Short video (Salesforce Explained) by Brian Tong that introduces five common Tableau chart types—bar charts, line charts, pie charts, maps, and scatter plots—and gives practical tips and pro techniques for each. Emphasizes using Tableau for interactive data storytelling (filters, animations, clustering, tooltips, map-as-filter) and recommends combinations (stacked/side-by-side bars, shaded area under lines, clustered/colored scatter plots) to add clarity and impact.
Chapters
What's up, everybody? I'm Brian Tong, your guide to all things Salesforce. And this is Salesforce Explained. It's a series where an actual human. Yes, that would be me. Answers all your burning Salesforce questions. So, tech speak. Hey, forget about it. If I need to get techy, I'll just leave that jargon out of it. Okay, so before we jump in, make sure to subscribe to the Salesforce channel and turn on those notifications so you never miss an episode. Now, today, we're going to chat about charts and graphs using Tableau from Salesforce. Since 90% of information transmitted to our brain is visual, it's a huge motivator to master the art of the chart. Now, this episode will highlight five of the most useful charts and graphs using tableau. And I'll even throw in a few pro tips just for fun, because, come on, I'm good like that. Charts and graphs and help bring your data stories to life. So when it comes to data storytelling, come on now, no one does it better than Tableau. And sure, you could create a chart from spreadsheets, but can you make your charts do this? Or this? Yeah, that's fancy schmancy. From comparing sales trends to analyzing call center KPIs or even showing the boss why you deserve a raise, Tableau visualizations will help you get your point across, so be sure to DM me on the slack when you get that raise, okay? Are you inspired to get visual with Tableau? I like to say, let's get visual visual. So let's kick things off with that fan favorite, the bar chart. Bar charts are one of the most common types of data vizzes. But don't let their simplicity fool you. You can use them to quickly compare data across categories, highlight differences, show trends and outliers, and and even reveal historical highs and lows at a glance. Now let's take a look at a classic example in Tableau. This bar chart shows sales by subcategory and is colored by profitability to easily see your most and least profitable subcategories. The tooltip shows more detail. And bar charts are especially effective when you have data that can be split into multiple categories. For example, volume of shirts in different sizes, website traffic by referrer, or percent of spending by department. This viz illustrates some of the things that you can do to add more impact to your bar charts. Try using stacked bars or side by side bars. It's a very effective way to help you break down your data even further, giving more depth to your analysis. And hey, you could Even combine bar charts with maps. We'll talk about maps a little more in a minute. But did you know that using a map as a filter lets viewers drill down and find detailed answers? Yeah, talk about a boss chart move. Okay, next up, the line chart or line graph. If you've got several really distinct data points and you need to present them as one continuous evolution, the line chart is a fine chart. Oh, don't be mad. I've got so many more for you. Now. Use line charts to view trends in data, usually over time. Like you year over year, email, click rates, or seasonal inventory fluctuations. Line charts are a simple, straightforward way to visualize changes in one value relative to another. But line charts, they aren't limited to time. Any dimension like date types, time intervals, and other rank data can be used as the horizontal axis. Now, this chart here shows forecasted sales by segment. The bands of color on each line chart show a confidence range, that is the probability that results will fall between a set of values. And this added detail really adds depth and meaning to this visualization. So, are you ready to make a line chart? Well, here are a few recommendations. Try combining line charts with other charts, and in tableau, you can even animate them to show progression over time. Showing two kinds of information on the same axis adds powerful context to your data. And you can also shade the area under under the lines. Shading the area under line charts provides an immediate visual cue. And then when your viz includes multiple lines, hey, use multiple colors. That way the viewer can see each line's relative contribution to the whole. Okay, our third type of chart or graph. Pie charts, that is. Mm. Mm. Yeah, if you can stand my bad puns. I like to say that a pie chart is a very powerful way to add detail to other visualizations. Okay, stick with me. I know you love it. Some of you. It's important to know that a pie chart doesn't give the viewer a way to quickly and accurately compare information. Key points can get lost. And this visualization shows a few pie chart variations that can provide more clarity and also make it easier for the viewer to gain understanding. Now, here are a few tips to make a better pie. So first up, limit the number of pie wedges. See, if you have too many proportions to compare, the viewer may have trouble getting meaning from the chart. Just think beyond the pie and use similar charts like a sunburst with categorical breakdown, a radial to better compare size and donut for additional summary context. Now, our fourth type of chart or graph is a map, right? We talked about earlier. So let's just drop a pin on this one. Maps are a no brainer for visualizing any kind of location information, whether it's postal codes, state abbreviations, country names, or your own custom geocoding. Now if you have geographic information associated with your data, consider creating a map. Because maps are just a logical way of showing how location correlates with trends in your data. And tableau makes mapping really intuitive and fun. So take a look at what I'm talking about. This map shows median home prices in the us There are colors that are used to show the differences between similar median priced homes and here are some suggestions to make your maps memorable. Try using a map as a filter for other types of charts, graphs and tables so viewers can see large trends at a glance. And use filter actions to quickly investigate even further. Now here you can see how the map and the legend are connected with highlighting to make it easy to identify the highest or lowest medium priced counties. Maps also don't have to be maps. Yeah, you can use mapping concepts to just create stunning visualizations. Now marks can be overlaid to show individual data points with more precision. Or you can try varying their size to add more visual detail to your analysis. And that's a wrap on maps. And finally got dozens of data points. Why not scatter them? Yeah, a scatter plot presents lots of distinct data points on a single chart and is an effective way to explore the relationship between between different variables. Like showing if one variable is a good predictor of another or if they tend to change independently. Now you can enhance your scatter plot with analytics like cluster analysis or trend lines like this for example. Now this scatter plot shows obesity rate across by US county and prevalence of food insecurity, exercise frequency and smoking. Now the color indicates low to high obesity percentage of the adult population. And when you're creating a scatter look, here are a few tips that matter. Use Cluster analysis to identify segments Cluster analysis groups data points into distinct segments based on the variables that you choose. So in this case we clustered by obesity prevalence and definitely hey, try highlight actions. By adding a highlight action to your scatter plots, quickly see which points have attributes in common with without losing sight of the rest of the data set. Now you've seen this video. Just how tableau can bring your data to life with rich interactive dashboards. Whether you're a data newbie or a team leader who creates reports on the daily tableau makes it easy for you to get busy with it. And once you've experienced your first aha moment with tableau. Oh, you're gonna be hooked. I mean, if you don't believe me, ask our community. They know what's up. So shout out to the data fam. I. I see you out there vising like bosses. I mean, you are truly all the best in the business. Okay, look, I've talked enough, but the learning doesn't stop here. Click the link on screen to learn how Salesforce uses Tableau by Salesforce. And you know what? We'll see you next time.
