The advantage of a dashboard is that it’s easy to use, provides timely data and, most importantly, gives an idea as to how to go about implementing potential improvements and solutions. It helps explain your marketing metrics visually, making it a lot easier for people to understand the information… without geeking out on them.
For example, you can use a dashboard to compare marketing expenditures to revenue earned. Unlike reading bar graphs and spreadsheets, a dashboard makes it easy for you to quickly see where the marketing money is going, and, more specifically, which activities are leading to sales. Many people love this because it allows you to measure marketing ROI. Even better than that, is it allows you to make changes to your tactics and rapidly notice the impact.
Now that you realize how great it would be to have a dashboard, let’s talk about a few best practices for creating one.
1. Use Clear Labels
Depending on who’ll be looking at your reports, be sure they’ll know what each graph means. Consider, Jersey, Jamaica Red, Caucasin and Florida. These words all come from the same category, but if you didn’t know I was listing breeds of cattle you might think I was having a problem with Geography.
2. Avoid Acronyms
While an acronym might be convenient and easy to read, it could lead to confusion, especially if your data is shared with people outside of your field. In a recent meeting I was in, people were throwing around the term, “QSR.” This could mean Quick Service Restaurants, Quasi-Stellar Radio or Quality System Regulation. I thought they meant Quality Satisfaction Rate. Imagine my confusion until I realized they were meaning Quick Service Restaurants. (Click here to see what else QSR means).
3. Use Legends or Keys
Don’t just make sure your reports show your information well, but that they define and describe it well, too. A legend will allow you to use colors and abbreviations to your advantage, while making sure your audience knows what they’re looking at.
4. Use Color Wisely
I’m colorblind, so the use of colors on graphs sometimes is a problem for me. When making graphs with colors use the options that have a marker with the display. It also helps when you print the graph with a black and white printer.
