Google Data Studio Tutorial 📊 - How to build a Dashboard with GDS

Summary

This video tutorial offers an insightful overview of Google Data Studio, highlighting its capabilities to connect with various data sources and create interactive, visually appealing reports. The guide walks viewers through the process of building an e-commerce dashboard, adding scorecards, maps, and charts, and enabling interactivity with filters. It concludes with sharing options, emphasizing the tool's ease of use and effectiveness in dashboard creation.

Takeaways

• 🚀 Google Data Studio is a powerful and free tool for creating data visualizations and reports.
• 🔗 It connects to various data sources such as Google Analytics, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Google Sheets.
• 🎨 The tool allows for the creation of interactive and customizable dashboards for clients and stakeholders.
• 📊 Key features include scorecards for KPIs, maps, time series charts, and pie charts for data representation.
• 🛠️ Users can adjust and style elements like borders, corner radii, and padding for a polished report look.
• 📅 Date range comparison and filters add interactivity, allowing users to view data for specific time periods or segments.
• 🌍 Map visualizations can be customized to represent different metrics, such as revenue by country.
• 📈 Time series charts can display trends for multiple metrics, with options to show revenue over time.
• 🔄 Duplicate and modify elements quickly to create consistent styling across the report.
• 🔗 Sharing options include downloading as PDF, automatic email delivery, and sharing via Google Drive.
• 📝 The script provides a comprehensive guide to building an e-commerce report in about 15 minutes.

Q & A

What is Google Data Studio?

Google Data Studio is a free tool from Google that allows users to connect to various data sources and create visual reports for sharing with clients, stakeholders, and team members.

How has Google Data Studio evolved over time?

Google Data Studio has significantly improved over the last few months and years, with enhanced features and capabilities, making it a more powerful and user-friendly tool for data visualization and reporting.

What are some of the data sources that Google Data Studio can connect to?

Google Data Studio can connect to a wide range of data sources including Google Analytics, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Google Sheets, and Google BigQuery, among others.

What is the first step in creating a report with Google Data Studio?

The first step in creating a report with Google Data Studio is to connect the report to a data source by clicking on 'Create new data source'.

How can you add a header and title to your report in Google Data Studio?

To add a header and title, you start by creating a rectangle, resizing it, changing its color, and then adding the title text. You can modify the text's color, font size, and resize or move the widget to position it effectively.

What are scorecards in Google Data Studio and how are they used?

Scorecards in Google Data Studio are used to display key performance indicators (KPIs) or any numerical data. They can be styled and configured to show metrics such as transactions, revenue, or other important business numbers.

How can you add interactivity to a Google Data Studio report?

Interactivity can be added to a report by including features like date control filters, drop-down menus for filtering by source medium, device category, and user type, allowing the end user to customize the data view based on their needs.

What are the different types of visualizations available in Google Data Studio?

Google Data Studio offers various visualizations including scorecards, maps, time series charts, pie charts, and bar charts, which can be customized and arranged to create comprehensive and interactive reports.

How can you share a Google Data Studio report with others?

Reports can be shared by downloading them as a PDF, setting up automatic email delivery, creating a shareable link, or sharing them like any other Google Drive document with specific emails or through a published link.

What is the purpose of the sample data provided by Google in Google Data Studio?

The sample data provided by Google is intended to help new users familiarize themselves with the tool and its capabilities without having to connect to real data sources initially.

How long does it typically take to create a functional report in Google Data Studio?

According to the script, it is possible to create a beautiful, interactive, and fully functional report in about 15 minutes, although the actual time may vary depending on the complexity of the report and the user's familiarity with the tool.

Outlines

00:00

📊 Introduction to Google Data Studio

The paragraph introduces Google Data Studio as a popular product from the Google Analytics line, highlighting its significant improvements over recent years. The speaker, Julian, invites Ahmad to provide an overview of the tool, focusing on its key features, the process of building a dashboard, and sharing it with stakeholders. The video aims to be a concise guide rather than an exhaustive tutorial, with a reference to a playlist for more detailed feature explanations. Ahmad begins by explaining Data Studio as a free tool that connects to various data sources and facilitates the creation of visual reports for sharing with clients and team members.

