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Google Sheets is one of the free tools available for small businesses to gather, clean, and visualize data.
To access the application, you need a Gmail account.
The visualization tool comes with a sizable number of charts that are basic and need more work in editing. Besides, it lacks a substantial number of graphs you can use to craft compelling data narratives.
We’re not advocating you ditch the spreadsheet app you’ve used for many years.
You have an option of installing a particular add-in access ready-to-use visualization design, such as:
In this blog, you’ll learn the following:
Before delving right into the blog’s core, we’ll address the following question: what is a data graph?
Walk into almost any business meeting, and you’ll see charts and graphs incorporated into data stories.
It could be a chart showing the progress the team is making on a big project. Or a graph showing the sales revenue versus competition or industry average.
Data graphs make the information much easier to digest and understand. Some of the tested and proven business charts include.
We’ll cover these data graphs in detail in the coming section. You don’t want to miss this.
Graphs are powerful because they simplify data by making it understandable & readable at the same time. Besides, they make data stories compelling and irresistible to target audiences.
Keep reading because, in the coming section, we’ll cover the following: the importance of graphs and charts in business.
Check out the list of tested and proven data graphs you can use to craft compelling data stories.
A Sentiment Trend Chart uses a combination of lines and bars to display comparison insights into key data points. The green-colored bars depict growth while the red ones show a decline.
The line chart shows the overall pattern and trend of the key variables under study.
To generate a ready-made and visually stunning Sentiment Trend Chart, you need a reliable data graph maker. Keep reading to discover more.
You can use a Pareto Chart, especially when you encounter multiple related problems or a common problem with numerous causes in your business.
Why?
A Pareto Chart empowers you to categorize occurrences based on their impact on a common strategic goal or objective. This visualization design aims to categorize key variables in your data based on their frequency of occurrence.
In other words, this chart provides you with in-depth and high-level insights into problems that require urgent attention and resources.
Pareto Chart is based on the classic 80/20 rule. The rule says that 20% of the causal factors result in 80% of the overall outcomes. For instance, 80% of the world’s total wealth is held by 20% of the population.
This easy-to-read chart prevents you from attacking the causes randomly by uncovering the top 20% of the problems, negatively affecting 80% of your overall performance.
A Pareto Diagram consists of two parts, namely:
Bars (in a Pareto Chart) are in descending order for you to uncover the most frequent problems first. The line chart separates the 20% of key variables from the rest (80%).
Pareto Analysis is a simple decision-making technique you can use to assess competing problems and measure their impact.
In other words, this technique empowers you to focus on solutions that provide the maximum benefits with minimal resources.
To generate a ready-made Pareto Chart for your data stories, you need a reliable data graph maker. We’ll talk about this in the coming section.
A Scatter Chart (also known as Scatter Plot or Scatter Diagram) is a visualization design that uses Cartesian coordinates to display insights into varying sets of data.
The chart uses dots to display relationships between variables.
The Scatter Plot communicates insights using dots or markers between its x and y-axes. Essentially, each of the chart’s dots appears “scattered,” hence its name. You can use Scatter Plot to determine the causal effect relationship between key data points.
For instance, you can use the visualization design to track the relationship between profits and employees’ training in your business.
One of the biggest advantages of the chart is its ability to display hidden relationships between key data points. You can use the chart to visualize two varying data sets for in-depth insights.
You can use Sankey Diagram to visualize data with flow-like attributes, such as material, energy, cost, etc.
This chart draws the reader’s attention to the enormous flows, the largest consumer, the major losses, and other insights. Besides, Sankey uses links and nodes to uncover hidden insights into relationships between critical metrics.
The size of a node is directly proportionate to the quantity of the data point under review.
A flow that’s twice as wide represents double the value of the metric. You need a reliable and easy-to-use data graph maker to access this visualization for data storytelling.
So, what’s the practical application of a Sankey Diagram?
You can use this phenomenal chart to visualize a broader range of data types in different industries, such as energy generation and transmission.
A Likert Scale Chart is a one-dimensional chart you can use to collect the attitudes and opinions of your target market.
The visualization design can help you understand the views and perspectives of the market toward your brand. The Likert Scale comes in different variants to help your business personalize its communication, among other benefits.
This chart measures and visualize the qualitative data (opinions and sentiments) by categorically assigning value. In other words, responses are measured based on their disagreement or agreement level.
The Likert Scale is based on the rationale that the strength and intensity of the respondents’ answers are linear.
