Analytics helps you understand how users interact with your help center. Track visitor behavior, article performance, search trends, and user feedback to identify content gaps and optimize your help center.
How to Access Analytics
From your Ferndesk dashboard, click Analytics in the left sidebar under the "Product" section.
You'll land on the Overview tab by default.
Use the date range picker in the top right to filter data for a specific period (defaults to the past 30 days).
Analytics is available for Ferndesk-hosted help centers. External help centers (Zendesk, Help Scout) are not supported.
Dashboard Tabs
Overview
Get a high-level view of your help center's performance.
Key metrics:
Unique visitors: Total unique visitors to your help center and embedded widgets.
Article views: Total views across all your articles.
Searches: Total search queries performed in your help center.
Daily visits chart: A bar graph showing visitor trends over your selected date range.
Most viewed articles: A table showing your top-performing articles with view counts. Click View more to see your complete articles list.
Articles
Monitor how individual articles are performing and which ones need attention.
Key metrics:
Article views: Total views on articles in your help center and widgets.
Published articles: Current number of live articles in your help center.
All articles table: View every article with the following data:
Article title and collection folder
View count
Feedback reactions: upvotes and downvotes
Sort articles using the dropdown menu:
Views (high to low): Default sort showing most-viewed articles first.
Reactions (high to low): Shows articles with the most user feedback.
Hover over any row to reveal actions:
Ask Fern to edit article: Have Fern AI suggest improvements based on performance data.
Edit manually: Open the article editor to make changes yourself.
View live article: Preview the published article.
Articles with high view counts but low positive reactions may need clarity improvements. Use the "Ask Fern to edit article" feature to get AI-powered suggestions.
Searches
Understand what users are searching for and identify gaps in your content.
Key metrics:
Searches: Total search queries in your help center for the selected date range.
Missed searches: Queries that returned zero results—these highlight content gaps.
Search CTR: The percentage of searches that led to an article click.
Most searched articles: Shows articles that users clicked on after a search, ranked by click count.
Top searches table: View all search queries with filter options:
All searches: Every search query performed.
Hit: Searches that returned results (green badge).
Miss: Searches with zero results (amber badge).
For each query, you'll see:
Search query text
Status badge (Hit or Miss)
Number of times searched
Last searched timestamp
Missed searches are your highest-priority content gap signals. Frequently repeated missed searches indicate a strong user need. Create new articles to address them.
Feedback
Review all user reactions to your articles, including both positive and negative feedback.
Key metrics:
Upvotes: Positive reactions received during the selected date range.
Downvotes: Negative reactions—articles worth reviewing for clarity or accuracy.
Average sentiment: The percentage of readers who found articles useful.
Recent feedback list: See all feedback sorted by recency:
User email (click to copy) or "Anonymous"
Feedback message
Sentiment badge (green for positive, amber for negative)
Article title (linked)
Timestamp
Hover over any feedback to reveal actions:
Ask Fern to edit article: Get AI suggestions to fix issues the user raised.
Edit manually: Make targeted edits yourself.
View live article: See the article in your help center.
Delete feedback: Remove the feedback entry (red text).
Positive feedback on an article is a signal that it's helping users. Use these high-performing articles as templates for similar topics.
Using Analytics to Improve Your Help Center
Find Content Gaps
Use the Searches tab to identify what users are looking for but can't find. Prioritize creating articles for high-frequency missed searches—this shows strong user demand.
Fix Underperforming Articles
In the Articles tab, look for high-view articles with low positive reactions. These may be confusing or incomplete. Use the "Ask Fern to edit article" feature to get AI improvement suggestions.
Respond to User Feedback
Review recent feedback in the Feedback tab and act on downvotes quickly. Direct criticism helps you pinpoint exactly what's confusing users. Update the article immediately to improve user trust and reduce related support tickets.
Boost Discoverability
If an existing article should have matched a missed search, update its title, keywords, or summary to improve visibility. Check the Searches tab to see which queries users tried.
Track Progress
Return to the Overview tab regularly to monitor visitor trends and top articles. Use date range comparisons to see if your improvements are working.
Tips for Success
Check analytics weekly: Set a regular cadence to review new missed searches and feedback so you can act quickly.
Use Fern for efficiency: Let Fern AI suggest edits for flagged articles instead of rewriting from scratch.
Sort by reactions: In the Articles tab, switch to "Reactions (high to low)" to find articles most in need of improvement.
Copy feedback emails: Click a user's email to copy it to clipboard—useful for reaching out to users who left detailed feedback.
Adjust date ranges: Narrow your date range to focus on recent trends, or expand it to spot long-term patterns.
What's Next
Learn how to create and manage articles based on your analytics insights.
Explore SEO best practices to improve article discoverability.
Use embedded widgets to track analytics from external sites.