After my media monitoring startup was acquired I found myself doing some long-term travel in Asia while I made wedding plans with my fiancé. The whole time we travelled, I couldn’t stop myself from making dashboards. So late at night in our little hotel in Tokyo I’d pull out my laptop and think up new designs. Designs were great, but I wanted to build them myself (and I’m not a coder), so I started testing out this free tool that Google recently released called Data Studio.

It’s part of the Google Suite (in beta, I believe). The #1 factor that drew me in: it’s free. Second: it’s incredibly easy to use even without knowing how to code. Third: if you’re willing to get creative, it’s insanely powerful.

So what happened when I started?

I was able to build super sexy reports with near real-time data. But more importantly I could build the bad ass command centers of my dreams.

If you’re using Google Suite already, you seriously need to try out Google Data Studio for your visualizations. If you’ve got any of these, you’re ready to start:

Google Analytics

Adwords

Search Console

Data in Google Sheets

Youtube videos

You can also integrate almost any other data source via 3rd party connectors, or build your own connector for almost anything with an API.

Basically, if the data is digital you can get it into GDS.

So what are my results so far? Here are some samples. Try them out. Play around. I’m amazed at how much I could embed into a medium article.

With some sample data from SFO I was able to really get creative with the GDS’s design features.

With Google Analytics sample data I could build out a concept I’ve had bouncing around my head for months. The Acquisition EEG.

I did all of this without any coding. The designs are all made using the built-in features from GDS and the data is all managed in a nice convenient GUI. The learning curve was insanely easy compared to all the alternative programs I’ve tried. It would take me months to do this in the other visualization systems out there (and I’d probably need to learn to write CSS to make it look this sleek).

In short, use GDS if you need: tons of design flexibility, little to no cost, extremely easy integration of google suites data and an even easier learning curve.

If you’re looking for actionable Google Data Studio reports send an email to cottrellconsultancy (at) g mail (dot) com. I’d be happy to help you get started. Check out G2 Performance Agency.