Data is an essential part of any business. It takes effort to find the value in data, and present that value to your target audience in a comprehensible way. It is not enough to simply show rows of numbers in spreadsheets. It is much easier to communicate data in stories. The good news is that stories are loved by people. Storytelling is a powerful tool to inform, explain, or influence a target audience or take desired actions. Let’s now dive into data-driven storytelling. What are the top reasons for using data-driven narrative? How does storyboarding aid in data storytelling? And how can we look at some data-driven storytelling examples.
What is Data-Driven Storytelling and how can it help you?
What is data-driven storytelling exactly? Data-driven storytelling simply means the ability to transform raw data into simple stories that are easy to understand and read. This allows us to take our insights into action. This is a structured way to communicate data insights using infographics and dashboards. Visual thinking is a part of our DNA. This is why it’s so crucial for anyone who wants to maximize the data’s value in their business. Check out https://databear.com/ for a better idea.
Studies show that 75% of people are visual learners. We remember 10% of what is read, 15% of the information we hear and 75% what we see. Visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text, and we tend to concentrate our attention on visual information. We are also able to recall pictures with at least 90% accuracy. Data-driven storytelling can be used to inspire action within and outside an organization. It could be used to help your organization understand the most important things and then take action. Data-driven storytelling can be used outside of the company to motivate desired actions. You can sign up for the newsletter, add an item to your shopping cart, or check out and share content on social media.
Data-Driven Storytelling
Three components make up a good data story:
Data analysis
Data visualization
Narrative
Data analysis
Data analysis is the foundation of any good story. Therefore, it is essential to master your data. Data storytelling is a way to get actionable insights. This is the first stage of the process, and if it’s not done properly, it won’t deliver the desired results.
Data visualization
Visualizations can be a powerful way to tell data-driven stories. They are engaging and can trigger emotions. Data visualization allows us to spot patterns and trends that may have been missed. It also helps us communicate the meaning of data in an understandable, memorable and appealing way. Data visualizations include infographics, charts, tables, images, videos, and other visual elements like a treemap chart or videos.
Narrative
The narrative component refers to the language used to describe data. The narrative component is used to support visualizations and insights in the most simple way. It highlights key KPIs, metrics, trends and speeds up the decision-making process.
Top Reasons to Use Data Driven Storytelling
Chip Heath, Standford’s professor and author of Made to Stick, found that 63% could recall stories while only 5% could recall statistics. The stories were what got people’s attention, even though 2.5 statistics were used in the exercise. Only 10% of participants included a story.
This is why data storytelling is so important to create a data-driven culture. Data storytelling is invaluable for business as it allows us see trends, understand problems, and interpret how our website and email marketing campaigns perform. Because data cannot be used to provide this meaning, it must be understood within the context of the situation. Understanding the context requires us to use elements from the story.
These are just a few reasons data-driven storytelling can be a powerful communication tool.
Data stories can add meaning and value to data. They help the audience connect the dots and take the insights into action.
Credibility – facts and numbers can support your claims, increase credibility and build trust with your audience.
Attention! A great piece of data-driven information can make your brand stand out and introduce it to a new audience.
Versatility ñ Data stories can be used in many communication channels, including videos, case studies, presentations, websites content, white papers and white papers.
If organizations have a better understanding of their data, they can achieve more with it. According to Brent Dykes, author of Effective Data Storytelling, How to Drive Change With Data, Narrative and Visuals, “In 2020, as the next decade of data enters, you will need more people fluent in data.” It is important that your company develops a team of data storytellers to not only share insights, but also increase the data literacy of your managers and employees.
Your organization should not only invest in BI and embedded analytical tools that enable data-driven decisions and provide real-time interactive data visualizations but also in data storytellers.
