How to Create Trend Analysis Examples in Excel?

John, a CEO, knows that he must monitor the company’s finances to keep tabs on its performance. Also, he is conscious of the fact that extraneous elements can have an impact on its performance.

He decides to use trend analysis in his quest to track the business’s performance.

John gathers data from recent years to perform a trend analysis.

He discovers that while profits have grown, so have the expenses. This could indicate that too much is spent on certain items with insufficient investments in other areas.

With this information, John can decide better where to invest the company’s funds. Consequently, determine how to control costs to improve the company’s performance.

Trend Analysis is effective for tracking performances.

It is helpful with the following;

• Identifying patterns.
• Evaluating progress.
• Predicting future outcomes.

Let’s dive into some trend analysis examples and see how you can use them.

Table of Contents:

1. What is Trend Analysis?
2. What is the Use of  Trend Analysis?
3. Types of Trend Analysis
4. Importance of Trend Analysis
5. Best Charts for Trend Analysis
6. How to Do Trend Analysis in Excel?
7. Wrap Up

What is Trend Analysis?

Assume you want to evaluate the current position of your business and make predictions.

What do you resort to?

You analyze data from the recent past, right?

Now that’s what we refer to as trend analysis.

Trend analysis involves analyzing data to spot patterns and foresee future developments. You analyze metrics like revenue, costs, customer feedback, market and industry movements, etc.

It applies across various industries, including commerce, finance, economics, and advertising. It exposes hidden patterns in the data. This is useful for spotting potential growth or trouble spots.

What is the Use of Trend Analysis?

Trend analysis identifies opportunities and weaknesses in a business. This helps with decision-making based on past trends and current market conditions.

Trend analysis is also useful in foretelling future developments. This helps with long-term strategy and decision-making.

Furthermore, trend analysis is useful in finding new expansion avenues. You identify where you can take advantage of developing opportunities and trends.

Types of Trend Analysis

• Short-Term Trend Analysis

Short-term trend analysis examines patterns over relatively brief time frames. A few days to a few weeks is the typical time frame for this analysis.

It aids in identifying the following:

• • Stock market buying and selling opportunities.
  • Current market conditions.
  • Potential macroeconomic environment changes.

• Intermediate-Term Trend Analysis

Intermediate-term trend analysis is a potent tool for traders, investors, and analysts. It pinpoints and analyzes trends over weeks and months. This facilitates decision-making regarding market direction and profit-making potential.

As a result, market participants like traders, investors, and analysts can increase their chances of success.

• Long-Term Trend Analysis

Long-term trend analysis is the most exhaustive type. It examines data over extended periods and from various perspectives.

Long-term trend analysis helps investors identify market entry and exit points. Consequently, gain insight into the market’s overall direction.

This analysis can help you find stocks with a track record of long-term market out-performance.

Importance of Trend Analysis

• You can spot growth and improvement opportunities through trend analysis. Furthermore, you can monitor consumer habits and market tendencies. Consequently, pinpoint areas where you can implement changes to boost your bottom line.
• Budgeting and resource allocation decision-making benefit from trend analysis. You can spot trends in the market and determine how to allocate resources to maximize profits. This aids in keeping your finances in order and maximizing your profits.
• You can assess the success of your marketing campaigns using trend analysis. You can identify the successful ones and those necessitating adjustments. This boosts the efficacy of your marketing efforts and, ultimately, your return on investment.
• You can anticipate the market’s future trends with trend analysis. From this, you can make the appropriate preparations. Consequently, maintains a competitive edge in the market.

Best Ways to Illustrate Trend Analysis with Examples

Here are some trend analysis examples to illustrate the best charts and graphs for your analysis.

1. Run Chart

Also known as Line Chart, a Run Chart tracks the progress of a process over time. Regardless of whether the process is improving or declining. The chart makes it easy to identify patterns and trends in data.

Run charts are also useful because they show you the relationship between different process variables. By examining the individual data points, you can see how alterations to the process have affected the trend. This can help you zero in on areas in need of improvement.

You can also track team or department performance with a Run Chart. You can compare their performance this way and see how they measure against each other.

Example

Here is data on weekly mobile charger rejections. We can use a Run Chart to analyze the trends of these rejections.

Weeks	Quantity
Week-1	121
Week-2	131
Week-3	132
Week-4	125
Week-5	141
Week-6	126
Week-7	126
Week-8	130
Week-9	143
Week-10	146
Week-11	148
Week-12	151
Week-13	152
Week-14	156
Week-15	157
Week-16	155
Week-17	157
Week-18	143
Week-19	131
Week-20	127

This Run Chart shows the rejection trend’s mean value.

2. Double Axis Line Graph and Bar Chart

Trend analysis works well with the Double Axis Line Graph and Bar Chart. It provides comprehensive data analysis and facilitates the identification of correlations between various data sets.

Additionally, it aids in identifying any sudden changes, enabling you to take prompt corrective actions.

You can also use it for decision-making and performance enhancement.

Example

Here is an example of monthly revenue data.

Months	Revenue	Profit Margin
Jan	7000	6
Feb	2000	8
Mar	4000	9
Apr	3100	15
May	1800	16
Jun	1900	18
Jul	3000	8
Aug	2000	10
Sep	4000	5
Oct	3000	24
Nov	1600	18
Dec	1200	10

This is the Double Axis Line Graph and Bar Chart visualization of the revenue data.

3. Multi-Axis Line Chart

Trend analysis is best performed using a Multi-Axis Line Chart. You can plot multiple lines on the same graph. This facilitates the examination of data sets for similarities and differences over time.

