5 Data Visualization Tools for PPC Marketers in 2021

Best Data Visualization Tools for PPC - Conversion Lift

Marketing without Data is like driving with your eyes closed.

Dan Zarrella, Social Media Scientist at HubSpot

Nowadays, data is essential to every marketing activity. Marketers need to know their customers, their competitors, and their market if they want to thrive in it.

It’s easy enough to have access to all the data you need as a marketer but, so much data can be hard to keep track of. This is why we need data visualization tools.

In this article, we’ll walk you through the most common data visualization tools used by the best marketers in the world.

Google Data Studio

Google Data Studio is a free data visualization tool that helps turn your data into a story through fully customizable dashboards and reports.

Despite having limited templates to choose from, there are enough styles and color themes that can fit almost any business presentation and are highly customizable, too.

You’ll have a full range of charts at your disposal from various graphs, maps, pivot tables, and more.

While not the most intuitive, the drag-and-drop editor lets you make interactive reports with links, clickable images, viewer filters, and date ranges.

Google Data Studio contains various features that let you embed blogs, sites, and other information that works to support your data story better.

While Google Data studio requires third-party tools and connectors to access data not owned by Google, it’s great for users who rely a lot on the Google ecosystem for gathering their data.

When working in teams, Google Data Studio lets you invite others to edit or review your work. In fact, you can even collaborate in real-time.

If you prefer having a little more space to breathe, Google Data studio also lets you send links through scheduled emails.

Pros

  • Free to use for life
  • Real-time collaboration features
  • Large user community

Cons

  • Requires Paid 3rd Party Integrators for non-Google properties
  • Takes some time to build new dashboards
  • Limited template designs

While relatively limited, Google Data Studio retains much of the functions that you should be looking for in a great data visualization tool.

Best for marketers who rely a lot on the Google ecosystem for their data-gathering initiative, the Google Data Studio is a great free alternative on this list.

Cyfe

A self-service dashboard creation application software, Cyfe is known best for its use of widgets to create powerful and highly-customizable reports.

With an easy to use drag-and-drop builder, Cyfe is unique because it helps you hit the ground running through its various pre-populated widgets. In partnership with Zapier, creating custom dashboards from their 1,500+ app ecosystem or your custom SQL databases is easy.

Pulling from data coming from a variety of sources, Cyfe helps you easily integrate Google Analytics, Salesforce, Facebook Ads, Twitter, Instagram, Mailchimp, and more.

With over 100 options and more than 250 metrics to choose from, you can get a holistic view of your business data within minutes.

Built with your business objectives in mind, Cyfe doesn’t only track your benchmark metrics. By understanding your widget goals, Cyfe also recommends a course of action. In fact, you can even slice and dice various metrics across data sources to create insights like never before.

When it comes to sharing, Cyfe lets you create custom URLs for yourself, your clients, and the rest of your team. Not only can you download or schedule automatic reports in a variety of formats, but you can also even sign up for automatic alerts through SMS or email for your key metrics.

With limited options in terms of customization, you shouldn’t expect reports from Cyfe to look insanely beautiful.

However, it offers good value in terms of price and experience. Starting at $29/month, it’s a relatively affordable option for many small business owners.

In addition, not only does it have a free 14-day trial, but it also has a 20% discount for non-profits.

Pros

  • Comprehensive dashboard templates
  • Expansive built-in app integration
  • Automatic report generator
  • Affordable pricing plans and discounts

Cons

  • Limited design capabilities

With affordable rates and a free trial period, there’s no reason for you not to try Cyfe for a test run to see if it’s right for you.

While the sheer number of widgets can be overwhelming, it can be a powerful tool for small business owners and non-profits who want to keep track of their data from multiple sources.

DashThis

Designed for digital marketers, freelancers, and ad agencies, DashThis is a data visualization tool that creates custom dashboards for SEO, SEM, Social Media, and display advertising.

DashThis has a myriad of digital marketing dashboard templates for almost every kind of client.

Intuitive and easy to use, you can either choose one of the presets or customize your own dashboard with widgets, section header, and even comment boxes.

Despite only integrating with 34 platforms out of the box, all the major ones that most people need are there.

Using the custom-data manager, you can track KPIs across channels with ease. In fact, DashThis is one of the few data visualization tools for PPC that dynamically display the top-performing ads within the dashboard automatically – and this is a pretty cool feature.

With a useful cloning feature and custom time setting, reporting successes and recommendations on DashThis is painless and easy. You can even automate report distribution through email dispatches and real-time client dashboard access.

Collaborating with your teammates is easy, especially with even the cheapest plans allowing an unlimited number of users.

