DATA VISUALIZATION MISTAKES

Transcription

1 How To Avoid The Five Most Common DATA VISUALIZATION MISTAKES //presented by: Lea Pica, LeaPica.com Tuesday, June 30th Digital Analytics Association

2 1keep your viz honest

3 YOUR HONEST DATA CHECKLIST Filter out spammy referrers Use code check tools to audit tracking code Use a campaign and page naming taxonomy Filter out internal activity Don t sweat the

4 QUESTION: Is my viz lying to me? Bounce Rate by Landing Page Starting a y-axis is a no-no, except for some time series charts. 60% 40% 20% 61% 60% 59% 56% 55% 0% Contact us Products Services About Us Homepage Avoid dual axis charts if you can. They are an absolute no-no for unrelated metrics, and can even be tricky when the metrics are related.

5 QUESTION: Does my story add up? Make sure share of chart percentages add up to 100%. 10% 3% 22% 30% 8% 27% Always calculate metrics from raw data; NEVER average already calculated data.

6 BOTTOM LINE: Take necessary precautions to strive for accurate data and honest

7 2choose the right viz for your message

8 Choose the RIGHT VISUALIZATION This is a critical judgment call, and it s not built into any web analytics platform. Use tools like the Extreme Presentation Chart Chooser to guide you. Resist the urge to always use a pie for composition charts. If you can t resist the siren call of the pie, learn to do pie right. Brains can t easily calculate area inside segments of a circle. BUT for simple composition charts, a well-done pie can suffice. If you MUST use a pie, use chart best practices to make it digestible. Are you going to let Excel s puky default color formatting decide what matters to your executives?? NOH! The same recipe for a better pie can be applied to all charts!

9 This is your brain on PIE CHARTS??

10 CHOOSE THE RIGHT VIZ RESOURCES Ann K. Emery Emery Essentials Extreme Presentation Method Chart Chooser

11 DIVERGING STACKED BAR: SURVEY DATA Courtesy of Stephanie Evergreen

12 SMALL MULTIPLES: SEGMENTED TRENDS Courtesy of Drew Goettemoeller

13 SLOPE GRAPH: PRE/POST BOUNCE RATE Homepage 82% About Us Products Contact Us 64% 47% 33% 62% 54% 39% 31% Pre-Launch Post-Launch

14 BOTTOM LINE: Chooses the chart type that works hardest to support your key

15 learn data design principles, 3dangit

16 define: Gestalt pattern GETTIN GESTALT WITH IT how the human brain reacts to visual stimuli

17 GETTIN GESTALT WITH IT

18 Don t let Excel s pukey default color palette DECIDE WHAT

19 viz-take: noisy chart clutter

20 DATA INK RATIO W hy Every Pixel Counts data - ink ratio = data - ink total ink used to create the graphic

21 THERE S AN INSIGHT IN THERE SOMEWHERE F 22% A 30% A E 10% D 3% C 27% B 8% B C D E F Note: Not actual data.

22 NOW YOU SEE IT...SORT OF Social Organic Search Referral Direct 0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00% 35.00% 40.00%

23 CHART SPRING CLEANING REMOVE BORDER Social Organic Search Referral Direct 0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00% 35.00% 40.00%

24 CHART SPRING CLEANING - SORTING Direct Organic Search Referral Social 0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00% 35.00% 40.00%

25 CHART SPRING CLEANING 50% GAP WIDTH Direct Organic Search Referral Social 0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00% 35.00% 40.00%

26 CHART SPRING CLEANING REMOVE DECIMALS Direct Organic Search Referral Social 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

27 CHART SPRING CLEANING REMOVE GRIDLINES Direct Organic Search Referral Social 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

28 CHART SPRING CLEANING REMOVE AXIS Direct Organic Search Referral Social 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

29 CHART SPRING CLEANING 4-5 TICK MARKS Direct Organic Search Referral Social 0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

30 CHART SPRING CLEANING 20-PT FONT SIZE Direct Organic Search Referral Social 0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

31 CHART SPRING CLEANING DATA LABELS Direct Organic Search 33% 37% 17% Referral 10% Social 3% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

32 CHART SPRING CLEANING UNIFIED COLOR Direct Organic Search 33% 37% 17% Referral 10% Social 3% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

33 VIZ VIOLATIONS - PATTERNS Direct Organic Search 33% 37% 17% Referral 10% Social 3% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

34 VIZ VIOLATIONS LINE MARKERS 4,000 3,000 2,000 1, /1 1/16 1/31 2/15

35 VIZ VIOLATIONS OVERLAPPING LABELS 4,000 3,000 2,000 1, /1 1/16 1/31 2/

36 VIZ VIOLATIONS TIME SERIES LEGENDS WA CA OR

37 VIZ VIOLATIONS TIME SERIES LEGENDS WA CA OR

38 4give your viz a sense of purpose

39 STOP PUKING UP DATA! Courtesy of Tim Wilson

40 SHARE OF SALES BY CHANNEL Direct Organic Search 37% 33% 17% Referral 10% Social 3% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% SO WHAT?

41 IS ONLY 17% OF SALES... Direct Organic Search 37% 33% Referral 10% 17% Social 3% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

42 BUT CONVERTS AT 37%. Channel share of sales vs. conversion rate Direct Organic Search 37% 33% 8% 12% 17% 22% Referral 10% 5% Social 3% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 1% 0% 10% 20% 30%

43 ASK YOURSELF: Does this viz serve a purpose? What is my big message? Will it help inform a business decision? How I can push them

44 BOTTOM LINE: Find opportunities to turn a data puke into a recipe for

45 5learn the one viz to rule them all

46 Your customer.

47 BOTTOM LINE: Learning to interpret and mine data from the customer s perspective is a powerful

48 RESOURCES: PEOPLE & BLOGS TO FOLLOW Flowing Data Junk Charts Ann K. Emery Stephanie Evergreen Column Five Five Thirty Eight Juice Analytics Policy Viz

49 RESOURCES: BOOKS TO READ Show Me The Numbers Stephen Few WSJ Guide to Information Graphics Dona M. Wong The Visual Display of Quantitative Information Edward Tufte Presenting Data Effectively Stephanie Evergreen Data Fluency Chris & Zach Gemignani Visualize This Nathan Yau

50 .com

51 CHART RESPONSIBLY, MY FRIENDS.