5 Databox Tips from a Data Visualization Newbie

In the world of digital marketing, data is key. Well, I should clarify: getting insights from your data and using it to optimize your marketing tactics effectively is key. Unfortunately, many marketers nowadays don’t know how to visualize data properly, despite the technology available to them. According to HubSpot, “42% of B2B marketing professionals state that a lack of quality data is their biggest barrier to lead generation.” It’s a common problem, for sure.

So, what’s the solution? At Mojo, we’ve found that mobile-first KPI dashboards like Databox have not only opened up a world of data insights for us, they’ve done so in an easy-to-use way that resonates with anyone who views them. Creating dashboards, customizing existing dashboards and connecting dashboards to data sources are all easy with this app. I’d never worked behind the scenes with a data visualization tool before, but Databox let me hit the ground running.

Here are five tips I’ve discovered since using Databox:

Tip #1: Start Simple

The possibilities with Databox (and data visualization software in general) can be overwhelming. With all the metrics, visualization types and data sources, it’s easy to feel lost if you’re “shooting for the moon” at first. My advice? Start simple. Get familiar with the tool before you dive off the deep end into your data. For inbound marketers, your first dashboard could be something as simple as your marketing funnel. Tracking conversions for contacts into leads and customers is a great place to start. Once you’re comfortable with that, you can begin to build more complex dashboards.

Tip #2: Use Templates for Inspiration

You don’t have to come up with some genius, complex dashboard on your own. There are plenty of dashboards available on Databox’s Template Gallery that can serve as a starting point for your company. I’m not going to lie; at Mojo, we started with a template that another inbound marketing agency designed. Then we tweaked it based on the metrics we were hoping to see. It’s a great approach that I’d recommend, especially if you’re new to Databox.

Tip #3: Customize Dashboards to Fit Your Needs

Building off Tip #2, it’s important to customize your dashboards, even if you’re using a template. Just because one company is measuring certain metrics doesn’t mean they’re right for you to measure. At Mojo, we not only customize dashboards for ourselves, but also for each of our clients. Why? They each have their own goals and are measuring different things. It could be awareness-stage metrics, consideration-stage metrics, decision-stage metrics or something else. Make your dashboards your own!

Tip #4: Embrace Multiple Data Sources

Databox has a wide variety of integrations and is always evaluating new ones. (Here’s hoping they add Terminus soon!) The best part about this is that you can use multiple integrations/data sources in one dashboard — heck, you can even use multiple sources in one module of your dashboard. For one of our dashboards, we use HubSpot, Moz and Google Analytics. You can use one data source, of course, but using multiple data sources allow you to truly get the most valuable data from all of your sources and display it nicely in one place.

Tip #5: Don't Be Afraid to Get Granular

Once you get a little more familiar with the tool, it’s OK to get granular with your data sources and create your own custom metrics. For example, we often like to measure the metrics of whatever individual campaign we’re focusing on at the moment and Databox allows us to do that through a combination of HubSpot smart lists and a dashboard module. It’s not built into the default metrics, but we’re still able to do it. Don’t be afraid to get granular and create your own unique metrics.

In the end, you don’t have to be a business intelligence expert to use data properly. With Databox, visualizing your data and using it to bolster your marketing efforts is easier than ever.