Also, one of the key advantages of working on DashThis is that they offer bulk dashboard creation and edition services. If you or your team is drowning with work from various clients, this helping hand is a godsend for your business.

With an entry price of $33/month for three dashboards, it may not be the best for single business owners.

If you’re not ready to commit yet, DashThis also provides a 15-day free trial for up to ten dashboards.

Pros

  • Free 15-day trial
  • Easy to use
  • Built integrations for major channels
  • Dynamic top perform ad view
  • Bulk dashboard creation services

Cons

  • No option for single dashboards

Given the comprehensive features with unlimited sources, users, and access to your dedicated Account Manager, the DashThis price is more than justifiable for digital marketers with more than just one client.

Whether you’re a freelancer, in-house digital marketer, or ad agency, DashThis might be the data visualization tool for you.

Octoboard

A data visualization tool with a flexible pricing model, Octoboard is one of the newest data visualization tool providers on the block.

Despite being 100% self-service, Octoboard is relatively easy is to use. Offering a real-time business center angle, you can combine metrics from sales, marketing, and operations in a single space on the cloud.

Octoboard has over 200 templates that you can use to create custom dashboards for your business and clients alike. Designed to look beautiful anywhere from in your office to on the road, you don’t have to be shy about showing numbers straight from the dashboard.

Built with transparency in mind, Octoboard lets you issue logins to your clients so they can also have access to your dashboard in real-time.

The agency tier allows you to create white label SEO audits, multi-client support, and automated reporting.

With the investor tier, Octoboard lets you track pre-investment metrics, provides multi-startup support, and give management team updates.

With a 14-day free trial, Octoboard lets you experience for yourself if their features are what you’re looking for in a data visualization tool.

At $8/month for small businesses, Octoboard is one of the most affordable paid options out there for single business owners. While pricing at $25 still puts it on the lower end of prices for marketers with an expansive client base.

Pros

  • Free Trial
  • A large number of templates
  • Client log-ins
  • Affordable pricing options

Cons

  • Limited platform integration

Best for small businesses with a limited budget and investors who want to manage multiple start-ups under a single dashboard view, Octoboard is flexible in pricing as it is in use.

While not everyone is comfortable with 100% self-service all the way, Octoboard features just enough capabilities for it to be worth your while.

Klipfolio

With a promise to give all your data a home, Klipfolio is one of the best and most comprehensive options for keeping your team aligned.

Similar to Google Data Studio, Klipfolio has all the same features and more. One of the top advantages of using Klipfolio is that it has access to over 300+ integrations without third-party connectors. Along with more than a hundred built-in dashboard templates, you’ll have almost everything you’ll need for a great data visualization tool.

Klipfolio takes pride in providing white label domains, CSS overhauls, and flexible accessibility options for companies with various clients onboard.

No report ever has to look the same, and no one needs to know that you use Klipfolio to do it.

With instant data service connections and custom connectors, the Klipfolio PowerMetrics feature lets you automate some of the most time-consuming aspects of data analysis.

Klipfolio then displays all your data in a beautiful, easy to understand way that is accessible by web and mobile app.

While Klipfolio has a free 14-day trial, you can choose between monthly and yearly payment options to suit your budget.

Prices start at $49/month for their annual plans that cover ten dashboards and five users.

If you’re not sure what the right subscription plan is for you, Klipfolio also lets you upgrade, downgrade, and create custom plans.

Pros

  • Extensive integration access
  • Highly customizable for clients
  • Mobile App Access

Cons

  • Expensive starting plans

Klipfolio offers a customized experience like no other. With the CSS overhaul, every report can appear like a work of art. It has all the aspects of a great data visualization tool and more if you’re ready to pay for the relatively higher fees.

Our Choice

We at Conversion Lift know that choosing the best data visualization tool can be an overwhelming experience. With this, we recommend that you start with Google Data Studio and learn the basics before committing to a paid plan.

With the (paid) SuperMetrics connector, you can opt to connect with 3rd party platforms of your choice without feeling stuck paying for integrations that you don’t actually need.

If you decide to invest in a paid data visualization tool, always make use of the free trials to make sure that it has all the capabilities that you need.

If the need arises, we recommend upgrading to Klipfolio.

Although the monthly fee may seem huge, it will have everything you will ever need in a data visualization tool if the free version is not enough.

You will never have to worry about changing providers ever again.

Closing Thoughts

As with any other investment, there is no single choice for choosing the right visualization tool for you. Data visualization is one of those things that you only know is missing when you need it.

After enough time, you will know what kind of capabilities are necessary for the data you want to visualize. Only then will you know what the right paid data visualization tool is for your business.

Every digital marketer will have clients at different stages. Finding the right data visualization tool is all about finding the one that is right for you and can continue to be right when your clients grow with you.

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