Image of data and charts featuring Ashford council's site data

Councils are using Google Data Studio to Change How They Track Data

Sometimes it can be tricky to get valuable information about how your clients and customers use your services. This is information that would be helpful to see where they’re going and what they’re doing on your website, how they are using your apps and social media, why they are calling and other information that makes up the customer journey.

So, your website builders, contact centres and other teams already have ways of getting this information but how do you track it? How can we put it all on one screen in an easy to digest format?

Ashford Borough Council has found a solution, Google Data Studio. Google Data Studio is an online platform that allows you to connect to data from multiple sources and then create reports that are then displayed in an online dashboard. You can input data from a Google Sheet and all Google platforms can directly connect to Data Studio. They have been using Google Data Studio to plot out charts and create data sets about their customer’s journeys through their website, this data has been collected into an information dashboard, as seen above!

Those of you who have used Power BI might think it sounds very similar, which it is! However, Power BI can cost up to £50k per year for 50 users and Google Data Studio is a free tool offered by Google, much like their Gmail or calendar services. So, it seems like a bit of a no brainer to, at the very least, try out.

The best thing Ashford Borough Council have found with using Google Data Studio is its ability to pull data from multiple sources, internal and external, which they then can analyse side by side. By having data on face to face contacts, calls and digital transactions all in one place Ashford can derive the levels of digital uptake. It is also enabling service areas to view a range of separate reports, all in one place and they have access to this data whenever they need it.

It is certainly starting lots of conversations in Ashford about what is and isn’t working for the customer. Perhaps worth taking a look at for your organisation?