Simplifying the creation of business reports
Industry
Data (BI)
At
Actiondesk (Acquired by Datadog)
Date
Jan - Jun 2023
Problem or opportunity area
Actiondesk was a spreadsheet-style BI tool used by small business owners to connect their data sources and build reports. Most users were happy with the data connections, but struggled to create business reports during the free trial because they lacked advanced spreadsheet skills. Only expert users were able to self-serve, forcing the customer success team to manually build reports to retain paying customers. The team needed to convert more trial users and reduce support dependency. This was critical for growth, especially in a lean 5-person startup.
My role
Led the full design process: discovery, prototyping, usability testing (Userbob unmoderated usability tests + client interviews), iterative feedback with PM/CEO, documentation for engineers, QA, and user behavior analysis with FullStory recordings. Collaborated across the entire team in a fully remote, cross-timezone setup.
solution
A 3-step report builder—a drawer-style wizard that guided users to create reports with dropdowns and pre-built metrics. Still allowed advanced users to write formulas but made report creation accessible in just a few clicks.
Key outcomes and results
Success metrics (on the third month post-launch)
50% built a report themselves thanks to the report builder during the first week of trial, vs. 20% in the last 3 months before the report builder existed
Usage frequency doubled among new clients compared to the ones acquired before the report builder existed.
Trial conversion rose to 70% (from 30% in the last 3 months before the report builder existed)
Business impact
The team was able to focus on sales now that clients could self-serve, building business reports by themselves
The product stabilization contributed to company growth and eventual acquisition by Datadog in August 2023
Detail highlights
Jan - May 2025
