Customer story

How Sage uses Pendo to build features with 90% customer satisfaction

174%
growth in feature usage
90%
customer satisfaction with new feature
Sage logo

Sage at a glance

Company

Sage provides businesses with software and services that are simple and easy to use, as they work with to give customers that feeling of confidence.

Industry Pharma + Business services
Company size Enterprise (1,500+)

Products used

Challenge

Sage needed to test a hypothesis about customer preferences for a new feature they were considering, but didn’t have necessary data to support.

Pendo’ing it

Using Pendo, they launched a survey to determine if customers wanted the new feature and learn more about their expectations.

Results

Within two days, they received 1,059 survey responses that validated their proposed feature and provided insight into how their customers wanted it to function. Two months later, the product team delivered the new feature with a 90% approval rating.

Contents

Companies often think they know exactly what their users want, so they build a feature or product on an untested theory, only to later see it underutilized, causing frustration. 

Successful feature development requires a direct line to users—a fact that Sage understands very well.

Sage provides payroll, HR, and finance software to over two million customers across the globe. One of its products, Sage Intacct, is cloud-based software that helps small to midsize business customers meet their financial accounting and compliance needs.

Building products and features that support customers is foremost in all the company’s initiatives. They prioritize projects that deliver positive impacts for customers—an outcome-first mindset—rather than simply completing tasks. 

Delivering feature functionality to satisfy customer needs

The product team was considering a new feature—allowing bills to be updated after they were submitted for approval. This feature had been considered for a while, but the team wanted to validate customer expectations and needed flexibility around the feature functionality.

Since accounting is a highly regulated industry with stringent compliance requirements and rigorous auditing at every step, maintaining proper security and controls was essential. The Sage team needed to understand the user’s mindset. Who should be allowed to make changes? What if a bill is already partially approved? How would the security and compliance considerations affect this new feature? Would building this feature deliver a clear beneficial outcome for customers? 

Jennifer Carlson, director of UX, and Tracy Tremblay, group product manager at Sage, led their respective teams to figure out how to proceed with the potential new feature. To gather opinions, they launched a Pendo In-app Guide that linked to a survey to gauge users on their desire for the feature and their expectations around its functionality. In order to ensure feedback was from the appropriate customer persona, they created a segment that targeted the guide to users who worked in bill approvals every day. 

A highly successful survey delivers key learnings 

In just two days, the UX and product teams received over 1,000 responses, with overwhelming positivity toward the feature. “Customers very much wanted the additional capability, and the survey information changed and enhanced the original requirements and design to meet our customers’ needs more directly,” explained Carlson. 

Survey data provided exactly what the team needed to confirm their hypothesis, clear up any internal debate about what customers may prefer, and build the feature they knew their users wanted. As an added bonus, the final design was easier for engineering to build than originally planned since user feedback dictated that it should be less restrictive in nature. 

An outcome-first mindset delivers customer satisfaction

After only two months, Sage launched the “recalling a submitted bill” capability  to customers and because the feature was so heavily based on customer feedback, the product team had high hopes for its success. 

To measure satisfaction, the feature launch included a targeted survey asking for feedback from users who had interacted with the new feature multiple times. A record-high number of customers rated “strongly agree” on both ease of use and meeting their needs, and many provided glowing written feedback that was optional. In short, their customers loved the new feature and were happy to share their feedback.

“It’s just so rewarding and encouraging to hear from the customer feedback that we created something that they truly need, use, and love,” Carlson shared, proving that their outcome-focused strategy worked. 

Getting a holistic view with qualitative and quantitative data 

With the data they started gathering upon launch and the success seen in the initial survey, Sage also tracked feature usage data using Pendo Analytics. They were able to track the number of users and the number of clicks on each of the two ways to recall a bill.

Clicks on the Recall buttons and links grew tremendously during the first six months post-launch. Clicks increased from 1519 to 4166, representing a 174% growth with an ongoing upward trend. Data also showed that users had a preference for where they chose to interact with the feature, with a 2:1 preference for using the feature within each individual bill, over the bulk recall button, helping to inform feature developments. 

The number of unique visitors per week for the Recall buttons and links also grew from 462 to 944, a 104 % increase. 

Before creating this feature, customers would have to find time-consuming workarounds or lean on the support teams for help. The new feature not only eliminated workarounds and reduced support calls, but also helps avoid delays in paying vendors and potential financial penalties. 

Detailed feedback, fast implementation, happy customers

Sage shows a tenacious commitment to figuring out what its customers want and delivering on those needs—and Pendo makes it easier to do so effectively. “Pendo helps us drive a better customer experience because we have access to quick customer feedback,” said Tremblay. 

The company’s use of Pendo helped Sage design alongside the customer, quickly measure usage and collect feedback, and make fast refinements based on what they learned. It took the guesswork out of design and ensured that what they delivered to customers enhanced the overall experience and provided a simplified user experience. 

This is just one example where Sage engaged with customers directly for their feedback on requirements and measured customer satisfaction as they rolled out new features, continuously cultivating an “outcomes” mindset throughout the team instead of a “delivery” mindset.

 

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