Mixpanel Debuts Activity Feeds To Help Zoom In On Individual User Activity, Improve Customer Support

Mixpanel, the analytics company that has made a name for itself changing the way analytics are handled in a world where models designed for web-based products don’t necessarily transition to mobile models, today introduced a new feature called Activity Feed. Basically, it’s like having a Path-like timeline of your visitor’s actions on your site, but with more detail and with an eye to helping you analyze what is and isn’t working about on your site or app.

You can check out a sample activity feed in the picture below. Essentially, Mixpanel is taking what it started with People Analytics, which puts a personal face on the aggregate data generally collected by website visitor and app user data measurement. In an interview, Mixpanel CEO Suhail Doshi explained that he thinks there’s opportunity for both person-specific and general user data to work together to inform product development and direction.

“Activity Stream helps our customers see the full story of how their customers are using their application,” Doshi said. “Mixpanel’s measuring engagement, so we don’t measure any page views, and we work on mobile more specifically. Mobile doesn’t even have the idea of page views at all.”

So the company took their existing prototype activity monitor and made it into the more full-featured Activity stream, which includes detailed information around every action a visitor takes on a page, including where they completed it from, and when it occurred. The whole idea is to provide a way for Mixpanel’s customers to quickly and easily see exactly where their visitors are running into trouble, and what they can do to help, all while presenting it in a format that’s easy to grasp and understand.

The feature goes live today, and is a free addition for existing Mixpanel customers. Doshi says to expect more developments along these lines, as the company continues to try to build an alternative to Google Analytics and other products out there that better addresses the type of software that users are using more frequently these days. It still might be challenging for users to begin to take a more personal look at their user engagement, when a high-level view seems to be more convenient and more efficient in the long run, but Doshi thinks offering both perspectives is the best way to help his customers truly improve their products.