How to Create a Sankey Diagram in Excel Spreadsheet

Let’s unleash ChartExpo Add-in on this data.

Follow the incredibly simple and easy steps below to visualize your data using Sankey Charts.

• Click on Add-ins > ChartExpo > Insert, as shown below

• Click Sankey Chart.

• Select the variables: Type, Main Source, and Source type, Energy Source, Usage, End User, Mega Watt .
• Click on Create Chart from sheet data, as shown below.

Let’s check out our resulting chart.

• You have the freedom to edit the chart to highlight key Just press the Edit Chart button, as shown above.

Check our resulting chart after editing.

Insights

• Energy from cleaner sources

• Energy from nuclear sources

• The amount of energy

• The amount of energy used for industrial purpose

As you’ve seen above in the Energy Flow Diagram generated using Sankey Chart, I’ve cherry-picked the insights that are relevant to the data story. Congratulations if you’ve reached this point. The long but insightful journey is coming to a conclusion.

If you have not installed ChartExpo yet or having any kind of difficulty installing it you can watch out guide to install ChartExpo for Excel next in the blog.

Now you have a clue about why data stories matter to you, let’s delve into its core building blocks.

5 Building Blocks of a Compelling Data Story

#1: Select the Best Chart for Your Data Narrative

Selecting the best visualization possible to highlight key insights in a narrative depends on your goals. Yes, it depends on the key takeaway you want to communicate to your audiences.

If you’ve ever been a victim of boring, long, and disorganized presentations and meetings, raise your hand.

We’re kidding, just give us a slight nod.

Well, one of the biggest fails in storytelling with data is the use of charts haphazardly. Different charts come with different uses. So your choice of data is influenced by multiple factors, such as the target audience type, nature of the data, and most importantly, the main goal.

#2: Context

Data storytelling needs context. Yes, it requires an understanding of the circumstances that surround each metric (variable). These circumstances (usually in the form of related data sets or events) shed light on information that would otherwise be nothing more than rows of numbers in a spreadsheet.

Essentially, context turns facts into actionable information and – in the end – decisions that have a positive impact on your business or company.

Simply put, the context of your data environment is the situation that created the data.

Let’s say you’re in the education sector. If you’re drawing enrollment data from multiple universities, each campus is its own data environment. If one university increases funding for scholarships while others don’t, that school might see increased student enrollment and retention.

When comparing that particular school with others, it’s important to take those environmental factors into consideration to gain a better understanding of your data and its implications.

So creating contextual labels provides guidance for your audience.

Creating context, therefore, is your responsibility, as a data storyteller. There are many methods to create context (labeling, chart choice, color, etc.). Remember, a line graph and a scatter chart can hold the same data but communicate different ideas.

The key is to understand what you need to communicate and then find the right visual elements to convey it.

Ask these questions: what is the message, and what base information does my audience need to understand that message? If, for example, you need your audience to understand why website traffic suddenly increased, consider a month-over-month graph and an area chart to help them understand. By illuminating different angles of the same information, you give your data context and – most importantly – help your audience see the context.

#3: Audiences

We’re sure you get motivated to tell your story more and more if people are listening. Yes, the listening factor matters a lot to the progress of any story.

Just imagine trying to communicate a story to people who aren’t paying attention.

It hurts, right?

In data storytelling, you can refocus your audience’s attention to particular insights with strategic use of colors and the size of the chart.

Take a look at the screenshot below: Can you spot the two-digit number repeating in the cluster of numbers shown below?

Now, answer the question above using the screenshot below. Which two digit repeating numbers are there in our data?

Of course, it’s easier to spot the answers. And this is because of strategic highlighting of the details we want you to see. Similarly, you should deploy this strategy of highlighting the insights you want your listeners to take home when storytelling with data.

Rather than let your audience do all the work, make the findings easier to cherry-pick with strategic use of colors.

And this brings us to the other crucial element that can make or break your data story.

#4: The Key Takeaway

The key takeaway is the theme of your presentation. Essentially, this is the part that answers the ‘So what?’ question.

For instance, you’ve just discovered that sales in March and April have declined. What would be the key takeaway for the scenario above?

“In March and April, our sales declined 25%, thereby erasing all the gains we made in the third quarter because:

• An increase in the number of product returns
• Refunds

We should investigate further into the product development process to know the cause of the money-draining problem”.

For you to create a compelling big idea, you’ve got to know your presentation very well. And I mean inside-out. The section can boil down into a sentence or a paragraph.

And this brings us to the critical part of your data story: the action you want your audience to take.

#5: Call for Action

Insights have little value if you don’t recommend action, such as whether to invest or divest.

Providing actionable information is, after all, the goal of good data visualization and storytelling. And it’s thinking through the layers and making sure there’s continuity between where your story starts and its ending.

After doing all this, how do you make your story compelling?

This other section provides you with the fundamental building blocks of a story.

So how can you tell a story with your data?

Use the steps below to get started.

i Pick a Narrative for your Data

The first step to telling a good data story is to uncover a story worth telling. And you can start by asking a question or forming a hypothesis, then compiling and digging into relevant data to find answers.

As you consider your data story, ask:

• What are you trying to explain? 
• What are your goals? 