More so, they can be measured on a scale ranging from a complete agreement to a complete disagreement. You can use a wide variety of topics (general and specific questions) to probe respondents about their level of agreement, perceptions, or beliefs towards your brand.
You need an easy-to-use data graph maker to craft compelling survey data stories using this visualization design.
In the coming section, we’ll cover the common applications of a data graph maker.
Most businesses are still betting on gut feel rather than facts and data.
One of the key reasons for this could be a lack of access to quality data to back up decision-making processes.
A data graph maker can help you distill signals from noise in your raw data. And this can save massive amounts of time. Just imagine the competitive advantage you would enjoy by relying on data to make strategic decisions.
Thanks to data graphs, such as Pareto Charts, you can interpret vast quantities of data clearly and cohesively to draw conclusions and see perspectives.
You can easily create and rapidly consume key metrics associated with your business or workplace.
If any of the aforementioned metrics have anomalies, such as sales being significantly down, you can easily dig into the data.
In today’s world, customers have a broader range of choices.
If your business is aligned with the customers’ desires and expectations, you can easily find yourself in a downward spiral. Customers change their minds as they are continuously exposed to new information in their purchasing journey.
With the vast amount of data, it’s practically impossible for you to make sense of all the changes in the market. The different types of charts for representing data (which we’ll talk about in a few) provide you with answers about the changing behavior of the market. You can easily point out significant shifts in tastes and preferences by using charts.
Timely awareness of the change in customer behavior can be the decisive factor in the current competitive landscape.
Gone are the days you could easily sell a standard set of products and services to customers.
Today’s market craves products and services that can meet their individual needs.
One of the benefits of business charts is that they can help you keep track of your target market’s tastes, preferences, and needs. You can leverage data from various attributions, such as social media and websites, to create a reliable persona for the market.
In the coming section, we’ll take you through how to create data graphs?
Google Sheets is a trusted data visualization tool because it’s familiar and has been there for years.
But the spreadsheet application lacks ready-made data graphs, such as Sentiment Trend Charts. In other words, it’s not a reliable data graph maker.
We understand switching tools is not an easy task.
This is why we’re not advocating you ditch Google Sheets in favor of other expensive data visualization tools.
There’s an easy-to-use and amazingly affordable visualization tool that comes as an add-in you can easily install in your Google Sheets ready-made data graphs. The tool is called ChartExpo.
So, what is ChartExpo?
ChartExpo is an incredibly intuitive add-on you can easily install in your Google Sheets without much effort.
With many ready-to-go visualizations, the Data graph maker turns your complex, raw data into compelling, easy-to-digest visual renderings that tell the data stories in real time.
In the coming section, we’ll take you through how to install and use ChartExpo into your Google Sheets.
You don’t want to miss this!
This section will use a Sentiment Trend Chart to visualize the tabular data below.
| Months | Cash Balance | Net Cash Flow |
| Jan | 3097 | 856 |
| Feb | 3657 | 809 |
| Mar | 3094 | 829 |
| Apr | 2896 | 709 |
| May | 3671 | 791 |
| Jun | 4038 | 2700 |
| Jul | 3213 | 790 |
| Aug | 2770 | 791 |
| Sep | 3704 | 720 |
| Oct | 3390 | 790 |
| Nov | 3035 | 749 |
| Dec | 3168 | 703 |
To get started with our data graph maker (ChartExpo), install the ChartExpo add-on for Google Sheets from this link and then follow the simple and easy steps below.
Data graphs are commonly used to visually illustrate relationships in the data.
Besides, they simplify data by making it understandable & readable at the same time. Also, they make data stories compelling and irresistible to target audiences.
Lastly, data graphs make the information much easier to digest and understand.
Google Sheets is one of the free tools available for small businesses to gather, clean, and visualize data.
To access the application, you need a Gmail account.
Google Sheets lack ready-made and insightful data graphs, such as Pareto and Sankey Charts. So, it is not a reliable data graph maker.
So, what’s the solution?
We recommend you install third-party apps, such as ChartExpo, to access ready-to-use data graphs.
ChartExpo is an add-on for Google Sheets that’s loaded with insightful and ready-to-go data graphs. You don’t need programming or coding skills to use ChartExpo.
Sign up for a 7-day free trial today to access ready-made data graphs that are easy to interpret and visually appealing to your target audience.
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What is a Likert scale rating? Click here to learn how to create a Likert scale survey using Google Forms and analyze survey data in Google Sheets.
