Ask HN: How do you track user activity?

User feedback is a great way to improve your service. However, often times, direct customer feedback is not enough to justify next product direction. I want to track user activity on my web applications to provide solid set of statistics to help understand my customer base.

I looked at performance monitoring services like New Relic, but they are designed for developers, but I am looking for options and tools which help analyze application data.

It sounds like a common problem for an entrepreneur. I would like to ask HN community following questions -

1. How do you analyze data stored on your web applications 2. What parameters are most helpful for you to decide next set of features 3. Are there service/tools available for me to extract and represent data graphically for detailed analysis. My applications are primarily written on Rails and .NET

Thank you!