The world is now awash in data and we can see consumers in a lot clearer ways. – Max Levchin, co-founder of PayPal

Proper analysis of data is critical to the achievement of business goals in the online era. A survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) showed companies whose leaders rely on insights provided by solid data are three times more likely to make more effective decisions than those who don’t make good use of data.

So, how can organizations make the best use of data? What does it take to empower decision makers at companies to make sense of the huge volumes of marketing and other business data? The answer —visualize the data in a user-friendly manner. Today, we’ll look at 5 key aspects of developing an effective data visualization strategy.

1. Identify the target audience and their needs

It is very important to consider who your target audience is and how it will consume data to come up with an efficacious data visualization strategy. Here are a few questions you need to ask to understand your audience and their requirements clearly.

• Who will utilize the results of the data visualization? Will the users of the data be the members of a corporate board, salespersons, customers, investors, employees, regulatory authorities or members of the public?
• What is the purpose of visualizing the data? Is the visualization intended to explain the performance of a company, make a business or investment decision, identify potential risks, or convince the customer of a product’s benefits?
• What elements of data are the most critical? For instance, while making the presentation to a potential investor, the data pertaining to Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) could be the most critical factor in influencing the decision.

• Make sure the visualized data is structured and clean

This is a very important (and unfortunately, the most neglected) aspect of formulating a proper data visualization strategy. Ensure the data you present to the audience is free of anomalies and is properly structured. Check out for the following in your data before you try to put it in a visual format.

• Duplicate data elements as they can confuse your audience
• Data elements that are not relevant; for instance, if the audience need a presentation of data pertaining to a company’s profits in the last decade, then the data pertaining to earlier years will be irrelevant
• Completeness of the data; try to ensure there are no missing elements in the data as they may affect the integrity of the data visualization
• Accuracy of the data; ensure the data you visualize is factually correct as errors may lead to faulty decision making
• Structural anomalies that affect the data’s consistency; see that units of data are consistent throughout the visualization (for instance, using meters as the measure of length to represent some data elements and feet in case of others can lead to wrong interpretations).
• Consistency in data-presentation conventions and terminology; for example, use either NA or Not Applicable but not both.

• Choose the right visual presentation format

Remember the maxim one size doesn’t fit all, when you zero-in on the right visual presentation strategy for your data. Make sure the type of chart you select helps the audience connect easily to the data you present. Here is a table that indicates various types of charts and the type of data that can be best presented using each, along with an example for each type of data.

• Label the data elements and highlight key points

Proper labeling helps people put data in perspective. It helps them understand the data very clearly, thereby enhancing the efficacy of the presentation. Likewise, it is necessary to highlight the important elements of the data to enable the audience grasp the essence of the data visualization.  Consider the following visualization of data, for instance.

Source: https://visme.co/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/3-1.jpg

In the above image, all information pertaining to the data is provided; it tells what the data is about (the number of complaints received due to slow Comcast connectivity) and highlights the key development (the agreement reached between Netflix and Comcast), which resulted in a decrease in the number of complaints.

• Design for users of smartphones and tablets  

We live in the age of the mobile; as the number of people who access information using only smartphones and tablets grows with each passing day, it is very essential to develop a visualization strategy that facilitates effective presentation of data on the small screens of mobile devices.

Many use static data visualization formats such as the Joint Photographic Expert Group (JPEG or JPG) and Portal Network Graphics (PNG). While these formats help render data effectively on desktop computers, they could pose problems to users of mobiles. It is advisable to build responsive visualizations using JavaScript libraries or create multiple versions of static data visuals with different aspect ratios for the desktop and the mobile.

By focusing on the five aspects listed above, you can come up with the winning data visualization strategy. At Mergen, we help you formulate the right strategy and make the best use of cutting-edge tools such as Tableau to visualize data very effectively.  

Hope you liked this post. How do you visualize data? We’d love to know.