The When What, Why, and How of Sankey Diagrams
Getting to know how things flow within your business setting is a vital aspect that can help you understand where you are heading to. This is interesting because you can learn all this from a simple diagram that has all this information outlined concisely. According to the report generated in 2017, Sankey diagrams play a crucial role in identifying the flow of things.
Many people seem to be confused upon hearing that they can get to learn the flow of things within their business setting by the use of a simple diagram. A Sankey Diagram can present simple flows with the direction of how things are moving within an organization.
Are you inquisitive about knowing more about a Sankey diagram and how it works? This blog presents a complete guide on Sankey Diagram with everything you need to learn. Let's get started!
What is a Sankey Diagram?
Sankey Diagram is a visual presentation of the flow of things involved in a particular process. What makes this presentation interesting is the fact that the arrows come with a specific width directly proportional to the flow of the quantity.
Sankey diagrams are primarily used in either energy or material transfers involved within a particular organizational setting. When the material flow is twice the average level, the arrow's width remains the same across the diagram. Note that this is one of the reasons you need to be keen and understand how the flow runs to depict a perfect presentation.
Note that the entity to which the data flows is referred to as a node. The place where the flow originates is called the source. Both the source and target nodes are primarily presented in the form of a rectangle indicated with a label. On the flip side, the flow is presented by a curved path known as the link.
You can use a Sankey Diagram to represent different aspects, such as the presentation of the flow of energy, money, and anything that has a notion.
When to Use a Sankey Diagram
In the digital marketing world, a Sankey Diagram plays a crucial role in identifying operations progress across the business setting. A Sankey Diagram is mainly used when analyzing the performance of different activities within a company setting to gauge whether certain activities are worth the time and investment.
Besides, proper use of a Sankey Diagram comes with multiple added advantages that can take your business to the next level. Below are some of the great benefits of using Sankey visualization in your business.
● You Get to Understand the Customer Journey
When using a Sankey Diagram, you stand a chance to learn different levels of transition within the customer journey from one level to the next. Also, you learn more about where your traffic is coming from and what you can do to capitalize on the opportunity you have in business.
● Easy to Integrate with Google Ads
When using Google analytics in your business operations, you automatically know more about the concept of a Sankey Diagram. If you are not familiar with Google analytics, do not approach this path since you are likely to fail terribly. PPCexpo offers a simple way of integrating a Sankey Diagram on Google ads, thus making the entire work easier.
● It Does not Need a lot of Data
You don't need to have a bunch of data to use a Sankey Diagram. Also, you don't need a lot of things to get started. All you need is one metric and two dimensions.
● It Generates Quick Insights
A Sankey Diagram is a potent tool that can crawl across different platforms to generate vital insights that you can use in decision-making. It gives an excellent overview of your ad performance and identifies the gaps within your marketing strategies within the shortest time possible.
How to Create a Sankey Diagram?
Many people firmly believe that creating a Sankey Diagram is a daunting task. However, this is not the case since the process is easy to execute. Before we dive deep into details, let's look at some of the significant elements of a Sankey Diagram.
Components of a Sankey Diagram
A Sankey Diagram is mainly made up of two major components. They include:
The nodes play an integral role similar to a bar in a classic bar chart. Note that the height of the bar represents the values within the diagram.
The link refers to a connection between two nodes. They are mainly meant to present the flow and its direction.
The system of a Sankey Diagram works similar to an alluvial diagram, even though the latter presents change over a certain period, instead of presenting changes over a particular period.
Creating a Sankey Diagram Using Free Tools
There are different free tools that you can use to create a fantastic Sankey Diagram. Microsoft Excel and Google spreadsheet offer a straightforward way of creating a comprehensive Sankey Diagram that suits all the data needs. The two give you a specific way of creating a Sankey chart without learning coding skills.
Creating a Sankey Diagram in Microsoft Excel
Start with opening Microsoft Excel on your computer and entering the data on the sheet. You can enter the data manually or export it from another source. On the top toolbar, select the insert button and open my apps. You will get the ChartExpo option for Excel and open it.
If you can't locate this option, you can install it from the web. Once you explore the ChartExpo button, a new window will open up with different chart categories. Select Sankey Diagram on the available list of charts, and you will see different Sankey Diagram options.
Select both the rows and columns where your data has been outlined. At this point, you can click on the create chart from the sheet option, and the Sankey Diagram will appear on your data. You will have created a beautiful Sankey Diagram with all your data elements outlined in an orderly manner.
Remember that you do not need any coding skills to execute all the outlined steps. The only important aspect is that you need to have accurate data to get a perfect diagram for your data.
How to Interpret a Sankey Visualization?
In a Sankey Diagram, data is laid from left to right in a sequential manner. All you have to master is the search query and the keyword, which is later followed by an impression. Note that the visualization of a Sankey chart is bidirectional. This means that you can either read the diagram from left to right or right to left.
According to the Google ads report, the impressions are regarded as a percentage. The number written in the brackets refers to the actual number of impressions. When reading a Sankey Visualization, you should be keen on the values since they impact the final reading.
You don't need to possess any technical skills to be capable of reading a Sankey Diagram since it incorporates simple values that you can read and analyze.
Final Verdict
A Sankey Diagram offers a unique way of evaluating the flow of different activities within an organization. It is high time that businesses prioritize using Sankey charts in their daily activities to get a picture of how things are moving within their working setting. You can use this guide to tailor a Sankey diagram that suits your business needs and enhance success.