How do you use dashboard storytelling to drive action and change?

1 What is dashboard storytelling?

Dashboard storytelling is the combination of data, design, and narrative to create dashboards that tell a clear and compelling story. Through dashboard storytelling, you can focus on the most relevant data for your audience and purpose, organize and present it in a logical way, and highlight key insights, trends, and patterns. Additionally, dashboard storytelling provides context and meaning to your data and shows how it relates to your goals and strategy. Ultimately, it can persuade and motivate your audience to take action or change their behavior or decision.

2 Why is dashboard storytelling important?

Dashboard storytelling is important for a number of reasons. It enables you to stand out from the competition and capture your audience's attention, as well as build trust and credibility with your data. It also simplifies complex data, making it easier to comprehend and remember. Additionally, dashboard storytelling can emotionally and intellectually engage your audience, connecting with their values and needs. Ultimately, it can influence them positively and drive them to action and change.

3 How to use dashboard storytelling?

To use dashboard storytelling effectively, you must first define your audience and purpose. Consider what key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics are most relevant for your audience and purpose. Then, design your dashboard layout and elements in a clear and attractive way. Craft a narrative or message to convey with your data and metrics. Finally, test and refine your dashboard to ensure accuracy, relevance, and effectiveness.

4 Tips for dashboard storytelling

To improve your dashboard storytelling skills, start with a catchy and descriptive title that summarizes your main story or message. Use charts and graphs that suit your data type and show the most important information, as well as colors, fonts, icons, and images that enhance your data and support your story. Additionally, add interactive features such as filters, sliders, buttons, etc. to allow your audience to explore and customize your data. Annotations, labels, captions, and tooltips can explain your data and provide context and details. Furthermore, use callouts, highlights, indicators, and alerts to draw attention to key insights, trends, and patterns. Comparisons, benchmarks, targets, and goals can show how your data relates to your strategy and expectations. Finally, add actions, recommendations, and next steps to guide your audience to take action and change.

5 Examples of dashboard storytelling

To illustrate how dashboard storytelling works, here are some examples of dashboards that use different elements of dashboard storytelling. For instance, a sales dashboard may show the monthly revenue, growth rate, and customer retention rate for each product category, with a title that states the main message. A marketing dashboard may display website traffic, conversion rate, and cost per acquisition for each channel, with a chart comparing the performance of each channel to the average and the target. Additionally, a customer service dashboard may present the number of tickets, resolution time, and satisfaction score for each agent, with a filter allowing the user to select a specific agent or a date range. Lastly, a project dashboard might show progress, status, and risks of each project, with a slider that allows the user to see historical or projected data.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?