There are fancier analysis techniques out there, but nothing beats a good pivot table for the sheer amount of insights you can get out of it. As a bonus, it’s easy to understand for large audiences, so it will make your insights pop. Adding a heat map is where the magic happens. Here are 3 powerful ways to use pivot tables:
A favorite of management consultants. Break down whatever volume metric you’re interested in to find the segments that make up the largest share of the total. For example:
This works because usually, all your distributions are skewed (see Pareto principle), where 20% of your customers can make up 80% of the problem/potential. Smart teams find out which sub-segments actually matter for a given problem and focus their efforts on that. Always do this analysis before starting a project.
An exploratory way to find patterns in user behavior. We used this technique early on at Spotify to get insights into what kind of music different types of users were listening to. For example:
In this analysis, you get a big table with lots of cells, and you’re using the heat map to find whatever stands out - like older users streaming a ton of jazz. Explore different dimensions to find the signal in the noise and use the insights as input to product development and commercial projects.
A powerful way to explore user engagement over time. Use days or weeks as the columns of your pivot table and individual users or customers as the rows, for example:
This gets you a big map of engagement that helps you see a number of different patterns. You can spot if users are active every day in streaks or every other day regularly, if weekends are different than weekdays, and how certain customers are ramping up or down their usage. Use this analysis to understand the underlying patterns that are driving your top-level metrics.
Pivot tables are one of my favorite visualizations for uncovering insights. By applying strategic 80/20 analysis, exploring user behavior, and examining time patterns, you can turn complex data into clear, actionable insights that can be communicated effectively.
Steep is a modern alternative to BI tools like Tableau and Looker that helps data teams work smarter and empower their entire company to explore, analyze, and use data daily. With Steep, data teams focus on building a robust semantic layer, leaving the day-to-day analysis and content creation to business users.
More posts
We're excited to share that this year at Coalesce, we’ll be attending, hosting a talk, and having our own booth. Find all the details below. Can’t wait to see you there!Read more...
This month, we've rolled out a number of updates designed to take Steep reports to the next level, making them more powerful and fully customizable to suit your needs.Read more...
Steep is on a mission to make data more useful, simple and enjoyable for everyone. This month, we’re excited to introduce the AI Chart Builder, a new intuitive way to explore and analyze metrics.Read more...
We're excited to share that Steep has raised €4 million in a seed funding round led by Connect Ventures, along with existing investor Inventure and participation from Alliance VC, Antler, and Greens.Read more...
Our latest product updates are designed to simplify your workflow and make everyday tasks a breeze. Here’s how we’re addressing your most requested improvements:Read more...
This month, we’re excited to introduce cohorts! What was previously reserved for experts can now be built by anyone. Track how different groups of users behave over time and easily spot patterns in our latest visualization update.Read more...
For our second update this month, we’re launching several requested improvements to make analysis even easier and more intuitive. These include keeping context when analyzing metrics, improved filters and active member tracking.Read more...
This month we’re introducing pivot tables, upgraded targets and pinning reports to your home and team screens.Read more...
TL;DR: Adding targets to your BI visualizations remains unreasonably hard. It frustrates your business controller peers while draining your team's time. Current approaches are essentially hacks and the time has come for a proper solution.Read more...
Unlike the modern data stack, BI hasn't evolved much in the last ten years. Here's why the Semantic Layer is the new paradigm we need to serve the data-driven companies of the future.Read more...
We’ve teamed up with dbt Labs to bring you a complete semantic stack! With the new integration, you can now connect Steep to the dbt Semantic Layer via dbt Cloud. This lets you build your semantic layer with code in dbt Cloud and publish your metrics to all your end users in Steep.Read more...
We have partnered up with the good folks at Cube to bring you a powerful semantic combo. With the new Steep + Cube integration you can now connect Steep to an external semantic layer powered by Cube. Build your semantic layer with code in Cube, and publish your metrics to all your end users in Steep.Read more...
This month, we're rolling out filters in reports, a powerful feature designed to add a layer of flexibility to your reporting experience.Read more...
If you're running a startup and thinking about your data setup - good news! Getting started is not that hard anymore, and you don't need a data specialist. This is how we did it at Steep.Read more...
This month, we’re introducing powerful and intuitive tables that work like you expect in 2023.Read more...
One of the big frustrations I’ve had as a data leader is working with teams that are too busy shipping to care about impact and analysis. Here’s my approach.Read more...
I’ve been an analytics leader three times over, and my friends - we sure didn't choose this job because it’s easy!Read more...
Wondering what we’ve been working on lately? Check out the latest updates below. Read more...
dbt is doubling down on the semantic layer and this time it’s serious.Read more...
The other day Janne, one of the developers on the team, turned around and said - oh I just got totally mixed up, I thought I was in Notion but I was actually in Steep!Read more...
This month we’re introducing more ways to analyze, combine and visualize your metrics, all in one place.Read more...
The product has come a long way in two years, the mission remains the same.Read more...
This month we are bringing you a whole new way to create, collaborate and communicate with data - introducing the new Reports.Read more...
This month we are introducing new ways of bringing order to your metrics and more flexibility defining metrics with joins. Read on for more. Read more...
Steep has partnered up with dbt to provide a best-in-class metrics integration. But that’s not all. Read on for more exciting updates.Read more...
This month we are making it easier to grow with Steep using Team spaces, launching a completely new Help center, as well as adding a few nice visualization improvements.Read more...
Trying out Steep is now easier than ever with the introduction of demo data. There are plenty of new features this month, so make sure you read to the end for a special treat 🍰Read more...
The year is coming to an end and we are wrapping up with a whole bunch of new features and improvements. Our focus has been on enabling even more teams to be able to use Steep as well as new ways of gaining insights from your data. A big thanks to all of you for this year! Let's get to the news.Read more...
Early last month marked the public release of Steep. Thanks to everyone who signed up and got started so far. Please keep the feedback coming! We have not been idle in the meanwhile and there is a a whole bunch of news to share - so let's get right to it.Read more...
Im very glad to share the next step in our journey with Steep - announcing that we raised €1M pre-seed round co-led by Alliance and Inventure, and that today we are launching Steep to general access!Read more...