What kind of chart works best for answering business questions like these?
- As we increase social spend, what happens to downloads and revenue?
- How does search affect revenue and social volume across brands?
- Which of our agencies delivers the most net new leads and social buzz per dollar we pay them in fees?
A bubble chart!
I love bubble charts. They’re ideal for understanding relationships between categories or dimensions. Scatter plots are great, too, but they max out at two dimensions (whatever is on the X-axis and the Y-axis). A bubble chart shows three—the size of the bubble being the third value. And—bonus!—we can illuminate a fourth category or dimension by using bubbles of different colors.
A bubble chart does many jobs at once, in a single, visually cheerful package. They’re statistically powerful. They encourage curiosity about the data. They give a good sense of correlations, both positive and negative. They use shape, size and color to deliver insight that can be understood at a glance. And that’s just the beginning.
For a quick-hitting guide on how to use bubble charts to answer critical business questions, download Intro to Bubble Charts. And keep an eye out for more chart guides coming soon!
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