There are several ways to approach data to uncover a story—and the story you set out to tell may not end up being the story you find. As you analyze your data, consider using the following approaches to help you identify a theme and develop a structure for your story:

ii. Identify Trends and Relationships in your Data

What connections do you see between data? And are there interesting or surprising correlations? 

These relationships can provide a compelling foundation for a story.

Let’s talk about trends.

For starters, trends indicate the direction of change.

It can go either upwards or downwards. For example, is there growth in a particular product or service your business offers? Or maybe you want to know your website traffic patterns over time—you may discover that certain days or times tend to be higher or lower volume.

Identifying new or evolving trends in your data is crucial.

iii- Look for Outliers

Outliers are one-off occurrences you may spot in your data. And data that doesn’t fit in with the rest of your data settings can be just as valuable for you. Look for outliers and ask questions. Besides, pay attention to any data that is counterintuitive or surprises you.

• Why is the data behaving that way?
• And what is the cause?
• Are there any results that you didn’t expect? 
• What might be the cause for those results?

iv-Mind your Audience

Always be aware of your audience when developing and sharing your data narratives. And if the story you want to tell isn’t relevant or interesting to your intended audience, it won’t have the impact you want.

As you build your data narrative, ask yourself:

• Who is my audience?
• Is this story relevant to my audience? Does it solve a problem they care about or provide needed insight?

Your audience’s age, demographics, job, and subject matter expertise influence how they understand and respond to your stories. Besides, it should inform how you tell your narrative.

So if you’re speaking to a room full of engineers, you may want to provide more technical details and dig into the data sets more thoroughly as you tell a story. However, an audience of executives will likely be looking for simplified data with clear insights.

Develop a habit of customizing your story and approaching it from different angles depending on your audience.

v-Use Visuals to Complement your Data Story

Lastly, a good data story needs visuals. Charts, such as Sankey Charts for Excel are a powerful way to engage your audience and improve retention—especially when communicating with non-technical audiences.

Visualizing your data story enhances understanding at every level by simplifying the information, highlighting the most important data, and most importantly, communicating critical insights quickly.

There are many ways to visualize your data, including:

• Flowcharts
• Bar graphs
• Infographics
• Pie charts
• Scatterplots
• Sankey diagrams

This implies that if you use this visualization strategically to support your data story, you’ll move audiences in the direction you want. As Aristotle put it thousands of years ago, the building blocks of a persuasive narrative are logos (appeal to logic), ethos (appeal to emotions), and pathos (personality). Charts, which transform abstract numbers into insightful diagrams that appeal to the logic part of our brains.

For you to nail your data story, you have to get the chart part right.

You see, the human brain processes visual content over 60,000 times faster than texts and numbers. And this creates a strong case for incorporating relevant visuals into your data story.

Storytelling with data can be intimidating, especially if you’re not an expert in data visualization. To create a compelling data story, you need a strategy, a plan, a thesis statement, and most importantly, an easy-to-use visualization tool.

In this blog post, we’ve rounded up thought-provoking tips, how-to strategies, and other ingredients to help you craft compelling data stories using Sankey Chart for Excel.

These tips are tested and proven.

We use them to create compelling and actionable narratives for our clients, presentations, and meetings. And every time we use them, we get an overwhelming response.

We hope you’ll gain immense value from the blog.

FAQs:

• How do I create a Sankey Chart in Excel?

Excel spreadsheet does NOT have Sankey templates. To create a Sankey chart in Excel, start by installing an external ChartExpo Add-in. And then, browse to find the Sankey chart. It’s the first chart in ChartExpo’s ultra-friendly user interface. Use this chart to visualize flows and processes in business settings.

• How can you create a Sankey Chart in Excel?

Now it’s possible to create a Sankey chart using ChartExpo Add-in for Excel. No matter how complex your data is, you can trust Sankey to get the job done.

ChartExpo provides you with unlimited freedom to customize your charts to highlight key insights supporting your data story.

• Can you make a Sankey Chart in Google Sheets?

Yes. You can achieve this by downloading and installing ChartExpo Add-on in your Google Sheets. And this is because Google Sheets lacks chart templates for Sankey. This version of ChartExpo (Google Sheets Add-on) is the same as the one for Excel with regard to the user interface. You can also refer to our guide on Sankey Diagram Google Sheets to create Sankey Chart.

• What is the use of the Sankey diagram?

If your data represents some processes, transfer flows, and relationships: then Sankey is the best option to use for your data story. You can use this chart for visualizing the following classes of data:

• Energy management
• Supply chain
• Revenue flow
• Visits to websites (funnels in digital marketing) etc.
• Survey analysis

• How do you read a Sankey Chart in Excel?

First, you need to identify the Sankey categories. These categories can be read from either of the sides: left to right or right to left.

Typically, we read everything including books and charts from the left side. We suggest you read charts including Sankey from the left.

• Why is it called a Sankey diagram?

Sankey diagram was named after Irish captain Captain Matthew Henry who first used this diagram in 1898 to visualize the energy efficiency and losses of a steam engine. Initially, these charts were confined to engineering fields. But now you can use them to visualize various aspects of the business.

Wrap Up

Sankey Charts for Excel is among the best charts you can use to make your data narrative irresistible to your audiences. This chart is amazingly easy to read and interpret. You can bet on it to highlight the key insights supporting the thesis statement of your data story. You can draw this chart with very easy steps by using ChartExpo library in Excel.