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If data can be used for informative visual representations, why not employ data to articulate and communicate stories? This tutorial highlights the importance of telling stories with data and explains how to become a skilled storyteller with data through seven steps.
Telling stories with data is the art and process of effectively using data to tell a story that conveys information and insights to an intended audience. It is a valuable tool for communicating the results of data analysis, sharing data-driven insights with a broader audience, or disseminating data in a more engaging way.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to telling stories with data, but the steps below provide a recipe that, when followed in sequence, will maximize your chances of successfully telling an insightful, engaging, and compelling story from data.
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Step 1: Define the story you want to tell
This step is the foundation of a compelling data story. Start by defining the key message you want to convey with your data. Identify the key insights you want to convey to your audience and a clear direction to get there.
Let’s say you’re analyzing sales data for a fashion retailer. The intent of your story could be defined as showing seasonal trends and highlighting peak periods. This clear definition will support you draw conclusions about how different seasons affect sales and develop marketing strategies accordingly.
Step 2: Get to know your audience
To create a compelling, data-driven story that’s tailored to your audience, it’s crucial to understand who your audience is, what their backgrounds are, what their interests are, and what motivates them to listen to you.
For example, in the case of a clothing retail sales story, your target audience may include the company’s executive and marketing departments, who need sales information to optimize promotional campaigns and inventory. This profiling exercise helps you identify relevant, actionable information and tailor the language used around the data to make it relevant and accessible to decision makers.
Step 3: Collect the appropriate data
Make sure you collect the necessary data for your story thoroughly and comprehensively, capturing all the necessary details to align with your story goals and support your narrative. The data you collect should be relevant, credible, and sufficient to support your key message.
Collecting sales data from the last four years, broken down by season, product category, and location, can support you uncover sales patterns that interest you and support your intended narrative.
Step 4: Understanding the Data
Analyze collected data to uncover trends, such as peak sales during the holiday season or early summer beachwear sales increases. Identify anomalies, such as unexpected sales drops, and compare monthly sales over the years. This analytical process is imperative for highlighting key insights, such as finding the best times to launch specific promotional campaigns.
Step 5: Build Your Narrative
Has your analysis revealed any intriguing facts about seasonal sales trends? Then it’s time to create a solid narrative around them. This is a critical step, and we strongly encourage you to check a few boxes to structure an engaging and informative story:
- Provide context by highlighting crucial facts underlying the data, such as the importance of understanding sales fluctuations
- Highlight key elements or actors involved in the phenomena described, e.g. best-selling products and stores
- Describe any challenges you are encountering, such as unstable monthly sales or unexpected drops, and propose solutions, such as targeted campaigns during critical periods.
Step 6: Data visualization
No proper data story is delivered without visual support through data visualization. Determine the appropriate types of charts to visualize facts or properties around the data: line charts to show sales trends over time, bar charts to compare sales across product categories, or heat maps to pinpoint locations with the highest sales.
Visuals are the soul of data storytelling: they make convoluted data easier to understand and have a positive impact on your audience by helping them capture the key insights you want to convey.
Step 7: Share the story with your audience
Finally, it’s time to tell your audience the story of your data through a comprehensive report and interactive dashboard featuring the visualizations you created in step 6.
Remember to return to Step 2 (know your audience) and employ clear, concise language, tailoring your presentation to your audience’s needs and emphasizing actionable insights.
In a fashion retail scenario, you can end by presenting strategies for taking advantage of peak sales and dealing with unexpected sales dips. That way, your audience will leave the room feeling empowered to improve their marketing and sales strategy based on the insights you’ve just given them!
Summary
By implementing these seven steps to crafting a compelling data-driven story, you’ll be able to transform raw data into compelling stories that boost engagement, empower your audience to make informed decisions, and ultimately lead to successful outcomes.
Ivan Palomares Carrascosa is a thought leader, writer, speaker, and advisor in the field of AI, machine learning, deep learning, and LLM. He trains and guides others in using AI in the real world.