Thriving In the Data Visualization Decade
- By Krishnan Venkata, LatentView Analytics
- May 15, 2023
We’ve used so many metaphors to describe how we use or organize data that it almost sounds elemental: the ‘new oil,’ data lakes, ‘21st-century gold,’ the cloud – Fire, Water, Earth, and Air.
Whatever metaphor you use, data is only as robust as how it’s used and viewed. If you can’t visualize it, if you can’t put it to work, and if you can’t use it to make judgment calls, you’re lost. At the risk of adding another metaphor to the many in the mix, data visualizations are the map upon which the elemental power of data can be seen, explored, and charted.
Now, as retail media networks connect physical retail with digital insights, wearable devices in healthcare begin to create ‘digital twins,’ and user-friendly visualization platforms reach a critical mass, organizations are awash in a world of ever-changing data sources. But they finally have the tools to quickly spin up dashboards and use analytics to answer big, thorny questions at scale.
That’s why the 2020s will be the decade of data visualization.
Data then and now
Let’s start at the beginning of personalization. Way back.
It truly began in the 1980s when brands started personalizing physical mail campaigns.
In the 1990s, as the internet revolutionized commerce, brands began collecting customer insights in ways previously unimaginable: browsing behavior, email marketing opens and clicks, etc.
In the 2000s and 2010s, we saw the rise of the third-party cookie, which allowed brands to track user behavior across sites, personalizing advertising at scale.
As data privacy laws have essentially rendered third-party cookies inert, brands are relying on first-party and zero-party data to power personalization.
This is especially true in the retail industry as we see the rise of Retail Media Networks (RMN), which give brands direct first-party customer insights from big-box retailers, allowing them to target customers on that retailer’s digital channels and beyond. The World Advertising Research Center forecasts retail media ad spend will reach USD121.9B globally in 2023, up 10.1% from last year.
The problem now for marketers and advertisers is that there are so many data sources from many marketplaces and RMNs (Amazon, Walmart, Target, etc.). With a plethora of information, how can marketers trust data to make informed decisions?
The answer, of course, is analytics, visualized. But how can you get the most out of your data visualizations?
Let APIs connect the trade routes
So, if we’re to continue our metaphor of data visualizations being the map upon which the elemental world of data is charted, APIs are the trade routes. They connect your data silos. They’re the Silk Road, exchanging information and letting data flow between platforms, partners, dashboards, and teams.
Importantly, APIs are timely, delivering real-time or nearly real-time data insights with predictable regularity. In a quick decision-making world, updating dashboards with the latest information is critical.
For example, in healthcare, we can connect datasets to create ‘digital twins,’ essentially representations of a patient’s health data. For instance, we can take heart rate from wearable devices, connect it with APIs from population and environmental datasets and get a reasonably accurate real-time picture of a patient’s health.
As you connect more trade routes with increasing data interoperability, you can ensure that none of your data lives on an island.
Capture your audience’s attention visually
Of course, the more data you connect, the more you risk drowning in it.
To help you make sense of your many data resources, numerous data visualization tools are available today, each with its strengths and weaknesses. Many are composable, allowing virtually anyone to connect a data source and quickly build interactive dashboards without knowing how to code.
Tools like Tableau, Power BI, and Google Data Studio are increasingly self-service, available to decision-makers in real time via shared dashboards. The most impactful dashboards are clear, colorful, and designed to be quickly interpreted without extra context. If they do need more context, there’s clear documentation available.
Make information ACTIONABLE
After you’ve integrated your analytics, the value in visualization is building the narrative around those analytics. It’s more than just explaining context; it’s orienting everyone around the desired outcomes.
The best storytellers understand their whole audience, not just the technical users. While each stakeholder may use these KPIs or insights differently, analytics leaders should craft unique messages that can be conveyed to these audiences.
For example, suppose you’re a brand seeing macroeconomic trends in survey data and early signs that customer behavior is softening. In that case, you can’t tell your sourcing team that forecasts are down and they need to buy less inventory next turn. You need to communicate to your pricing team to lower prices, the advertising unit to spend more on ads, and the wholesale team to start shopping excess inventory around.
Your visualizations might be your data map, but you are responsible for charting a path forward for each new insight you surface. What playbooks can you develop in response to leading indicators?
Mapping the 2020s
We’re in a unique moment economically. Organizations that value their data, connect it, and visualize it at scale will have an informational advantage over those that don’t. The best companies in this decade will have a robust analytics layer powering decisions for executives and entry-level employees.
Don’t get lost in your data. Use it to uncover an entire world of rich decision-making.
Krishnan Venkata, chief customer officer at LatentView Analytics, wrote this article.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CDOTrends. Image credit: iStockphoto/LightFieldStudios