05:02

🛠️ Creating an Ecommerce Report

Ahmad demonstrates the process of creating an ecommerce report in Google Data Studio. He guides the viewer through the main interface, starting with a blank report and connecting it to a data source. The tutorial covers the use of different data sources and the creation of a sample report using Google Analytics data. Ahmad then explains how to add and style elements such as headers, scorecards for KPIs, and various charts like maps, time series, and pie charts. The focus is on creating an interactive and visually appealing report that can be easily understood and used by clients and stakeholders.

10:04

🔄 Adding Interactivity and Sharing Options

In the final part of the tutorial, Ahmad discusses adding interactivity to the report with date control filters and filter controls for source medium and device category. He emphasizes the importance of allowing end-users to interact with the report to view different data segments and time periods. The paragraph concludes with various sharing options available in Data Studio, such as downloading as a PDF, setting up automatic email delivery, creating shareable links, and sharing via Google Drive. Ahmad invites viewers to review the final report and encourages them to explore the tool further through the linked playlist and subscribe to their channel for more content.

Keywords

💡Google Data Studio

Google Data Studio is a free data visualization tool developed by Google that allows users to connect to various data sources, manipulate data, and create interactive reports and dashboards. In the video, it is highlighted as a powerful tool for creating visual reports to share with clients, stakeholders, and team members, emphasizing its ease of use and integration with other Google products.

💡Data Sources

Data sources refer to the origin points from which data is collected and accessed. In the context of Google Data Studio, these sources can include Google Analytics, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Google Sheets, and more. The tool's ability to connect to a wide range of data sources is a key feature that enables users to pull in diverse datasets for analysis and visualization.

💡Dashboard

A dashboard in data analytics refers to a user interface that organizes and displays the key performance indicators (KPIs) and other data visually. Dashboards are used to monitor and analyze data in real-time, making it easier for stakeholders to understand the status and trends of the metrics that matter to them. The video emphasizes the creation of a dashboard in Google Data Studio as a central goal.

💡Scorecards

Scorecards are visual elements within a dashboard that display key performance indicators (KPIs) or other important metrics in a clear and concise manner. They often use numbers, graphs, or other visual representations to communicate the performance of a business or project. In the video, scorecards are used to show KPIs such as transactions and revenue.

💡Maps

In data visualization, maps are used to represent geographical data, often showing the distribution of a metric across different regions. In Google Data Studio, maps can be added to dashboards to provide insights into where certain activities, such as revenue generation, are occurring. The video demonstrates how to use maps to display revenue by country.

💡Time Series Charts

Time series charts are a type of graph used to display data points collected or recorded at regular time intervals over a period of time. They help in understanding trends, patterns, and changes over time. In the context of the video, time series charts are used to illustrate trends in metrics like sessions, product details, and transactions.

💡Pie Charts

Pie charts are circular statistical graphics that are divided into slices to illustrate numerical proportion. They are used to represent parts of a whole, making it easy to compare the relative sizes of different segments. In the video, a pie chart is used to show the distribution between male and female users.

💡Bar Charts

Bar charts are a type of chart that presents categorical data with rectangular bars with lengths proportional to the values they represent. They are useful for comparing the quantity or count of different categories. In the video, a horizontal bar chart is used to display the revenue from different cities.

💡Interactivity

Interactivity in data visualization refers to the ability of users to manipulate the data displayed in a report or dashboard, such as filtering or selecting different data points or time periods. This feature enhances the user experience by allowing for deeper insights and analysis. The video emphasizes adding interactivity to the report through date controls and filter controls.

💡Sharing Options

Sharing options in Google Data Studio refer to the various methods available for users to distribute their reports with others. These include downloading as a PDF, setting up automatic email delivery, creating shareable links, or sharing via Google Drive. The video highlights these options as a way to ensure that the right stakeholders can access and review the reports as needed.

💡E-commerce Report

An e-commerce report is a specific type of business report that focuses on the performance metrics of online sales and digital shopping cart activity. It includes data on sales, customer behavior, shopping cart usage, and other metrics crucial to e-commerce businesses. In the video, the creation of an e-commerce report is the central task, demonstrating how to use Google Data Studio to visualize and analyze e-commerce data.

Highlights

Google Data Studio is a powerful and free tool for creating data visualizations and reports.

The tool has seen significant improvements over the past months and years.

Data Studio allows connection to various data sources such as Google Analytics, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Google Sheets.

Users can easily create visual reports to share with clients, stakeholders, and team members.

The interface of Data Studio provides options to start with a template or create a blank report.

Data Studio offers a wide range of connectors for different data sources, including free connectors for Google products and partner connectors for other platforms.

