Compelling Data Storytelling: 6 Key Essentials for Your Business

By Irina Doroteo

In today's data-driven world, merely presenting numbers and charts falls short to spark change or inspire action. A data story must paint a visual narrative to have any lasting impact. This is when data storytelling kicks in. So today, inspired by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic's best-seller “Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals,” we delve into the art of creating data narratives that captivate audiences and drive better business outcomes.?

#1 Understanding the context??

The first step in data storytelling is making sure you understand your own data. In her book, Nussbaumer Knaflic emphasizes that you need to know your audience and clearly identify your core business message:?

• Who will be reading this story???

• What do they care about???

• What other decisions do they have to make now that they know this???

Answering these questions will help you tailor your narrative to meet your audience's specific needs and interests. Remember that personalization is everything these days.?

#2 Choosing an effective visual?

After you’ve figured out the context, select an appropriate visual to represent the chosen data. Every information pattern has its own particular representation, which is suitable to display the given data with more clarity. For example, bar charts are good for comparing values, while line graphs work best at showing how something has changed over time. Nussbaumer Knaflic counsels that you should choose visuals to not only represent the data accurately but also based on their effectiveness in allowing your audience to quickly grasp and retain key information at a glance.?

#3 Deleting disorder?

Clutter is the enemy of clarity. In her book, the author emphasizes the significance of omitting any unnecessary elements that could divert your message from its focus. This could be eliminating scraggly gridlines, repetitive data markers, and any other extra visual pollution. This will help your audience concentrate on what matters and improve your performance.?

#4 Focusing attention?

Promote your data—show what’s important to your audience. Techniques such as using color sparingly, highlighting key data points, and doing so by means of size and position can guide your audience’s eyes to the most critical information. Nussbaumer Knaflic's "less is more" principle stresses that simplicity prevents you from losing your audience.?

#5 Thinking like a designer?

A hallmark of designer thinking is that efficient design is more about communication than aesthetics. So, the writer encourages thinking like a designer to enhance the clarity and impact of your data stories. This includes creating a visual hierarchy for clarity and deliberate design decisions that make it easier to understand and engage with those stories.?

#6 Telling a story?

After all, data visualization is supposed to tell a story. Good data stories’ journeys always have their start, middle, and close. They are well-framed, show the data in interesting ways, and end with a juicy ask or revelation. As Nussbaumer Knaflics believes, an impactful data story isn't just showing the facts but subscribing to your audience at an emotional and human level, making it relevant for them.?

Completing the puzzle?

By following these core principles, you can turn your data into a powerful storytelling tool. Whether you address stakeholders, talk to customers, or present business results to your teams, effective data storytelling will leave a mark on people's minds. The secret of excellent data storytelling is knowing your audience, choosing the right visuals, eliminating clutter, focusing attention, thinking like a designer, and weaving a compelling narrative.?

Incorporating these strategies will both improve your data presentations and enhance your ability to drive meaningful insights and decisions through the power of storytelling.?

About the author

Irina Mayerlin Doroteo Brice?o

An Industrial Engineer from Peru with 5+ years of experience in business intelligence, data analytics, and process improvement. She has worked with market-leading companies both in Peru and internationally, generating valuable insights through expert data analysis and delivering innovative business solutions. Currently a Demand Generation Specialist at TEAM International, Irina specializes in data visualization and storytelling and data-powered decision-making that drive business growth. She is skilled in using analytical tools such as Power BI, Tableau, BigQuery, and SQL.?