If you cannot measure something, improving it becomes close to impossible. Collecting key data metrics that assist you in understanding what is working and what is not, is critical to success. Dashboards are a great way to collect all this critical data in one place, to constantly review incoming information and make real time decisions to see what is working and what is not.

Recently we launched a new project that I am working on Identifii. I will be posting a detailed article on the venture next week. To track our initial alpha users, we have been using a service called Geckoboard. It does an awesome job of aggregating all of your stats into one place and displaying them in one location.

With the dashboard, we have been able to make real time decisions regarding how users are interacting with the system, what buttons they are clicking, whether they are doing a particular action we want them to, as well as a host of other base metrics we use to focus on engagement. If you are running a web app, online store, or even a large website, I would highly recommend you set this up for yourself.