Google Data Studio: Easy to pick up, and super powerful
Updated April 30, 2021
Google Data Studio: Easy to pick up, and super powerful
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Google Data Studio
Google Data Studio is being utilized by our media and analytics departments. There are 3 users in our office that are fluent in using this tool. Together, we create reports for our clients to summarize performance. The reports (in view-only mode) are shared with our clients so they have an interactive way to look through reporting. Having the reporting be interactive is where the real value comes from --versus static reports like PDFs or Excel files with a finite period of data available.
- Extremely customizable. From colors to font sizes to adding images, you can make your reports look like they were specifically created for your clients.
- Constantly innovating. In the year that I have been using GDS they have released lots of new features, and it seems like they really listen to the user feedback through the customer service portal.
- Data source flexibility. You can use Excel files, Google Sheets, CSV, etc.
- Ease of onboarding. If you are familiar with Microsoft Excel, it was really intuitive to pick up without a long period of onboarding/watching tutorials.
- Once data files start getting large, it can be finicky. We currently don't have a database solution set up to use, and have been trying to use Google Sheets as our data sources, but once the Google Sheet files get large, it can affect the quality of the Google Data Studio report
- This is still a relatively new product, so there are several little bugs you will find while using it. You just have to be patient and wait for the product team to fix the issues.
- Some of the visualizations are limited. Once you get used to the full power of a tool like Excel, you run into occasions where GDS is missing a specific visualization feature you are used to seeing in Excel.
- Once the reports are set up, this definitely saves time on the regular reporting deadlines (monthly, biweekly, etc.)
- However, when you run into a roadblock while translating a current report into GDS (i.e. GDS doesn't have a feature you need), it's hard to work around it. So until GDS becomes extremely robust, there are still cases where it can't be used.
Google Data Studio is much more intuitive to pick up and start using immediately. There was very little need for formal training or onboarding to start using the tool quickly. Power BI was much more difficult to start using.
The formatting in GDS is also very customizable, and clients appreciate reports that look like they are created specifically for them.
The formatting in GDS is also very customizable, and clients appreciate reports that look like they are created specifically for them.