Reports can be customized with various elements like headers, scorecards, and different types of charts.

Scorecards are useful for displaying KPIs and can be styled and configured for date range comparisons.

Maps can be utilized to show geographical data, such as revenue by country.

Time series charts help visualize trends over time for multiple metrics.

Pie charts and bar charts can be added to show distribution and comparison between different categories.

Data Studio supports interactivity by allowing users to add filters for date ranges, traffic sources, device categories, and user types.

Reports can be shared in various formats, including PDF, email, or as a Google Drive document.

Google Data Studio is a user-friendly tool that enables the creation of interactive and functional reports in about 15 minutes.

Transcripts

It's 2019.

And one of the hottest products from the Google Analytics line is probably Google Data

Studio.

They have improved the tool so much over the last few months and over the last few years

that I

wanted to update our tutorial on Google Data Studio.

Now, I've asked Ahmad to come up with a quick

overview video on talking you through the most important features of Google Data Studio,

how to build a

dashboard with it, and go through the general process of creating a dashboard and sharing

it out to your

stakeholders.

Now, this is by no means a complete tutorial.

All the features that are out there, and

Google Data Studio this will take far too long.

But we have a playlist on Google Data Studio where we

explain certain features in mode, so check those out as well if you're interested.

But for now, we got

lots to cover, so Ahmad take it away.

Thanks, Julian.

This is Ahmad from Siavak.

And in this video, I'm going to give you a quick overview of

Google Data Studio.

Data Studio is a free tool from Google that allows you to connect to and pull data

from different data sources like Google Analytics, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or even Google Sheets,

and

then easily create visual reports to share with your clients, stakeholders and team members.

In this

video, I'm going to show you many features of Google Data Studio as we create this awesome

ecommerce

reports together.

Exciting, isn't it?

Let's dive in and see how it works.

This is the main interface of

Google Data Studio.

We can see your previous reports in the middle and at the top, you can choose to

start with a template or create a blank report.

We are going to start

with creating a blank report.

The first

thing we need to do is to connect our report to a data source.

We can do it by clicking on Create new

data source.

Google Data Studio can connect to a lot of different data sources.

There are free

connectors available for Google products, such as Google Ads, Google Analytics, Google

Sheets, or even

Google Bitquery.

And for everything else, we can use partner connectors.

Partner connectors allow us to

connect to many different data sources like Bing, Facebook, Instagram, Adroll, etc.

For the purpose of

this tutorial, we're going to hit cancel.

And it starts with the sample Google Analytics data provided

with Google.

collect data reports, and we are good to go.

First things first,

let's give our report a name.

Next,

let's add the header.

We started creating a rectangle, resizing it and changing its color.

Next, we're going to add a title.

You can select the text, change the color, and change the size of the font, and also

resize the widget

and move it to better place.

Now let's add some numbers to our reports by adding some scorecards.

Score

points are good for showing KPIs or key performance indicators.

Basically, any number.

I'm going to head

to is style tab to give our scorecard a border and round the corners.

Let's adjust the padding as well.

And then I'm going to head over to the data and enable the date range comparison.

So I'm going to

compare this metric to the previous period.

And here he appears.

Now that we are happy with the

scorecards, we can duplicate and create more.

This retains the styling and the configuration for the

date.

The only thing we need to do is to change the metric.

For this one, let's choose transactions.

We

can drag it over to replace the metric.

Or we can continue this process to make more scorecards.

For

this, I'd like to have product detail list.

Drag and drop, and we're done.

Next one is a revenue.

And I'm going to change this one to show a compact number.

Next up average order value.

So as you

can see, I can just type in here

to search for all the metrics that are available in my data set.

It's a drag and drop them to the left

to change the metric.

Now let's create some room for our final metric which is ecommerce conversion

rate.

I'm using my keyboard to move the scorecards around.

And I can even control C and control V on my

keyboard to copy and paste and create a new ecommerce.

Now let's see from which countries are we getting

our revenue from.

For this purpose, I'm going to add a map to the report.

Now each shade represent the

number of sessions, but we'd like to replace it with revenue.

See which country bringing more revenue to

our commerce store.

And just to make it clear for the end user that what metric is being represented by

this graph.

Let's add a title and call it revenue by country.

Next, let's see some trends.

By adding a

time series charts to our report.

Just like the scorecards above, I'm going to give it a border and also

change the radius for the corners.

