Visualizing Market Data: 6 Presentation Methods

Successful businesses are built on the back of accurate market research, which helps tailor services, products, and content to a particular demographic. However, having access to the data is one thing, but it usually needs to be put into an understandable format to present to shareholders and other key players.

Line Graph

Line graphs have always been a popular option for businesses to present data. They’re easy to read and it’s almost impossible to misinterpret information. For the most part, the line graph lends itself to tracking various trends over a given time scale, which is why they’re often used to depict financial market values. As well as being easy to understand, they’re easy to make using this graph maker.

Area Map

Area maps are fantastic for reflecting volumes within categories and seeing which has the greater volume. For example, if you’re presenting a cost analysis and need to show production costs against profits, the area map will easily show which is the winner. When both datasets are placed into the area graph and assigned a color, the category with the highest volume will be seen over the rest of the data.

Bar Chart

Bar charts are a classic when it comes to presenting data, especially when there are a few different color-coded subcategories. For example, a business may find that the majority of their services are used by 30 to 40-year-olds, which will be clear on the line graph. However, when a bar chart is used, further information can be depicted by breaking down the category into sections, which makes the bar chart a more thought-provoking approach.

Pie Chart

Moving away from the axis-style charts, we have the pie chart, which is fantastic for demonstrating different values equating to a whole. For example, a business can analyze its conversions to find out which source it came from, which can be put onto a bar chart as a percentage. With this information in hand, marketers can decide where to target their efforts.

Treemap

Treemaps are often used to visualize comparative values and hierarchies between categories or subcategories. For example, total web traffic can be broken down into origin countries and lead methods. The resulting treemap will have sections for each lead (social media, direct, email, etc.), and within these sections, the countries would be displayed as different-sized squares. This style of presentation allows readers to easily see which lead method brings the most traffic and where most leads live.

Bubble Charts

Bubble charts are another great data visualization tool, especially when the exact numerical value isn’t necessary. Instead of using squares like the treemap, a bubble chart brings together clusters of different-sized, labeled, and color-coordinated circles. The largest datasets are easy to see because their circle is bigger than the rest, right down to microbubbles with no labels.

There are more ways to present data than those listed above, and there’s no right or wrong answer for which to use. However, your data should be simple to understand, easy to manipulate, and straightforward to set up.