3 Ways to Make Marketing Music from Data Noise

I can recall the project kick-off quite clearly. The team gathered into a conference room, we spent a few minutes talking casually, and then we jumped into the reason we were all there. “We need to refresh our flagship marketing report. It has a large audience, and is critical to our marketing efforts. We have it get it right.”

“Okay!” I thought. We do projects like these all the time. I anxiously waited as our client plugged in a projector and fired up the existing report. My eyes panicked. Numbers…numbers everywhere! There were tables, pie charts, and bar charts all packed into one 8.5 x 11 landscape. I didn’t even know where to start. The client continued, “So this is page 1 of 10…”

This client had a lot of data available, and this dashboard was attempting to milk every last drop. Admirable, but extremely confusing. Paralyzing, even. A little voice in my head was crying out, “Will someone please think of the user!?” Welcome to the world of modern marketing. We have data and lots of it. We need great analysts and developers to filter it, synthesize it, and process it into something valuable — something meaningful to someone who can then apply it and bring the implication of the insight into reality. However, too much information can actually prevent any action from being taken at all. “Analysis Paralysis”, “Information Overload”…whatever you want to call it. With all this data, and the many stories it can tell us, how do we as analysts deliver something that inspires action, not atrophy (or worse, apathy)? How do we design informative analytics in a way that cuts through the noise?

Here are a few simple strategies I’ve learned from some very talented professionals for tackling that mountain of data while avoiding what I’ve heard someone adequately refer to as “data puke.”

Know Your Audience

As it turns out, your greatest tool in designing succinct dashboards is not that cutting-edge BI platform you just spent five years propping up, nor the Inception-inspired nested if-then statements you ninja’d out on that one project that one time. It’s your empathy.

You should be putting as much effort into understanding your end user and the context in which the report is used as you put into actually building it. Sure, it would be great to know everything that’s locked up in those many rows of data, but knowing everything requires a lot of time — time your constituents will be quick to remind you they have very little of.

Instead of kicking things off with “What data do you have?” try something more along the lines of “What is it you’re trying to understand? What are you trying to do with the results of that data?” If the list gets longer than 3-5 main actions, prioritize. If they had 30 seconds to get the answers they need to make their next move, what questions would they ask? This brings me to the next tactic.

Get To The Point

Now that your audience has told you what information they need to do their job, give it to them! Set up reporting that shows the final answer, or as close as you can get to it, right off the bat. They can always follow up and get more information later (drill downs, supplementary views, etc.), but assume they have 30 seconds to spend with your dashboard and no more. You’ll have to be efficient with your space and your presentation. If they’re pulling numbers from one section of your dashboard, and then adding/dividing/etc. other numbers to get the number they really want, then your job isn’t done. Do the work for your user. Give them the final insight whenever you can.

One technique I tend to use here is a version of The 5 Whys, but instead of looking for the root cause of a problem, I’m searching for the root insight. Instead of asking “Why?” I ask “Then what?” until I get to an insight I can actually take action on.

Visualizing data can dramatically speed up the time to cognition when the point you’re conveying involves comparisons, relationships between numbers, or trends over time. There are a lot of fantastic resources out there that cover this topic in detail, so I won’t go into them here, but know that the visual representation of the information can dramatically improve the comprehension of data and make a big difference in your dashboards when used properly (and please, use it properly).

For added effect, utilize the well-known “Z” scanning pattern (users will often look at the top left of your dashboard first, then scan left to right, then back down and left to right again, in a Z pattern) to emphasize the most important information first. Combine this with other design elements like color, contrast, font, and size to drive your user’s eyes to the most important information.

Back It Up

And finally, before you start thinking it’s okay to be some “one-number-to-rule-them-all” type of analyst, I should point out something I didn’t fully understand at first, but came to realize after my first several different projects: “They want more.”

“No way!” I thought. I just gave you the answer. I made you something that did all the work so that you don’t have to. Aren’t you happy? Aren’t you glad I’m such a freaking wizard with these analytics?

They weren’t. My clients, and surely your constituents as well, are smart people. They’re intelligent, inquisitive, and when they’re about to make a big decision, they’re not going to just take your magic number at face value. They’ll be curious and probably skeptical, as they should be. That’s a good thing!  It means they’re thinking, which is what you want. So don’t just throw them the magic number and pack up your things; give them the magic number and then show them why, after the big reveal. Think of this as The 5 Whys, but in reverse. Make it easy for them to support the main conclusion presented with additional levels of information on the dashboard.

This may seem a little contradictory, but understand that this is lower priority information and should be structured on the dashboard as such. It doesn’t get the hot real estate on the page or the largest text, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve a seat at the table. Just don’t waste resources and energy when presenting it.  If needed, think about offering a secondary “deep-dive” view of the data that allows your user to explore further at their own discretion. This way, if they want more information, they can have it. If they don’t, they’re not forced to sift through endless KPI’s just to get the insight they need to get the job done.

Follow this plan and your stakeholders will thank you for your thoughtful analysis (once they’re done soaking up the praise they get for being rock stars as a result of your killer dashboard).