Let's decide what numbers do we want to show on this chart.

I'm going

to head over to the Data tab and search for some metrics.

I want sessions to be either, but they also

want to see product detail we use product adds to cart

and transactions.

Let's duplicate this and create another chart for revenue.

Right click and select Duplicate.

Ok.

So now

I'm going to remove the metrics and replace the final one because I'd like to see the

trend of revenue

over time.

But for this chart, I'd like to see how revenue builds up over time during this time period.

Now if you're going to duplicate this and create not a chart to show e-commerce conversion

rates over

time.

I'm using my keyword to move this around.

Just like before, you can head over to the Data tab,

search for metric and replace the metric on the chart by dragging dropping the new metric

over the

previous one.

For this one, however, I don't want it to be cumulative.

So uncheck this but I do like to

see a trend line.

Cool, isn't it.

Now let's add a pie chart.

To see the distribution between male and

female users.

Drag it over here choose gender as the dimension for this pie chart, and we can leave the

metric to be the number of sessions.

I'm going to head over to style tab.

But I want to move the legend

over the top just to make some room for the next visualization we want to create.

Now let's use this space to create another chart and see which cities are we getting

the most revenue

from.

For this purpose.

let's choose the bar chart, the horizontal bar chart.

Move it here, resize it to

fit, adjust the size to make room for the name of the cities, changed the metric to

revenue.

Premium

sessions and change a dimension to city.

Our ultimate commerce reports is almost finished.

Let's see how

does it look for the end user.

Looks nice, doesn't it.

But there is a problem.

This report is a static

and the user cannot interact with it.

They cannot choose the time period or take a look at different

segments of data.

So let's go back to edit mode and add some features and interactivity to this report.

The first thing we're going to do is to allow the end user to change the time period after

report.

And

this is done by adding a date control filter just like this.

Going to head over to this time tab and

change some colors to make it visible.

Now, the reviewer of the report can easily choose the timeframe

for which they want to look at this report just like this.

Now let's go back to edit mode and add some

more cool features to this report.

I'm going to select these all, bring them down to make some room for

the extra features we're going to add.

First, we're going to add a drop down menu that allows users

to take a look at traffic from different source mediums.

This is done by adding a filter control to

report.

By default it sets to medium as its dimension, we're going to change it to source medium.

Again,

we're simply dragging and dropping.

Next, I'm going to duplicate this.

Create another one for device

category, which basically means desktop, mobile or tablet and allows them to look at traffic

only from

desktop devices, the tablets or mobiles.

And finally, I'm going to duplicate again and allow the end

user to filter my user time.

Which basically means is that the new user or a returning users.

Now let's

review our report again and see how does it look.

Now it's possible for the end user to filter this

report base on any of these criteria.

For example, they can choose to only look at desktop traffic.

And

all the numbers and charts will be updated to reflect the choice.

Now that we created this ultimate ecommerce report together, it is time to share it with

others.

Let's

take a look at different sharing options we have access to in Data Studio.

The first option is to

download the report as a PDF form.

And we can even protect it with a password.

The next option is to set

up automatic delivery of the report via email.

So Data Studio, emails a PDF version of this report to

the email addresses that you choose on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

We can simply create a link to

this report.

Or we can share it with other people, just like any other Google Drive document.

Just like

a Google doc or Google Sheet, you can get a shareable link, or you can share this report

with the

specific emails.

So as you can see, there are lots of options for you to share a report with the people

who need to review it.

Okay, I hope you've enjoyed today's video, in which we learned how to use Google

Data Studio to connect to a data source and create a beautiful, interactive and fully

functional report

and share it with others in about 15 minutes.

I'm going to post a link to this report in the

descriptions.

So you can review it and grab a copy for yourself to play around with.

To make a copy of

the report inside your own Google Data Studio account, simply click on this little icon.

That's it for

today.

Thanks for watching.

All right, so there you have it.

This is a quick overview on Google Data Studio, how you can use it and

hopefully you know now if you should use it for building your dashboard.

It's pretty easy actually.

But

there are some quirks of it.

So I also encourage you to check out our playlist which I've linked up

right over there which will show you a few more details of Data Studio and a few more

specific details

on how you can utilize the tool for effective dashboard building.

And as always, if you haven't yet,

consider subscribing right over there to our channel because we bring you new videos just

like this one

every week.

Now my name is Julian.

See in the next one.