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Excel is one of the popular tools available for small businesses to gather, clean, and visualize data.
The data visualization tool comes with a sizable number of charts that are basic and need more work in editing. Besides, Excel lacks a substantial number of graphs you can use to craft compelling data narratives. For instance, you’ll never find Pareto Charts.
We’re not advocating you ditch the spreadsheet app you’ve used for many years.
You have an option of installing particular add-in access to ready-to-use visualization designs, such as:
In this blog, you’ll learn the following:
Before diving right into the blog’s core, we’ll address the following question: What is the best chart for visualization in Excel?
Excel is a spreadsheet app Microsoft developed for different operating systems, such as Windows, Mac OS, Android, and iOS.
The application has diverse functionalities, such as calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications.
More so, it’s part of the Microsoft Office Suite.
The world of business has embraced Excel because it’s flexible and easy to use.
Nearly all major businesses use Excel data visualization tools to handle bulky information. The spreadsheet application has a sizable number of charts and graphs for data storytelling.
In the next section, we’ll address the following question: how do you present data visually in Excel?
To prepare a persuasive presentation, specify the data requirements right at the outset. Let’s say the data pertains to website users and has the following variables, such as age, income, etc.
Once you’ve specified key variables, conduct the actual data collection.
The data collected should be organized for easy analysis and processing. This is where you’ll structure the data in a particular way for easy analysis.
While you may have organized data, it may have issues, such as duplicates, incomplete variables, and other errors. Conduct data cleaning to correct these errors.
Once data passes through various key phrases, such as processing and cleaning, it’s ready for data analysis. Besides, you can use the Excel data visualization tool to display insights.
Excel as a data visualization tool has a substantial number of charts, graphs, and maps you can use for storytelling.
However, it lacks ready-made charts, such as Pareto Chart and Grouped Bar Chart.
The Pareto Chart in Excel 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, according to the 1992, United Nations Development Program report 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.
You’ll never find this chart in the Excel data visualization tool.
The Grouped Bar Chart is made up of bars facing opposite sides. The bars for boys have a blue color. On the other hand, the bars for girls have a beige color. You can use the chart to compare two or more key variables.
For instance, the chart above is comparing the performance of boys and girls with respect to tests.
The idea is to keep the data visualization focused on a specific objective. Avoid overcrowding it and confusing the reader. Similarly, it’s important to keep your audience in mind and consider data points that are relevant to them.
You might be tempted to beautify your data visualization or make it look fancier but stop right there.
Before adding any design element, ask yourself if it’s adding any value. Good data visualizations should be clutter-free. They should be presentable and understandable. Sometimes, an overflow of data or a cluttered graph can defeat the whole purpose of your data visualization.
Ensure to choose the correct visualization models for your data. Choose a chart that represents your data clearly. Selecting the wrong visualization misleads the reader, causes confusion, and spreads misinformation.
Choose one color (with gradient variations) to show continuous data and contrasting colors when you’re making comparisons.
You can also use a bold color to highlight a specific data point. Similarly, make sure you use bold fonts to make the text on the visualization easy to read. Don’t go beyond three font types in one visualization because you can easily distract the reader.
It’s critical to choose the right type of chart if your goal is to create an effective data visualization.
Consider the type of data you’re using, the size of your dataset, and your intended audience.
A mismatch between the type of data being leveraged and the visual used to present it can be detrimental to viewers’ understanding of the information. Whether you’re working with qualitative or quantitative data, for example, impacts how you should display the information.
Ultimately, your visualization’s quality is only as good as that of your data.
For this reason, it’s important to clean data after it’s been collected to remove any irrelevant or inaccurate information. This process is often referred to as data wrangling or data cleaning.
Failure to thoroughly clean data before use could dent its integrity and lead to misleading data visualizations.
Apps, such as the Excel Data Visualization tool, come in handy in this phase.
Include a key or legend and additional context to help viewers make sense of your illustration.
To form a clear understanding of your data story, viewers need to know details, such as the period being examined, the data source, and what each color means.
Finally, the key to crafting a compelling visualization is to use data to tell a story.
If the data illustrates a trend or supports a hypothesis, your visualization should make that clear. After all, the purpose of charts is to present findings in a way that’s easy for viewers to digest and understand.
Telling a story makes your visualization more appealing and engaging and aids in data-driven decision-making.
Applications, such as the Excel data visualization tool, can help your business garner concrete marketing and sales information. In other words, these tools generate insights that can power up your decisions.
We’ll address the following question in the coming section: which tool is best for data visualization?
Excel is one of the best data visualization tools for businesses and professionals.
However, this freemium spreadsheet tool comes with very basic charts and graphs, such as Pareto and Grouped Bar Charts.
Well, you don’t have to do away with the spreadsheet app.
You can turn Excel into a reliable data visualization tool loaded with many custom excel charts, by installing third-party apps, such as ChartExpo.
ChartExpo is a chart maker that comes as an add-in you can easily install in your Excel.
With many insightful and ready-to-use visualizations, ChartExpo turns your complex, raw data into compelling, easy-to-digest visual renderings that tell the story of your data.
This Excel data visualization tool produces simple and clear visualization designs with just a few clicks.
Yes, ChartExpo generates charts, such as Comparison charts, Survey Charts, PPC Charts, and Sankey diagrams in Excel that are amazingly easy to interpret, even for non-technical audiences.
Assume you sell premium watches, such as Rolex, Patek Philippe, Omega, Audemars Piguet, Piaget, and Cartier.
You want to know the best and worst sellers in Q1, Q2, and Q3.
| Products | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
| Rolex | 500 | 1000 | 1200 |
| Patek Philippe | 400 | 290 | 150 |
| Omega | 470 | 342 | 200 |
| Audemars Piguet | 900 | 622 | 110 |
| Piaget | 430 | 600 | 220 |
| Cartier | 290 | 550 | 900 |
To install ChartExpo in your Excel, click this link.
| Products | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
| Rolex | 500 | 1000 | 1200 |
| Patek Philippe | 400 | 290 | 150 |
| Omega | 470 | 342 | 200 |
| Audemars Piguet | 900 | 622 | 110 |
| Piaget | 430 | 600 | 220 |
| Cartier | 290 | 550 | 900 |
Our brains can process images 60,000 times faster than texts and numbers.
It makes perfect sense to use charts, graphs, and maps to display insights rather than work with raw data. Visualization charts are the bridge between raw data and strategic business decisions. To power data-backed decisions, you need a solid visualization strategy.
Yes. Excel data visualization tool has a sizable number of graphs, charts, and maps you can use to visualize your data. However, it lacks powerful and ready-made charts, such as Pareto.
The existing charts require a lot of work in editing. We recommend you install ChartExpo in Excel to access ready-made charts.
Excel data visualization tool is one of the popular tools available for small businesses to gather, clean, and visualize data. To access the application, purchase the Microsoft Office application.
The data visualization tool comes with a sizable number of charts that are basic and need more work in editing.
Besides, Excel lacks a substantial number of graphs you can use to craft compelling data narratives. For instance, you’ll never find Pareto Charts.
We’re not advocating you ditch the spreadsheet app you’ve used for many years.
You have an option of installing the ChartExpo add-in to access ready-to-use visualization designs, such as:
ChartExpo is an add-on you can easily download and install in your Excel spreadsheet.
The iconic visualization tool is loaded with ready-to-use charts such as Pareto Chart, plus many more visually appealing visualization designs.
Sign up for a 7-day free trial today to access an easy-to-interpret and visually appealing, and ready-to-go charts in Excel.
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