Top 3 tools for reporting Zendesk metrics

Zendesk is a popular choice for customer service and support, offering a range of tools to manage interactions and boost customer satisfaction. However, making sense of all the data it collects requires robust reporting tools. Zendesk Explore, Power BI, and SquaredUp are three powerful tools that can help you unlock valuable insights from your Zendesk data, but each has its unique strengths. In this blog, we’ll compare these three tools to help you decide which is the best fit for your Zendesk reporting needs.

1. Zendesk Explore

Overview

Zendesk Explore is Zendesk’s built-in analytics and reporting tool, specifically designed for analyzing customer support data. It provides users with pre-built dashboards and metrics tailored to Zendesk, allowing teams to get started with reporting and analytics quickly.

Key features

• Pre-built and customizable dashboards: Zendesk Explore comes with ready-to-use dashboards that cover essential metrics like ticket volume, first response time, and customer satisfaction. Users can also build custom reports for unique insights.
• Drill-down capabilities: Dive into specific metrics and ticket details to understand trends and performance at a granular level.
• Real-time monitoring: Track real-time data for time-sensitive metrics, like response time, to ensure SLAs are met.
• Collaboration: Share reports with team members and stakeholders directly within Zendesk, making it easy to distribute insights across the organization.

Best for

Zendesk Explore is ideal for teams that need an out-of-the-box reporting solution tailored specifically to Zendesk. It’s best for those who value ease of use, integrated reporting, and real-time monitoring over highly complex analytics.

Limitations

Explore offers deep insights into Zendesk-specific data, but is limited in integrating data from other sources and lacks the advanced analytics capabilities that Power BI and SquaredUp offer.

While its pre-built dashboards cover most of the data Support Managers would want to report on, there is a steep learning curve when it comes to creating custom dashboards and configuring the right queries.

It is also limited in its sharing capabilities, only allowing for sharing within the Zendesk portal, with Zendesk users.

2. Power BI

Overview

Microsoft Power BI is a leading business intelligence tool that can connect to Zendesk through API integrations or third-party connectors. Power BI is well-suited for companies that want to consolidate Zendesk data with data from other business systems, providing a broader view of performance and enabling advanced analytics.

Key features

• Comprehensive data integration: Power BI can pull in data from multiple sources, allowing you to combine Zendesk data with other business metrics for a holistic view of customer service.
• Advanced analytics and modeling: Power BI supports complex data modeling, allowing for sophisticated analyses, predictive analytics, and even machine learning.
• Custom visualizations and dashboards: Users can create fully customized, interactive dashboards to track KPIs, identify patterns, and drill down into specifics.
• Robust sharing options: Power BI reports can be easily shared with team members and embedded into internal portals for organization-wide access.

Best for

Power BI is best suited for organizations that need to combine Zendesk data with other data sources, perform advanced analytics, and create highly customized reports. It’s ideal for data-savvy teams looking to go beyond standard Zendesk reporting.

Limitations

Setting up Power BI with Zendesk requires technical expertise, and building custom reports can be complex for beginners. Additionally, Power BI doesn’t offer real-time reporting out of the box, which may be a drawback for some customer support teams.

3. SquaredUp

Overview

SquaredUp is a visualization tool known for its simple, intuitive dashboards. Originally built for IT operations, SquaredUp’s recent expansions now support data integrations with platforms like Zendesk. SquaredUp is designed for organizations that prioritize data visualization and accessibility, offering a straightforward way to present complex data.

Key features

• Ease of use: SquaredUp is extremely user-friendly, allowing users to create data visualizations without extensive technical knowledge.
• Pre-built and customizable dashboards: SquaredUp comes with three out-of-the-box Zendesk dashboards – Ticket Report dashboard, KPI dashboard, Agent Activity dashboard. Users can also build custom dashboards for unique insights.
• Unified data view: Like Power BI, SquaredUp allows integration of Zendesk data with other data sources, giving support teams a comprehensive view.
• Real-time data integration: SquaredUp supports real-time data, helping teams monitor performance and make quick adjustments.
• Sharing via URL: Users can share dashboards with stakeholders without Zendesk access via a simple URL

Best for

SquaredUp is best suited for organizations looking for intuitive, real-time reporting with a strong emphasis on data visualization. It’s particularly useful for customer support teams that want quick insights without diving into complex analytics or data modeling.

It is also ideal for those wanting to share Zendesk data outside of the support team without the need for additional Zendesk licenses.

For more complex or custom use cases, SquaredUp offers a SQL Analytics feature for easy data manipulation.

Limitations

While SquaredUp offers great visualization capabilities, it relies heavily on integrations, which may require some setup effort to get the data flowing correctly.

Which tool is right for you?

Here’s a summary to help you decide which tool best fits your Zendesk reporting needs:

Final thoughts

Choosing the right reporting tool depends on your team’s specific needs and goals. Zendesk Explore is a fantastic choice for teams focused on Zendesk-specific reporting, while Power BI offers unparalleled flexibility and advanced analytics for teams looking to combine Zendesk data with other sources. SquaredUp provides a straightforward, visually appealing reporting solution with real-time insights, perfect for teams who prioritize ease of use.

No matter which tool you choose, investing in Zendesk reporting tools will help you transform raw data into actionable insights, ultimately leading to improved customer satisfaction and support team performance.