Unlocking the Power Behind Actionable Insights

Picture this, you’ve just launched your brand new website or product, it’s exciting times, you’ve gone through a long process, and now you’re ready to sit back and watch the numbers hit your unimaginable targets. I’m sure you have felt that thrill of building something meaningful for your customers, but you have probably also experienced that sinking feeling when a feature misses the mark. That’s where actionable insights can help you take a losing feature into a shining success. Let's start from the beginning…

What are actionable insights?

Actionable insights are data-driven discoveries that directly inform a customer's decision. It’s about identifying a target area through data, then getting under the skin of the customer to understand their thought process to uncover the deeper meaning behind the data. They’re practical takeaways that guide you towards a clear course of action. For example, learning that 60% of your users don’t click on a ‘book a valuation’ isn’t actionable itself, but digging deeper and discovering that the user feels apprehensive about inputting their data because they assume they will be bombarded with emails - Now that’s actionable. The data gives you the target area, and the customer insights tell you the reason why.

Why should you care about actionable insights? 

It allows your team to focus and align around a particular area of improvement to enhance your customer experience. It cuts out the guesswork and can hold lucrative rewards if you hit the right target. There are three key benefits:

User-centred design

At the heart of actionable insights is a simple truth about human behaviour: people often can’t articulate what they want, but their actions reveal everything. A human-first approach means going beyond what users say and observing what they do, tapping into subconscious motivations and real-world habits to design experiences that truly meet their needs, behaviours, and resolve their pain points.

Faster iteration cycles

Insights help you test ideas quickly, learn what works and refine your product in real-time. Think of it as building a house with a blueprint rather than guessing where the walls and doors should go. 

Risk mitigation 

When you base your decisions on well-researched insights, you minimise the risk of creating something that falls flat, and instead produce something that works and succeeds. 

So, how do you go about finding actionable insights?

I’m not going to sugar coat it, getting actionable insights that makes you go “aha!” is not a walk in the park. But what is an advantage is that raw data is everywhere and deciphering the data to find key insights is what makes it actionable.

So what steps do you need to take to start deep diving into that data and creating those all important actionable insights? Let’s jump right in;

Step 1

Uncover the data your product likely generates a vast amount of important data, if you know where to look for it. Key tools to use - Google analytics, clarity or hotjar are great starting points to just name a few. What to look for - Focus on user behaviours, conversion rates, drop-off points and time spent on key screens or features. Why it matters - Behavioural data highlights what users are doing, where they’re struggling, and where they’re succeeding. For example, if you notice a high drop-off rate on your website checkout process, you’ve just uncovered a potential friction point and it is worth investigating further. 

Step 2 

Understanding your user - There are always two sides to every story and the numbers only tell you part of it, but to uncover the ‘why’ behind the customers' behaviour, you need to talk to your customers. Research methods - User interviews: Talk to your users directly so you can understand their needs and potential pain points of your product. Surveys - Send out questionnaires through email or within your app to capture quantitative and qualitative insights.

Usability testing - Watch customers use your product to identify areas of confusion or frustration. Why it matters - These insights help you understand and empathise with your customer and uncover behavioural motivations, that raw data just can’t provide.

Step 3

Let’s get intrusive and start listening in - Jokes aside, listening to your customers is an integral part of your product and discovering it, in its raw unfiltered form online can be disheartening but extremely motivating. Sources of feedback - App Store reviews, Customer support tickets, Social media comments and messages, Feedback forms. 

How to analyse it - Look for recurring themes, such as specific features customers love or areas they consistently have issues with. Tag and categorise the feedback to uncover patterns and cross-reference with your data and user research. Why it matters - This feedback is unsolicited and often highlights pain points as a customer experiences them.

Step 4

Now it’s time to start watching them - Okay, it might sound a bit like we’re spying, but observing how users interact with your product in real-time is key to understanding what’s working and what’s not.

Tools to use - Clarity and hotjar are great tools to get started with. What they show - Heat maps highlight the most clicked areas on a page, how far the average user scrolls down the page. Session recordings will also allow you to watch the real customers navigating your product, revealing frustration, pain points or moments of confusion. Why it matters - These types of tools provide visual information of user behaviour, making it easier to identify friction points.

Step 5

Monitor your sectors landscape and growing industry trends - Understanding your competitors is crucial, a lot of customers will be using similar products and often expect similar behaviour, now this doesn’t mean you out right copy them. It’s more savvy to utilise common themes and functionality. Bringing it all together - Actionable insights are the foundation of great product design. They empower everyone to make better decisions, iterate faster and ultimately products that customers can’t live without.

Key Takeaways

• Actionable insights go beyond surface-level data - Raw data alone isn’t enough—insights become actionable when they reveal why users behave a certain way. For example, knowing users don’t click a button is just the starting point; understanding the reason behind that behaviour is what makes the insight useful.

• They drive user-centred design decisions - Actionable insights put the user at the heart of your product strategy. They replace assumptions with real evidence, allowing you to prioritise features that address actual user needs and pain points.

• They speed up iteration and reduce risk - By guiding focused improvements, insights allow for faster testing and refinement. This leads to more effective solutions while avoiding costly mistakes from misaligned features or UX decisions.

• A blend of data and empathy is required - Finding actionable insights involves both quantitative data (e.g. Google Analytics, heat maps) and qualitative research (e.g. interviews, user feedback). This combined approach uncovers not just what users are doing, but why they’re doing it.

• Customer feedback is a goldmine for hidden truths - Unfiltered user feedback, from app reviews to support tickets, often reveals recurring pain points and real-time frustrations. Analysing this can surface powerful insights that structured research might miss.

It’s an exciting time to be in product design, and the future is filled with possibilities, but no matter how the tools evolve, the core principle remains the same: design with purpose, driven by insights, and always with your customer at heart.

Ready to turn raw data into real results? Let our experts help you uncover actionable insights that enhance your digital product design and drive meaningful user engagement - let’s chat!