Why I Typically Recommend Google Data Studio Over All Other Dashboard Tools (Like Power BI, Grow, Databox, etc.)

When you start looking into dashboard tools, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices available. How do you know which one is right for you and your business?

My personal favorite is Google Data Studio. I typically recommend it over all other dashboard tools. There are just so many things I really love about it. Here are three reasons I recommend it to my clients, who can use it seamlessly with my KPI dashboard products.

1 – Price / Accessibility

The first reason I love Data Studio is the price—it’s free. That’s a huge deal. One of the barriers that many DOOs have in the way of a good dashboard tool is the price. Some popular tools like Grow and others can cost $300-$1500+ per month, and you might not need all the features that justify that price. But with Data Studio, you can have a mostly automated dashboard for zero monthly software dollars.

What do I mean by “mostly” automated? I mean that (for non-Google data sources*) someone needs to run the report to pull data. But it still cuts hours off the time it would have otherwise taken to put it together piece by piece.

Most businesses are happy with this kind of solution, and it works well for a long time.

Once you get past a certain tipping point in your business where you have more data (or need certain kinds of reports daily), you’ll need more sophisticated, real-time data feeds. The next step up is to add some Zapier connections that feed data into Google Sheets, which then feeds Data Studio. And the upgrade after that would be a fully automated database like Skyvia (not free) feeding Data Studio, so you can open your dashboard and it’s automatically refreshed with your data visualizations.

Overall, I’m pretty dang excited that you can get things done for free with a mostly automated system that’s easy to use -- and you can stay under $100 a month for a fully automated dashboard and grow it from there! (Because you’ll have already started in Data Studio, it’s easy to add additional dashboards and connections without having to rebuild everything.)

*Google Data Studio is already completely automated (still free!) with Google’s connectors. These are things like Google Sheets, Google Analytics, and YouTube to name a few. It’s with non-Google tools, such as QuickBooks Online or ActiveCampaign, that you need an additional paid connector to 100% automate it.

(Shameless product plug here: My custom dashboards can use Google Suite, so you don’t have to buy any additional software to have a tailored solution for your business.)

2 – Features / Benefits

As a DOO, using a tool like Data Studio sets you apart. Maybe you’re used to using data spreadsheets where you have to scroll ALL the way down or scroll ALL the way to the right. Data Studio helps you tell more of the story in one space, and it’s visually beautiful. No more losing your place in that crazy spreadsheet!

One thing that shocks a lot of people is that Data Studio can pull multiple apps / softwares / tools together into one spot. You can pull data from ActiveCampaign and Facebook or wherever to gather your metrics in one dashboard. You don’t have to log into everything individually.

Even better, it’s limitless. You can load as much history as you want into Data Studio, and use dates to filter as needed. Other software programs will charge you more according to how much data you want to add. Other software programs (like the Databox free version) limit you on metrics, number of dashboard pages, and history in ways that I find unhelpful for strategic planning or serving multiple clients (hello agencies!)

At first, it can feel overwhelming to learn how to use Google Data Studio, because of all the options you have for feeding data into it. But once you get it set up, it’s totally worth it. All of your different tools leave you with data in different places. So it’s really nice when you can combine all of those data insights into one source of truth.

3 – User-Friendliness / Flexibility

Once you have Google Data Studio set up, it’s really flexible. It’s easy to set up the level of automation you want or don’t want.

You can share your dashboard reports with anyone, including non-Google users. With each person, you can control the level of access they have, whether they have editing power or they’re only able to view. And you don’t have to add them as a user; you can create a public link and easily share reports that way. If you have different stakeholders in different meetings who need a variety of types or levels of information, it’s easy to customize what they see. You can even embed your dashboard into presentations or websites if you want to keep people up-to-date on your business or progress in a real-time fashion.

When a business grows and scales up, you don’t have to start over from scratch when setting up an automated system. You can transfer the information you’ve invested so much time and effort into gathering into the new dashboard report. Because you’ll have already started in Data Studio, it’s easy to add additional dashboard pages and connections to what you already have.

Agency Owners and Operations Strategists: Don’t miss my DOWNLOAD N’ DONE!™ Profit Producer Dashboard Template, a visually stunning, automated, and customizable financial profit KPIs dashboard ready to go in Google Data Studio.

Not quite ready for Data Studio? That’s totally OK! I’ve worked with plenty of clients with businesses simple enough that they don’t yet need to make that investment in Data Studio. I typically do proofs of concept for clients in Google Sheets before investing time in Data Studio, so that would be my recommendation for you. The beauty is that what you create in Google Sheets is easily transferable to Data Studio later, when it’s more appropriate for your situation. See my available data strategy solutions here.

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