Anyone who knows me knows I’m a bit of a Google fan-boy. Ok, that’s an understatement. I’m more like one of those obsessed super-fans who goes to Comic-Con in full costume.
As a data nerd, my favorite character in the Google universe has always been Google Analytics, but recently I’ve grown more and more impressed with the superpowers of Google Data Studio (GDS), the data visualization tool that turns your data into informative dashboards and reports that are easy to read, easy to share, and fully customizable.
GDS. Endowed with the superpower to combine your real-time analytics data with visualizations, text, images, and PowerPoint-killing simplicity.
By visualizing data, and telling better stories, you can ultimately provide better insights that help support better business decisions.
Here are the top reasons why I love Data Studio (and think you will, too):
Super Slick + Super Free: While there are a number of great data visualization tools on the market (Tableau, Looker, etc.), the price point of these analytics software systems may not fit your budget, and a lack of full organizational adoption can result in clunky, inefficient reporting processes.
Or even worse, an inability to integrate your most important data. Google Data Studio solves these common problems by providing easy and free integration with many other ad platforms and analytics tools.
Data Hookups Abound: Google Data Studio provides the ability to access data from over 90 connectors, and it seems like they’re adding more every day. My favorite connectors are other Google tools like Analytics, Google Ads, Search Console, and Google Sheets, which can be used to display customized data in GDS. In addition, with a little extra effort and budget, you can link 3rd-party tools like Supermetrics or OWOX to pull in data from other ad platforms like Facebook/Instagram Ads.
Kill Your PowerPoint: You can fully design reports in Google Data Studio by adding custom headers, images, and other branding including font customization for all text.
Just like a PowerPoint, I like including text boxes in my Google Data Studio dashboards for writing key insights, or adding images to show some sample creative assets. This has always been a drawback of Google Analytics on its own, which doesn’t have a great way to add written commentary or add other visuals.
In the past, this issue forced most digital marketers to create monthly reporting slide decks using PowerPoint, Google Slides, etc. and then adding static screen shots of data visualizations along with our written insights. With Google Data Studio, those days are finally over.
Try It Yourself: You can try out Google Data Studio by visiting https://datastudio.google.com/overview or by browsing the Report Gallery at https://datastudio.google.com/gallery.
Or send me an email if you’d like help creating your own, fully-customized performance dashboard in Google Data Studio.
It’s not as cool as having a real superpower, but if you love storytelling with data, it’s pretty close.