Procore supports the construction industry by personalizing user experience with Pendo

When you think of construction, you probably imagine architects and general contractors, hard hat crews and project managers, and lots of people handling reams of paperwork in a trailer. What you may not think about is modern software. And yet software helps orchestrate the complex and delicate construction process.

The nature of the construction industry burdens software design in several unique ways. Job sites are made up of very different types of professionals, performing very different functions, across very different environments. Somehow the software needs to surface just the right information to each person and create a space where all can collaborate — from wherever they are. And that’s exactly what Procore provides: end-to-end construction management software that brings together all stakeholders to improve communication and project efficiency.

Serving such a unique mix of users requires the Procore team to develop a nuanced understanding of their audience. “Everyone here is really passionate about not only what we do, but also who we are serving,” says Amanda Bridge, UX content writer at Procore. “Yes, we’re a software company, but it’s a chief objective that every employee, regardless of role or department, gets hands-on experience in the construction industry to build empathy for our users. Procore is successful because every employee is passionate about helping our users get their job done safer and more efficiently in and outside of our product.”

Being passionate about your audience starts with appreciating how different users engage with your solution. Jobsite workers, for example, use Procore in fast-paced, loud settings. To them, comprehensive in-app communication can be distracting — and the last thing one wants is to be distracted in such an intense environment. Office users, on the other hand, require lots of detailed information, far more so than field teams do.

An earlier version of Procore’s in-app communication strategy didn’t allow for the level of personalization that its diverse users required. “We needed something that was consistent, something that was going to show up only to the users who needed it, and the communication had to be as short or as long as that customer needed,” says Amanda.

Above, Procore admin users are given the option to take a tour of a new feature as they’re working in it

Procore revisited its in-product communication strategy and positioned Pendo’s in-app guides prominently in the Procore product experience. “We realized that these Pendo Guides weren’t just something that we overlaid on our product. They were becoming an important part of the experience itself,” says Amanda.

Early success in delivering personalized guides to carefully selected user segments created exposure for Pendo throughout the Procore organization. Soon, other groups began to incorporate guides into their projects. At last count, there were over one hundred people across dozens of Procore teams using Pendo. To ensure a consistent customer experience, Amanda and Procore’s “Pendo Strike Team” created a Pendo Center of Excellence to help standardize best practices around in-app communications.

Above, Procore collaborators are shown a Pendo banner that informs them of a Procore webinar they can attend for additional training outside of the application

“Pendo gives us the ability to be more consistent in how we message to our users, which, in turn, helps them become more efficient and successful users of Procore,” says Amanda. “When our customers have a consistent product experience, they develop a familiarity with our application. They learn how to help themselves and know they can come back and learn more later if they’re busy or on a job site. The less surprising we can be in our application, the better. Pendo has allowed us to provide this new level of consistency.”