Excel is one of the world’s most popular spreadsheet programs, with an estimated 1.1 billion people using it for data organization, analysis, and reporting. While it’s a commendable data system for teams within a business, it’s not free. A standalone copy of Excel costs $159.99, and a personal Office subscription is $69.99 per year for one user. Microsoft Excel might be the big cheese of data analysis and management, but it’s not the only tool in town. So, whether you’re looking for a free alternative, a cloud-based solution, or a tool with more advanced features, this article has something for […]

Knowing how to sort in Excel can feel like a superpower. But unfortunately, many go through the tedious route of sorting and organizing data manually. However, like many operations on Excel, there’s a workaround to sorting and organizing data with a few clicks. In this guide, we’ll show you the different ways to use Excel’s sorting feature that you may not know about — so you can start using Excel like a pro. Let’s start with the basics. Table of Contents How to Sort in Excel How to Alphabetize in Excel Sorting Multiple Columns Sorting in Custom Order Sorting a […]

Microsoft Excel’s versatility and sheer number of features make it one of the most complex software programs to master. While you might want to learn every feature in Excel, you’ll likely need to know just a limited number to get the best from the software. Macros are small and simple programs that can make your work much easier and are favored by expert users. The good thing is that learning how to enable macros is relatively easy, and in this article, we’ll show you how to enable macros in Excel, since they are disabled by default. What are macros in […]

The pivot table is one of Microsoft Excel’s most powerful — and intimidating — functions. Pivot tables can help you summarize and make sense of large data sets. However, they also have a reputation for being complicated. The good news is that learning how to create a pivot table in Excel is much easier than you may believe. We’re going to walk you through the process of creating a pivot table and show you just how simple it is. First, though, let’s take a step back and make sure you understand exactly what a pivot table is, and why you […]

Building charts and graphs are one of the best ways to visualize data in a clear and comprehensible way. However, it’s no surprise that some people get a little intimidated by the prospect of poking around in Microsoft Excel. I thought I’d share a helpful video tutorial as well as some step-by-step instructions for anyone out there who cringes at the thought of organizing a spreadsheet full of data into a chart that actually, you know, means something. But before diving in, we should go over the different types of charts you can create in the software. Types of Charts […]

Goal-seeking helps you calculate backwards from an end goal. It’s a powerful way to understand how you should best allocate resources. If you use Excel to evaluate data, here’s how to plan ahead with the Goal Seek Excel function. To use the Goal Seek function in Excel: Let’s run through that with a simple example. I want to bring in 130 new customers. But I don’t know how many visits I’ll need to reach my goal. Before doing the Goal Seek analysis, I organize my data to find the average MoM visit-to-customer percentage. Step 1: Select the cell with the […]

Many marketers use Microsoft Excel every day, whether it’s to create a chart, analyze data, or run a report to present at the next team meeting. Creating reports like these in Excel is time-consuming enough. How can we spend a little less time navigating, formatting, selecting, and entering formulas for our data? Wouldn’t it be great if there were keyboard shortcuts that could help us get our work done faster? So glad you asked. We’ve put together a list of 43 keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Excel. Although you can do all of these maneuvers manually, knowing these tricks will help […]

Duplicate data is costly, it skews reports and leads to wasted marketing resources. Here’s how to remove duplicates in Excel spreadsheets: Let’s run through it with an example! Note: If you want to see duplicate data before removing them, scroll down to learn how to find and highlight duplicates in Excel. Also, make a copy of your worksheet so you still have your original data if you delete something important. How to Remove Duplicates in Excel 1. Select the cells you wish to remove duplicates from. Click on a cell and hold down the left mouse button. Then drag the […]

For most marketers, trying to organize and analyze spreadsheets in Microsoft Excel can feel like walking into a brick wall repeatedly if you’e unfamiliar with Excel formulas. You’re manually replicating columns and scribbling down long-form math on a scrap of paper, all while thinking to yourself, “There has to be a better way to do this.” Truth be told, there is — you just don’t know it yet. Excel can be tricky that way. On the one hand, it’s an exceptionally powerful tool for reporting and analyzing marketing data. It can even help you visualize data with charts and pivot […]

Microsoft Excel lets you do more than simply create spreadsheets — you can also use the software to calculate key functions, such as the relationship between two variables. Known as the correlation coefficient, this metric is useful for measuring the impact of one operation on another to inform business operations. Not confident in your Excel skills? No problem. Here’s how to calculate — and understand — the correlation coefficient in Excel. A correlation coefficient of +1 indicates a “perfect positive correlation”, which means that as variable X increases, variable Y increases at the same rate. A correlation value of -1, […]