functions. Similarly, you should ensure the charts, graphs, and other data visuals are on point.
- Test. Don’t hand off your custom customer dashboard until you’ve thoroughly tested it. No-code apps are easy to use and are generally reliable, but there’s always room for error. Pursue aggressive QA testing until you’re fully satisfied with this product.
- Get feedback. Let your customers test the dashboard as well. This is an opportunity for you to gather meaningful feedback and use that feedback to improve your product further.
- Revisit and update. As your customers continue using this custom dashboard, you’ll gather more information and learn more about its place within the organization. Accordingly, you should spend some time revisiting and updating the dashboard as necessary.
Additional Keys to Success With No-code Custom Customer Dashboards
These keys to success can also help you thrive with your no-code custom dashboards.
- Focus on the most important data. Too many developers build dashboards with the idea that more data is always better. But in reality, dashboards are as much about filtering out irrelevant and unnecessary data as they are presenting data in large volumes. Focus on the data points and metrics that are truly most important to the organization, and set the rest to the side.
- Display your branding prominently. If you’re selling or providing this dashboard as a courtesy, make sure to display your branding prominently. It’s a nice way to keep your brand top of mind and remind your clients of the value you’ve brought them. Of course, this depends on the quality of your dashboard – so make sure it’s an adequate representation of the quality work you offer.
- Keep it minimal. Generally, minimalism is a good philosophy to follow when building custom customer dashboards. If the home screen is overloaded with features and metrics, your customers won’t know where to start – and they’ll have a much harder time reaping the full value of the dashboard you’ve designed. White space is your friend.
- Be prudent when selecting visuals. Data visualization is an awesome tool, but it’s not without its weaknesses. Charts and graphs can make data more digestible and easier to present, especially before an audience unfamiliar with statistics, but they can also distort and obscure certain data points. Be prudent when offering visuals to your customers.
- Enable user autonomy. That said, you should encourage as much autonomy as possible in your user base. In other words, you should allow your users to feel like they’re in control of their total experience. Give them more options, settings, and customization options to accomplish this.
- Tell a story. Data is easiest and most enjoyable to interpret when it is presented as a story. Include narrative elements in your custom customer dashboard to make your data come alive and encourage an overall better user experience. You won’t be able to make a literal narrative about data you don’t even have yet, but you can set up the dashboard so that users experience a flow of information from past to present and from present to future.
Is No-code Always the Right Move?
No code tools are extremely handy for developing simple systems like custom customer dashboards. However, they aren’t a good fit for all projects or all clients. If your customers are searching for more advanced dashboards or platforms that enable even more functionality, don’t force yourself to stay with the no-code approach; it would be like trying to fit a square peg into a circle hole.
Are you searching for a convenient way to create a custom dashboard for your customers?
Are you considering developing a custom dashboard from scratch?
Whatever you’re looking for, we can help you find it – or build it from the ground up if it doesn’t already exist. Contact us for more information today!
Connect with Ryan on Linkedin.
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