Using Tableau to Stimulate Your Data
By: Kimberly Grant
Now that I’ve touted some benefits of Tableau, I’m sure some of you are wondering what Tableau is in the first place. And, no, it’s not a weird, hipster coffee table. It’s a software that takes data from boring to stimulating.
Data, Thy Name is Excel
Anyone who works in business, marketing, or any form of analytics knows that Excel is a life saver and that it can hold a tremendous amount of data. Now, the word “data” is usually used fast and loose these days. So, we’ll define data here: it’s the alphabetical and numerical data that is generated from information, like sales of products. Yes, that’s a super intellectual way of saying: what was sold and how much money was made.
This data is usually represented in thousands of columns and rows of numbers and information on products, people, revenue, and so on. It’s a lot for any brain to consume and make sense of. Don’t get me wrong, Excel does a fine job of making all of that wealth of information feel less overwhelming. However, in order to make the data more understandable to someone whose first language is not numbers and analyses, there’s Tableau.
The Vision is Yet
In layman’s terms, Tableau is a more visual Excel that’s intuitive. (Read: Tableau knows what you’re thinking and how to help you visualize it for others.) It’s almost like a cheat software for analyzing the foundation of any business: the revenue. It even helps you figure out trends from one time period to the next so that you can fix or improve on what you’ve done in the past. It’s also a great tool to have in your professional presentation toolbox.
Waxing Realistic
So what does all of this waxing poetic about Tableau mean for the person reading this post? Here’s an example:
Let’s say that Regal Cinemas wanted to know how the markets were faring in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing battle with Disney over the same-day release of new films on Disney+. Let’s also say that they want to compare their ticket sales between 2019 and 2020 to gauge the true impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. They would gather all of their ticket sale data in all territories and generate a CSV file (read: Excel file with lots of fresh data to analyze); similar to this Bloomberg article.
This data would be uploaded to Tableau from the Excel files that are generated. Regal would, in turn, analyze data points and turn them into visual representations that tell stories about trends and anomalies in their revenue. Some data points could be:
- Overall transactions from year to year
- Movie genres that did great and bad
- Ticket sales in all states
- Ticket sales during promotional periods (before and during the pandemic)
- Concession sales (before and during the pandemic)
Actionable Insights
It would seem that analyzing this data would just be redundant. There are times when seeing a visual representation of something makes it more understandable and allows you to notice certain trends. It makes sense that ticket and concession sales would be on a decline because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But what if there was a spike in Reese’s Pieces sales all of a sudden? That would be worth looking into. Maybe there was a social media campaign to buy Reese’s Pieces where proceeds would be donated to saving the environment. This type of promotional opportunity could be used to sell other items at the concession stands.
Words like data, analysis, and insights can feel like a new language. Sometimes, they can be their own language. When it comes to analyzing data to generate actionable insights, Tableau will make it feel more like watching a movie. That movie’s storyline will give you all the information you need to improve your business (read: sales and revenue). It will also give you something that is informative and interesting to look at.
Looking for more insights into my writing? You can view my last post here.
