I see a lot of reports in my job -- some that I create or help design, along with samples from clients and prospective clients. By far, dashboards are the number one requested report type I hear from clients. While dashboards have a role in the display of marketing data, beware of overusing them or worse, using them the wrong way.
There are some great books written on effective dashboard design -- I highly recommend Information Dashboard Design, by Stephen Few. For this posting, I want to share three things to avoid so that you don't create a "dashbored" report that no one will use.
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- Problem #1 -- Displaying so many aspects of your business that you feel like your head is spinning after looking at the report.
Focused dashboards, when correctly designed, should provide diagnostics on only two to three aspects of your business. I just recently had my annual physical. My doctor went through a few diagnostic tests just to make sure everything was OK from a macro perspective. Dashboards should do the same – they should provide a basic litmus test on a few areas of your business to determine whether or not an area needs a closer look and more in-depth analysis. Narrowing down to just two or three areas of your business also helps ensure that you maximize the real estate of the report and stay focused on the key information needed for decision making. It's great to use a couple of dashboards that complement each other and each focus on two to three areas of your marketing efforts.
- Problem #2 -- Thinking that a dashboard is going to give you the answer.
Dashboards are a great visualization tool, but they are not the tool to use when you need to do in-depth analysis. I look to dashboards to help me quickly find smoke or the ray of light. They can be used to properly shortcut analysis (in a good way). Shortcutting analysis means that you already have a specific area to analyze. So if you start at step 1, and the dashboard helps you find a problem or opportunity that takes you to step 3, you are already ahead of the game and maximizing your analysis time. Use detailed summary drill down reports or trending reports to then get to the root of any issue or opportunity.
- Problem #3 -- Not re-visiting your reports every three months.
I have to admit that I don't always subscribe to this advice. We invest time and energy developing what we and are clients feel are the "perfect" reports. Thinking about having to go back and update them once a quarter does not sound appealing – but frankly, it should be done. Priorities change. Your business environment changes. Your marketing team changes. And also, you get better at designing dashboards and reports every time you go to the drawing board. At minimum, review your report designs to make sure they are still aligned with your marketing priorities. But if you want to really improve your results measurement, take the time to modify and create some new reports to keep them fresh and relevant.
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I can write pages about how to avoid creating a "dashbored" that makes people yawn and worse, not use them because they are not useful for their decision making. Honestly, I have even created some myself. Let me know your thoughts about what you think makes a great dashboard. More to follow on this topic in a future posting.
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