SearchLove San Diego 2019 - James Corr - How to Better Communicate with Data

Overcoming The Challenges of Data Communication
James Corr - SearchLove San Diego

© 2019 Seer Interactive • All Rights Reserved • Page 2
In 2018 I spent
229.7
Hours Reviewing Analysis...

In 2018 I spent
229.7
...Or 9.5 days...

In 2018 I spent
229.7
...Or 9.5 days…
...Or Office Space 228 times...
...Or 530 Rick & Morty episodes.

Who has sent a report in the last month?

Who has received a report in the last month?

Our problem, isn't reporting.

Our problem, isn't reporting.
It’s effectively communicating data to
make/persuade decisions.

To communicate data
effectively we need to use;

To communicate data
the right visual,

To communicate data
the right visual,
the right layout,

To communicate data
the right visual,
the right layout,
and the right language,

To communicate data
the right visual,
the right layout,
to ensure action.

“URGENT: Why did PPC traffic
decline 14%?! Uhh, wtf!?”
- A Disgruntled Manager/Client

Don’t use pie charts to compare things.

Distribution of Spend Favored Growth in
RLSA and Other Non-Brand Campaigns
Shopping shrinkage led to more
traffic captured by better-
performing campaigns

Distribution of Spend Favored Growth in
RLSA and Other Non-Brand Campaigns

Seriously, don’t use pie
charts to compare things.

Consider the type of data,
and what you’d like to communicate.

Source: Choosing a Good Chart, A. Abela, www.extremepresentation.com

Don’t forget data viz no-brainers.

Draw attention using shading.

Context is key.

Use colors that work well together.

Data Viz Colors
Color 2:
Primary Orange:
#ca602b
Color 1:
Primary Teal:
#00aebd

Focus on the business’ bottom line.

Don’t make your users work for it.

Sessions +% YoY ChangeSessions -% YoY Change

Conversions -% YoY Change
Conversions +% YoY Change

Use size to show context.

Don’t let your beautiful visual die
on the boardroom table.

Client Name
Some Long Report Title That Isn’t My Insight
Page Title
Here are some supporting details
that depict what you can see in the
chart at the right that isn’t critical to
read. This adds some more details
to the story that is nice to know but
isn’t critical for you to read. This is
the meaningful insight that I want
you to be aware of, oh, and before
you leave here’s my
recommendation!

Think of your titles as headlines.

Curse Purge Plus
Sessions and Conversions - 2017 vs. 2018
Attribution Report
recommendation!

This is my insight - if you read one thing
from this slide it should be this.
Curse Purge Plus
2017 - 2018
Attribution Report
recommendation!

Curse Purge Plus
2017 - 2018
Attribution Report
recommendation!

Make the visual the star of the show.

Curse Purge Plus
2017 - 2018
Attribution Report
recommendation!

Don’t bury the lede.

Curse Purge Plus
2017 - 2018
Attribution Report
recommendation!

Attribution Details
Here are some supporting
details that depict what you can
see in the chart at the right that
isn’t critical to read.
This adds some more details to
the story that is nice to know but
isn’t critical for you to read.
This is the meaningful insight
that I want you to be aware of, I
put it at the end with my
recommendation.
Curse Purge Plus
2017 - 2018 This is my insight - if you read one thing

Attribution Details
put it at the end with my
recommendation.
Curse Purge Plus
2017 - 2018 This is my insight - if you read one thing

Curse Purge Plus
2017 - 2018
Attribution Details
put it at the beginning with my
recommendation.

Don’t bury the lede in your analysis either.

PPC traffic declined 14% compared to last year.

PPC traffic declined 14% compared to last year, due to
shifting budget to Social campaigns.

Due to shifting budget to Social campaigns, PPC traffic
declined 14% compared to last year.

Everyone speaks $$$.

declined 14%, yet PPC conversions increased by 17% and
generated $18K more profit compared to last year.

Additionally, Social conversions and traffic remained
consistent despite the additional budget.

Make a recommendation.

We recommend expanding PPC in 2019 using the new
campaign structure and reducing Social budgets. We
believe this will result in up to $24K more profit.
Additionally, Social conversions and traffic remained
consistent despite the additional budget.

Attribution Details
We recommend expanding PPC
in 2019 using the new
campaign structure and
reducing Social budgets. We
believe this will result in up to
$24K more profit.
Due to shifting budget to Social
campaigns, PPC traffic declined
14%, yet PPC conversions
increased by 17% and generated
$18K more profit compared to
last year.
Additionally, Social conversions
remained consistent despite the
additional budget.
PPC generated $18K more profit than last
year, with 14% fewer sessions.
Curse Purge Plus
2017 - 2018

To communicate data
the right visual,
the right layout,
to ensure action.

Reference Link
Choosing the Right Visual Decision Tree bit.ly/choosingTheRightChart
Adobe’s Color Wheel bit.ly/adobeColorWheel
Seer’s Make Analytics Reports Billboards bit.ly/reportBillboards
Microsoft PowerBi Download bit.ly/downloadPBI
Seer’s Guide to PowerBi bit.ly/guideToPowerBi

SearchLove San Diego 2019 - James Corr - How to Better Communicate with Data

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to SearchLove San Diego 2019 - James Corr - How to Better Communicate with Data

Similar to SearchLove San Diego 2019 - James Corr - How to Better Communicate with Data (20)

More from Distilled

More from Distilled (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

SearchLove San Diego 2019 - James Corr - How to Better Communicate with Data