How to do SWOT Analysis? Guide with Examples

To run a profitable business, you’ve got to analyze the processes impacting your bottom line.

Why?

This form of analysis ensures you’re operating efficiently and profitably. While there’re multiple ways of analyzing your business, one of the tested and proven methods is to conduct a SWOT analysis.

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis can help you achieve two KEY goals:

Evaluate your competitive landscape
Develop strategic planning to increase the bottom line

This methodology is designed to help you assess internal and external factors likely to create a stumbling block.

Yes, you read that right.

Also, the SWOT analysis provides a data-driven look at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats facing your business.

Get this straight.

A SWOT analysis is a mere guide. It’s not a prescription for all the problems facing your business.

Let’s assume you’ve gathered the data for SWOT analysis. What’s the go-to chart if you take the visualization route?

Sankey is one of the tested and proven charts for the task. And this is because it highlights key variables using flows.

In SWOT analysis, this chart can help you narrow down all the variables that constitute strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

How?

It segments the critical variables in SWOT using percentages. And this means you can easily segment the variables based on their urgency.

Let’s say opportunities account for 45% and threats account for 12%.

It makes sense to double down on the opportunities.

Excel does not have ready-made and visually stunning Sankey Diagrams for SWOT analysis.

So, what’s the solution?

Download and install a particular third-party application (add-in) if your goal is to get ready-to-use and visually stunning Sankey Charts.

Keep reading to discover more about this add-in.

In this blog, you’ll learn:

Table of Content:

What is SWOT Analysis?
When Should You Use the SWOT Analysis?
How to Visualize SWOT Analysis Table?
How to do SWOT Analysis? Step-by-Step Guide with Examples
Video Tutorial: How to do SWOT Analysis in Excel using Sankey Diagram?
Wrap Up

Before jumping into the blog’s core, we’ll address the following question: what is SWOT analysis?

What is SWOT Analysis?

Definition: The Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT), is a methodology you can use to assess the following variables, namely:

Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats

You can leverage the tool to analyze your current successes to devise strategies for the future.

SWOT can help you uncover areas holding your business back. Also, it can showcase insights into the actions of your close competitors.

This game-changing tool examines both internal and external factors. In other words, what’s going on inside and outside your business?

Here’s the twist.

Some of the aforementioned factors can be within your control, and some will not.

SWOT methodology can help you to challenge risky assumptions and to uncover disastrous blind spots.

If you use the SWOT analysis example carefully, it can deliver new insights into your current situation. More so, you develop strategies to respond to changes in both internal and external landscapes.

Check out the example below.

You may be aware of your business’s strengths. But until you record them alongside threats and weaknesses, you might not realize the impact of those strengths.

On the other hand, you’ll likely have reasonable concerns about your business’ weaknesses and threats.

But by investigating further, you could find a hidden opportunity previously overlooked.

When Should You Use the SWOT Analysis?

We recommend you use SWOT analysis examples before committing strategic actions, such as:

Revamping internal policies
Considering opportunities
Altering a plan midway through the execution

The methodology can show you the key areas in your business are performing optimally and abysmally. And segments that are consuming a lot of resources and generating cringe-worthy returns.

By investing your time in conducting a SWOT analysis, you can get the macro view of your business.

And from there, you’re likely to discover ways to eliminate your company’s weaknesses and soften threats while doubling down on strengths and opportunities.

We recommend you include other team members for more insights you may have missed. Sometimes, a fresh pair of eyes can help you uncover insights you may have missed.

The primary objective of the SWOT analysis example is to help you develop data-driven awareness of all the factors influencing your business’ bottom line.

How to Visualize SWOT Analysis Table?

Excel is one of the popular tools of visualization among micro and small business owners. However, it lacks ready-made Sankey Diagrams for visualizing the SWOT table (SWOT analysis diagram).

We’re not recommending you dump Microsoft Excel.

There’s an amazingly affordable visualization tool that comes as an add-in you can easily install in Excel to access an insightful and easy-to-customize SWOT Analysis Diagram (Sankey Chart).

The application is called ChartExpo.

So, what is ChartExpo?

ChartExpo is an add-in you can easily install in your Excel to access ready-made and visually appealing SWOT Analysis Diagrams (Sankey Diagram in Excel).

Features and Benefits

ChartExpo has a super-friendly user interface (UI) to eliminate frustrations associated with data visualization.
You don’t require design skills to generate insightful visualization charts in excel for your stories.

In the coming section, we’ll address SWOT examples.

You don’t want to miss this.

How to do SWOT Analysis? Step-by-Step Guide with Examples

Example #1

Below is a table with SWOT data for a hypothetical company called E-store.

It’s segmented into:

Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats

In this section, we’ll use a SWOT Analysis Diagram (Sankey) to visualize the table below.

Let’s dive in.

