Five advantages of data visualization

An effective channel for analysis and insight detection

Over the past few years, data visualization has seen a massive growth in popularity, thanks to the technological innovation of dashboards and reports. We have also seen a shift in corporate culture and popular culture, which have become more visual than ever in terms of narration, storytelling, and ideas.

However, many organizations believe that developing visual reports focused on creating stories around data is unnecessary; they think that the data alone should be sufficient for decision-making. This kind of thinking is based on the (frankly wrong) assumption that business decisions are rooted in logic and reason. We know that this isn’t the case: we're sure you'd agree that emotions play a role in everything human beings do.

For years, many of the biggest, most successful companies have used interactive tools such as dashboards and CRMs to help them manage and visualize internal data. For these businesses, reporting through these platforms has become a powerful way to communicate ideas. Sharing results through an engaging story makes it easier to conduct research through key metrics, in addition to improving and streamlining the decision-making process.

In every respect, data visualization is a growing trend. It is critical to the world of marketing and communication, as it makes it possible to take control of information and analyze data in order to gain insight. Data visualization provides us with results in varying levels of detail. You can conduct a very general analysis, or analyze the finest details in order to identify opportunities, risks, and action areas at a glance.

Below are two ways to demonstrate one set of data. In which one is the overall trend easier to interpret? The table, or the visual chart? 

We hope you'll agree with us that the graph is much easier to understand at a glance. Just in case you're not convinced yet, below, we've put together five advantages of using visual data to effectively communicate ideas.

Five advantages of data visualization

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Data visualization provides us with a quick, clear understanding of the information. Thanks to graphic representations, we can visualize large volumes of data in an understandable and coherent way, which in turn helps us comprehend the information and draw conclusions and insights. This helps us save time and lets us solve problems more efficiently.
                  
                  If you need to create a very simple and easy visualization of your data you can always try free tools like Canva´s Graph Maker.
2.  
3. Information design helps us identify emerging trends and act quickly based on what we see. These trends make more sense when they are graphically represented; that is, visuals and diagrams make it easier for us to detect highly correlated parameters. Some relationships are obvious, but others must be identified and highlighted to help our customers focus on a specific data point, which may influence the decisions they make.
   
   
4. The presentation of infographics and data enables us to identify relationships and patterns within digital assets, since discerning trends in the data gives us a competitive advantage when it comes to factors that may be affecting product quality, or that may help us solve larger problems.
   
   
5. Data storytelling allows us to develop a new business language so that we can share our story with others. It is a medium that enables us to easily create a narrative through graphics and diagrams, through which, with the help of visual analytics, we can uncover new insights and engage others.

   To get inspired you can visit Visme to find out more about how other brands create dashboards and reports using visual data to effectively communicate ideas but in various formats: online, interactive, print and video.

6. Visualizing data provides us with analysis at various levels of detail. People want evidence of underlying analysis; even if they don’t understand the breakdown of the analytics, they want evidence that there is data behind it, because these stories are more convincing than a mere personal experience.

As data providers, we at Netquest fully believe in the advantages of data visualization, and would like others to do the same. If you're interested in reading more about this topic, you can click the banner below to download our FREE ebook on data visualization!