TrustRadius Insights for Looker Studio are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.
Pros
Broad Customizability: Users have consistently praised the broad customizability of Google Data Studio, emphasizing how it allows them to tailor their reports and dashboards precisely to their specific needs. The flexibility offered by the customization options has been a key factor in enhancing user satisfaction with the platform.
Integration with Various Data Sources: Reviewers across different industries have expressed appreciation for the expansive integration capabilities of Google Data Studio, noting how it provides them with a seamless way to connect diverse data sources and create comprehensive reports efficiently.
Ease of Access to BigQuery: A significant number of users have highlighted the easy access to BigQuery within Google Data Studio as a major advantage, streamlining the process of retrieving and analyzing large datasets effectively while saving valuable time.
We use Looker Studio to build reports, dashboards, and tell stories with data. It's a good way to show only the data a client needs to focus on, and remove all the noise & distractions.
We use it for marketing reports, CRO dashboards, A/B test results, and how people interact with pages on a clients' site
Pros
It lets you build custom reports to your specifications
It integrates with various data sources
It's a tool that clients can access easily
It's free!
Cons
It's not a simple task to build reports, there are SO many metrics / dimensions to choose from and it's not always obvious which ones will work / have data to them
It's hard to make it look GOOD without time
They can break
They changed how you blend data, so it's harder to get percentage values
Likelihood to Recommend
As mentioned, it's great for building custom reports to put in front of clients to present data in an engaging way
My team and I use Looker Studio to create high level reporting that can quickly and easily tell the broader team outcomes of recent marketing efforts. It's a highly visual tool that let's me take a large amount of data and build reports to deliver to colleagues and c-suite execs to share out performance metrics.
Pros
Easy to build reports
Connects with a variety of data sources
If you're new to working with data Looker Studio helps you get comfortable and up and running quickly
Cons
Building reports are easy but understand what data to pull in to get to your end goal can take some time
I've run into row limit issue before if you're trying to pull in a large data set sometime it's just not possible and has to be broken up
Theres a limit of 5 sources when attempting to blend data which can be restrictive
Likelihood to Recommend
Visualizing cross-channel campaign performance can blend data from a few different sources to compare performance metrics like spend, clicks, and conversions side-by-side in a single view, which helps in quick budget reallocation decisions.
When dealing with massive volumes of data (millions of rows) or highly complex queries, Looker Studio dashboards can become slow, laggy, or even crash. Performance issues are a frequent complaint when working with large datasets, making it unsuitable for enterprise-level companies
In our organization, we use Looker Studio to build a dashboard for Network performance, including link utilization, packet loss, latency, and Incident/change/problem trends. It assists in visualizing the support capacity and planning.
Pros
Real time visibility.
Report automation.
Dashboard customization.
Larger data support.
Cons
Performance degrading with complex sources.
Limited options for Network topology.
Access control options are limited.
Likelihood to Recommend
Looker Studio helped us create a simple dashboard to track network KPIs and SLAs, including latency, utilization, and packet loss across different sources.
VU
Verified User
Consultant in Information Technology (10,001+ employees)
Marketing channel level analysis is what we typically use Looker for. It helps provide insight into performance at the channel, ad, and campaign levels.
Pros
Seamless Integrations.
Easy to create dashboards.
Simple to collaborate with.
Cons
Weak predictive insights.
Limited customization for visualization.
Lacks automation features for exporting signals/data.
Likelihood to Recommend
Looker is cost-effective compared to other solutions. If you're looking for a great product with amazing features, this is the one. Some limitations with automation, customizing dashboards with colors and fonts, and advanced predictive data models. If your stack is looking for more complex data tools that leverage AI features, I would recommend an alternative.
Used generally across marketing and fundraising teams to track user activity relating to website, paid digital marketing, organic social media, and other channels. Allows us to track performance for website traffic, revenue conversions, and their originating sources.
Pros
Breath of data - the number of ways to interrogate the data is endless, and the options to view metrics alongside each other make for comprehensive datasets.
Data visualisation and customisation - the options for presenting data and separating out across pages allow for clean visuals and segmented information.
Easy shareability/usability - a quick and simple tool to introduce colleagues to, and easy to grant access for them to be able to view the data, without having to understand the setup itself.
Cons
The styling customization layout could be slightly more user friendly/streamlined.
Having more information available on why data isn't pulling through on certain occasions (e.g., showing as 'Not Set', etc.) would be useful whenever possible.
Likelihood to Recommend
Fantastic for detailed data, especially for tracking user journeys from social media onto the website, for example. Great for use across multiple people in teams, even where only one or two people have a full understanding of the tool, as it is user-friendly once set up. Not hugely appropriate for presenting in and of itself, best as a source of raw data versus a tool to convey findings.