Company	SWOT	Measures
E-Store	Strengths	Brand identity
E-Store	Strengths	Pioneer advantage
E-Store	Strengths	Cost advantage
E-Store	Strengths	Continuous business improvement
E-Store	Weakness	Low-profit margins
E-Store	Weakness	Seasonality
E-Store	Opportunity	Diversification of e-commerce business
E-Store	Opportunity	Continuous to increase awareness
E-Store	Opportunity	Expansion of local businesses
E-Store	Opportunity	Promotion with affiliated industries
E-Store	Threats	Loss of profits due to low-profit margins
E-Store	Threats	Patent infringement
E-Store	Threats	E-commerce industry barriers
E-Store	Threats	Cybersecurity issues

To get started with ChartExpo in Excel, follow the steps below:

Open your Excel desktop application.
Open the worksheet and click the Insert button to access the My Apps option.

Select ChartExpo add-in and click the Insert button.

Once ChartExpo is loaded, you will see a list of charts. Look for the “Sankey Chart”, as shown below.

Select the data in the worksheet and click the Create Chart From Selection button, as shown.

Highlight your data and click the Create Chart From Selection button, as shown above.
Check out the final chart below.

Let’s edit the Chart to add more details, such as titles and legends.

Click the Edit Chart button, as shown above.
Once the Node Properties window shows, click the Number button and toggle the small button named Show Number to the right side.
Click the Apply button, as shown.

Let’s add percentages to our Sankey Chart.

Click the Percentage button and toggle the small button named Show Percentage to the right side.
Click the Apply button, as shown.

Let’s add some color to our SWOT analysis example (Sankey Diagram).

Click the Node Color button and select your preferred color on the right side.
Click the Apply button, as shown.
Click the Save Changes button to preserve all the changes made.

Check out the final chart below.

Example #2

The table below has SWOT data for a hypothetical company called E-store.

And it’s segmented into Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

In this section, we’ll use a SWOT Analysis Diagram (Sankey) to visualize the table below.

Company	SWOT	Measures	Metrics
E-Store	Strengths	Brand identity	14
E-Store	Strengths	Pioneer advantage	37
E-Store	Strengths	Cost advantage	32
E-Store	Strengths	Continuous business improvement	17
E-Store	Weakness	Low-profit margins	37
E-Store	Weakness	Seasonality	63
E-Store	Opportunity	Diversification of e-commerce business	24
E-Store	Opportunity	Continuous to increase awareness	38
E-Store	Opportunity	Expansion of local businesses	31
E-Store	Opportunity	Promotion with affiliated industries	7
E-Store	Threats	Loss of profits due to low-profit margins	34
E-Store	Threats	Patent infringement	26
E-Store	Threats	E-commerce industry barriers	29
E-Store	Threats	Cybersecurity issues	11

Open your Excel desktop application.
Open the worksheet and click the Insert button to access the My Apps option.
Highlight your data and click the Create Chart From Selection button, as shown below.

Check out the final chart below.

Let’s edit the Chart to add more details, such as titles and legends.

Click the Edit Chart button, as shown above.
Click the Percentage button and toggle the small button named Show Percentage to the right side.
Click the Apply button, as shown.

Click the Number button and toggle the small button named Show Number to the right side.
Below, you’ll see a dropdown showing two options (Level and Chart). Select your preferred option.
Click the Apply button, as shown.

Click the Number button and toggle the small button named Show Number to the right side.
Click the Apply button, as shown.

Click the Symbols button and toggle the small button named Show to the right side.
Add your preferred prefix and postfix.
Click the Apply button, as shown.

Click the Node Color button and select your preferred color on the right side.
Click the Apply button, as shown.
Click the Save Changes button to preserve all the changes made.

Check out the final SWOT analysis example chart (Sankey Diagram).

Example #3

Follow the same steps in examples #1 and #2.

Company	SWOT	Measures	Metrics
E-Store	Strengths	Brand identity	108
E-Store	Strengths	Pioneer advantage	163
E-Store	Strengths	Cost advantage	122
E-Store	Strengths	Continuous business improvement	137
E-Store	Weakness	Low profit margins	106
E-Store	Weakness	Seasonality	193
E-Store	Opportunity	Diversification of e-commerce business	109
E-Store	Opportunity	Continuous to increase awareness	156
E-Store	Opportunity	Expansion of local businesses	125
E-Store	Opportunity	Promotion with affiliated industries	114
E-Store	Threats	Loss of profits due to low-profit margins	124
E-Store	Threats	Patent infringement	151
E-Store	Threats	E-commerce industry barriers	144
E-Store	Threats	Cybersecurity issues	133

Check out the final SWOT Analysis Diagram (Sankey).

Video Tutorial: How to do SWOT Analysis in Excel using Sankey Diagram?

In the following video, you will learn how to do SWOT Analysis for E-Store in Excel using Sankey Diagram.

FAQs:

What is SWOT analysis used for?

You can leverage the tool to best analyze your current successes to devise future strategies.

Besides, SWOT can help you uncover areas holding your business back. Also, it can showcase insights into the actions of the competitors.

The game-changing tool examines both internal and external factors.

What is the main purpose of SWOT analysis?

The Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) is a methodology you can use to assess the following variables affecting your business, namely:

Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunity
Threat

And it can show you the key areas your business is performing optimally and abysmally.

Wrap Up