I once bragged about having 42 charts in our SaaS dashboard.
Churn didn’t clap.
What went wrong
- Choice overload: users bounced after 17 s of scrolling.
- Zero narrative: data with no “so what.”
- Mobile pain: half our customers live on iPads.
The “3-Number” rule I use now
- Health – are we up?
- Growth – did the thing get bigger?
- Next step – one clear action (button, not KPI).
Anything else lives in an “Advanced” tab—analytics for power users only.
Implementation sprint
| Day | Task | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Customer interviews (8 calls) | Mapped real questions |
| 2 | Delete unused metrics | Code diff –1 400 LOC |
| 3 | Rewrite copy around the 3 numbers | “Plain-English mode” |
| 4 | Ship + announce | +18 % weekly active the next cycle |
How to try this next week
- Screenshot your dashboard.
- Ask five customers: “Which 3 numbers keep you awake?”
- Ship only those, plus one suggested action.
- Hide the rest behind a toggle.
“Fewer numbers, more doing.” — customer email, exact quote
Before you go
I share tweaks like this every morning—wins and flops.
Grab tomorrow’s field note → Daily field note