We use Looker Studio as our secondary BI tool to visualize data from Google tools, including Google Analytics and Google Ads. Thanks to easy integration with the Google environment, it provides a quick way to visualize data. It's very easy to use, so you don't need to be a data engineer to set up a basic dashboard. Our main reporting is based on another BI tool that is quite complex and takes more time to learn, so Looker helps us offload our Data Engineers when someone has a reporting need related to the Google Environment.
Pros
Easy to use.
Well arranged UI.
Good integration with Google products.
Cons
I could use built-in connectors for more data sources.
Likelihood to Recommend
Looker Studio is well-suited for small businesses or marketing agencies that use the Google environment and don't want to spend a fortune on a BI tool. It's also good for companies with well-prepared data that can be connected to the BI tool and visualized without complex adjustments. If a business needs more complex visulizations and an opportunity to develop something extra in the reporting tool, then maybe a more complex tool should be used.
We use Looker Studio primarily for our data quality metrics. We get data by connecting to 2 databases on different SQL servers. It helps us organise and materialise data, and we try to identify gaps in the integration through the reporting metric. It is really a lifesaver since our data got scattered after the system migration. Our primary use case is to identify errors/gaps in integration reporting and monitor them by reducing issues through proper planning.
Pros
Looker Studio helps us track error metrics in one place, making us more efficient as a team because we don’t have to switch between systems to gather data and then create a separate report.
Since our SQL data is pretty messy, it helps us with clean data reporting by visualising spikes in errors.
It also improves our communication with management, who are non-technical, by providing an easy-to-understand dashboard report.
Cons
It needs better handling of complex logic. We often need workarounds to perform complex custom calculations, and it can be really unpleasant at times.
Felt it got slow with a larger data set, and in one minor report, we had to set up time filters so that calculations during spikes could be traced more quickly.
Compare to competition they need to improve with notification things.
Likelihood to Recommend
Looker Studio worked wonders for the integration reporting project. It helped us quickly identify the spikes in errors and compare performance over time. The dashboard reporting set a clear standard for our stakeholders on what they need to work on and what can be ignored. The only issue will be that it is not as good as competitors in real-time monitoring or deep analysis. It can feel limited when complex logic is required.
Is the main dashboard of the company. We use it mainly for live data that we want to view live. We also use it to explore data to try to figure out issues, opportunities etc..
Pros
Connections with the google ecosystem
Speed of reports
Data ownership
Cons
There has been a lack of new features inside the ecosystem from some time now
There is no easy way to create relationships between data tables
Likelihood to Recommend
I really like how it is extremely well integrated into the google workspace ecosystem. Easy to share inside the organization and helpful.
VU
Verified User
Analyst in Information Technology (51-200 employees)
Looker Studio helps us to organize and visualize our data. We have some user profiles with their demographics, specific situation descriptions, behavior, etc. Looker works well to gather and make charts from this data. It is very useful for presentations, meetings or any research. The charts created in Looker can be downloaded in PDF, it is very convenient to use them.
Pros
Data visualisation
Data extraction
Data sharing
Cons
Requires learning curve
Data must be structured to download
Loading time is long
Likelihood to Recommend
If you already have some structured data and want to visualize it and use it in Miro for an additional illustration or insert it into a presentation - Looker Studio will be the right tool. If your data is unstructured, and if you have a lot of qualitative research, Looker wouldn't be helping.
I use Looker Studio daily to build dashboards and reports for routine analysis, as well as data pulls for our site data. The internal team uses these dashboards to analyze data needed for report-building and address business questions. My team and I also utilize Looker Studio to create self-serving dashboards for our key functional teams and stakeholders who have specific questions or routine needs.
Pros
Connects to GA4.
Loads quicker than other tools such as Tableau.
It is easy to share dashboards for viewing and co-editing purposes.
It is easy to export data from tables.
Ability to create filters and custom/calculated metrics.
Cons
There are several limitations to data manipulation - especially with different scopes.
Data has to be refreshed if new dataLayer elements are added often manually.
A limited number of charts, graphics, etc.
Limited design abilities (cannot bring in custom fonts, etc).
Likelihood to Recommend
Looker Studio is well-suited for those wanting to analyze web/site data and performance quickly. It is simple enough to learn/use for quick report-building or drilling into data. Looker Studio is easier to use/understand than the GA4 console and thus has a better UI/UX. It is an efficient tool for fast, simple data needs—especially for team members with limited analytical capabilities and knowledge.