Don't Let Excel Decide What Your Data Means

Excel can calculate a percentage in seconds. It can sort thousands of rows and turn them into a chart before you have finished your coffee.

What it cannot do is tell you what those numbers actually mean for your business.

A sales report may show revenue dropped by 12%. A marketing dashboard may show fewer leads. Customer data may point to a sudden change in behaviour.

Those numbers are useful, but they are only the starting point.

Good data storytelling helps people understand what changed, why it may have changed and what they should look at next. Data visualisation supports that process by making patterns easier to see.

The goal is not to make data look impressive. It is to make it useful.

Dr Selena Fisk describes her approach as being "data-informed, not data-driven". Her work focuses on helping teams understand the information they already collect and use it alongside context when making decisions.

Excel Gives You Numbers. You Still Need to Ask Questions

You open the monthly marketing report and notice a few things straight away. Website traffic has dropped. Leads are costing more. Email conversions are doing better. Excel can show all of that clearly.

But where should the marketing team focus?

A drop in traffic may look worrying at first. Then you notice that most of the decline came from an old campaign that ended last month. At the same time, fewer visitors are arriving, but more of them are becoming customers.

The story is no longer "traffic is falling".

It may be "we are attracting fewer people, but they are better prospects".

That difference matters.

If the team reacts only to the first number, they may spend money trying to restore traffic that was never particularly valuable.

What Data Storytelling Actually Adds

Data storytelling is not about turning a spreadsheet into a dramatic presentation.

It starts with understanding the information.

Then you work out which part matters to the people making the decision.

A useful data story normally answers three simple questions:

• What are we seeing?

• Why does it matter?

• What should we look at or do next?

This is where data visualisation becomes useful.

A clear chart can show a trend faster than twenty rows of figures. A simple comparison can reveal where performance started to change. A well-designed dashboard can help managers see which areas deserve attention.

Selena Fisk's work follows a similar idea. She describes data storytelling as first finding the meaningful insight in the data and then deciding how to respond to what you have learned.

A Sales Dashboard Is Not the Story

A sales team may have a dashboard showing:

• monthly revenue

• leads generated

• conversion rates

• average deal size

• salesperson performance

Everything could be technically correct and still leave the sales manager unsure what to do.

Suppose total sales are down 8%.

That sounds like the problem.

A closer look shows that lead numbers have barely changed. Conversion rates are also steady. The real change is that average deal value has fallen.

Now the conversation is different.

The team does not necessarily need more leads. They may need to understand why customers are choosing smaller packages.

That could lead to questions about pricing, customer mix or how larger services are being presented.

The dashboard gave you the clue.

The questions gave you the story.

Marketing Reports Need Context Too

Marketing teams have no shortage of numbers.

Clicks, impressions, engagement rates and conversions can quickly fill a report.

It is easy to end up presenting everything simply because the data is available.

A better approach is to start with the business question.

Maybe the question is:

"Which campaign brought us customers who actually purchased?"

Now the report becomes much easier to build.

You may still show traffic and clicks, but they are no longer the centre of the presentation. The focus moves towards conversion quality and sales.

That is a useful shift because the audience does not have to work out which numbers matter while you are presenting them.

You have already done that thinking.

Customer Data Can Tell More Than One Story

Customer analytics often looks simple until you add context.

Imagine an online retailer sees repeat purchases fall.

The first reaction may be concern about customer satisfaction.

Then the team separates the data by customer group.

Long-term customers are buying at the same rate as before. Most of the decline comes from customers acquired during a large discount campaign.

That does not automatically mean the campaign failed.

It does mean the business needs to ask a better question.

Did the campaign attract buyers who only wanted the discount? Was the follow-up experience strong enough? Did those customers have a reason to come back?

This is where storytelling with data becomes valuable. It moves the conversation beyond "the number went down".

How to Build a Clearer Data Story

You do not need complex software to improve your next report.

Start with these steps.

1. Decide What Question You Are Answering

Before you build the chart, be clear about what you want to understand. Maybe sales have changed and you want to know why. Maybe you are comparing two campaigns or looking at why customers are leaving. Once the question is clear, the rest of the report becomes easier to shape.

2. Find the Numbers That Actually Help

Not every metric deserves space.

If a number does not help answer the question, consider leaving it out.

This is often harder than adding more data.

3. Look for the Change

Where did something move?

Maybe conversion started falling in March. Perhaps one customer segment behaves differently from the others.

Look closely at those changes before deciding what they mean.

4. Add Context

A number rarely explains itself.

Think about seasonality, campaign changes, staffing, pricing or changes in customer behaviour.

Context helps stop people from jumping to the wrong conclusion.

5. Choose a Simple Visual

Match the visual to the question.

A line chart works well for change over time. Bars are useful for comparisons. Sometimes a single number with a short explanation is enough.

Do not build a complicated chart just because Excel allows you to.

6. Finish With the Next Question or Action

A good data story should move the conversation forward.

You may need more information before making a final decision. That is fine.

"Why did customers stop buying this product?" can be a much better outcome than pretending the chart already has every answer.

Data Visualisation Should Make Thinking Easier

A crowded dashboard can make people work harder instead of helping them.

Too many colours create noise. Tiny labels slow people down. Ten charts competing for attention make it difficult to know where to look first.

The visual should support the message.

Selena Fisk's work in data literacy, data visualisation and data storytelling focuses on helping people access and understand information rather than leaving data only with technical or "numbers" teams. Her training also covers these skills for schools and professional teams.

This is also where a storytelling with data course or practical data storytelling training can help. The value is not learning how to make prettier charts. It is learning how to ask stronger questions and communicate what the data is showing.

When a Data Storytelling Speaker Can Help

A team may have excellent analysts and still struggle to communicate insights across the business.

Managers may interpret the same report differently. Presentations may contain plenty of data but very little direction. Staff may even avoid data because they see it as someone else's job.

A data storytelling speaker can help change that conversation.

Dr Selena Fisk works with corporate teams, NFPs and schools on building confidence around data. Her approach puts people and context alongside the numbers rather than treating data as something that should dictate every decision.

That distinction matters.

Data should inform the conversation. It should not end it.

FAQ

What is data storytelling?

Data storytelling is the process of finding useful meaning in data and communicating it clearly. It combines analysis, context and visualisation so people can understand what is happening and decide what to look at next.

How is data storytelling different from data visualisation?

Data visualisation shows information through charts, graphs and other visual formats. Data storytelling goes further by explaining why the information matters and how it connects to the question being asked.

Do I need to be an analyst to learn data storytelling?

No. Managers, marketers, educators and other professionals work with data every day. The aim is not to turn everyone into a data scientist. It is to help people understand the numbers that matter to their work.

Can a storytelling with data course improve business presentations?

It can help professionals make presentations clearer by focusing on the question, choosing useful evidence and removing information that distracts from the main point.

Why do dashboards sometimes confuse people?

Some dashboards try to show everything at once. When every number looks equally important, it becomes hard to know where to look first. A better dashboard keeps the key information easy to spot and cuts out anything that does not help.

Final Thoughts

Excel is very good at calculation.

It does not know your customers. It does not know why a campaign changed or what happened in the business last month. It cannot decide which number deserves your attention.

That part still needs people.

Start with the question. Look at the evidence. Add the context. Then use data visualisation to make the important parts easier to see.

The goal is not to let the spreadsheet make the decision.

It is to understand what the numbers are telling you well enough to make a better one.