Using the Multi-Axis Line Chart, you can compare various timeframes. This aids in your comprehension of the data’s timely variation. Contrasting various timeframes makes it easy to identify trends and patterns.

Example

Below is the yearly sales data of a certain store. We can use a Multi-Axis Line Chart to perform trend analysis and determine the yearly sales performance.

Months	Orders	Sales	Profits
Jan	756	18766	18
Feb	485	18788	29
Mar	412	18743	24
Apr	607	18788	22
May	915	16406	19
Jun	413	17765	22
Jul	828	20532	26
Aug	611	20016	19
Sep	683	20122	18
Oct	886	20125	25
Nov	397	23783	21
Dec	408	22942	21

Below is the Multi-Axis Line Chart of the data.

4. Sentiment Trend Graph

The Sentiment Trend Graph allows you to identify the direction of any trend. It is especially useful in analyzing customer sentiment. Thus, helpful in understanding the customer experience and how it changes over time.

You can spot areas where customers are satisfied or dissatisfied by tracking customer sentiment scores.

This can be especially valuable for understanding how customer experience has changed in the following situations;

• During product or service launch.
• In response to customer service initiatives.

Example

Assume this is your business’s current and previous year sales orders.

Months	Current Year	Previous Year
Jan	8000	7000
Feb	10000	12000
Mar	14000	10000
Apr	5000	8000
May	15000	12000
Jun	16000	15000
Jul	8000	10000
Aug	8000	5000
Sep	18000	15000
Oct	6000	8000
Nov	12000	10000
Dec	15000	8000

You can analyze the sales order trends with a Sentiment Trend Graph, as shown below.

How to Do Trend Analysis in Excel?

Look no further than ChartExpo for simple trend analysis in Excel.

Why ChartExpo?

You can create insightful trend analysis charts in a few clicks with ChartExpo.

In addition, ChartExpo provides numerous customization capabilities. You have control over the chart’s aesthetics by modifying its color scheme, fonts, and labeling.

How to Install ChartExpo in Excel?

1. Open your Excel application.
2. Open the worksheet and click on the “Insert” menu.
3. You’ll see the “My Apps”.
4. In office Add-ins window, click on “Store” and search for ChartExpo on my Apps Store.
5. Click on “Add” button to install ChartExpo in your Excel.

ChartExpo charts and graphs are available both in Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel. Please use the following CTA’s to install the tool of your choice and create beautiful visualizations in a few clicks in your favorite tool.

Example

Let’s use the Sentiment Trend graph to learn how to analyze the trend in Excel.

• To get started with ChartExpo, install ChartExpo in Excel.
• Now Click on My Apps from the INSERT menu.

• Choose ChartExpo from My Apps, then click Insert.

• Once ChartExpo is loaded. Click on “Sentiment Trend Chart” from the list of charts.

• Click the “Create Chart From Selection” button after selecting the data from the sheet, as shown.

• The Final will look as follows.

• Click the “Edit Chart” button to modify your chart as shown above.
• Let’s change the negative figure of the previous year to absolute. Click the pencil icon and switch on the “absolute” feature. Click the “Apply All” button to activate the change.

• Here is the chart with absolute values for the previous year.

• To change the previous year’s color, click the relevant pencil icon. Pick the preferred color and click the “Apply All” button.

• To change the title of the chart, click on the pencil icon that is available next to Chart Header.
• It will open the properties dialog. Under the Text section, you can add a heading in Line 1 enable the Show Give the appropriate title of your chart, and click on the Apply button.

• If you’d like to display the trend line on this chart, click the pencil icon on the bar. In the “Trend Line” section, activate the Show button. Then click the ‘Apply All’ button.
• For saving changes click on Save Changes. This will persist the changes.

• You will get the following visualization after saving edits.
• To add a dotted line, select ‘Settings’ and enable the Show option in the ‘Line’ section. Then click the ‘Apply’ button.

• The final chart will look as below.

Insights

• Looking at January, the value was 8k during the current year compared to 7k the previous year.
• When December came around, the current year’s value was 15k compared to the previous year’s 8k.
• April was the least order-generating month of the current year. However, the trend for the whole year has been increasing.

FAQs

What is trend analysis? 

Trend analysis involves reviewing data over time to find patterns, trends, and relationships between variables. Examining historical data aids in predicting upcoming events or trends. You can apply trend analysis to almost any type of data.

What are the 3 types of trend analysis?

These are the three types of trend analysis;

• Short-term trend analysis analyzes data in short periods. Such as days and weeks
• Medium-term trend analysis for medium periods such as months.
• Long-term trend analysis for long periods of years.

What does a trend analysis show us?

Trend analysis shows patterns in data over time. It helps organizations to understand changes in the following topics better;

• Market conditions.
• Consumer demand.
• Production costs.
• Other factors that can affect the success of their operations.

Wrap Up

Trend analysis can be useful if you’re interested in staying abreast of business developments.

Using trend analysis can help you with the following;

• Discovering trends.
• Identifying opportunities.
• Monitoring the current market situation.

It helps to have an arsenal of trend analysis examples at your disposal.

This blog post has provided you with trend analysis examples. You can use them to guide you in your analyses.

If you’re getting started, you might find analyzing trends a steep learning curve.

How do you go about it?

Trend analysis has various approaches. This article has illustrated the best charts to use in your trend analysis.

ChartExpo for Excel is the ideal tool for creating these trend analysis charts.

When using ChartExpo, you have complete control over the look and feel of your charts.