Our success as market research and insights professionals is often measured by how well people comprehend and retain our results. One important way we do these things is by creating powerful data visualizations. While pie charts and bar graphs are tried and true, sometimes shaking things up with new displays can effectively highlight important data. One particular option that deserves a special shout-out is the palm tree graph.
What exactly is a palm tree graph?
A palm tree graph is a data visualization design that market researchers can use to visualize frequency distributions from a single or even multiple variables. In some cases, you will see a single “tree”, and in others, you will see a series of trees.
Let’s take a look at a few examples of palm tree graphs at work:
- DisplayR uses Palm Trees to Visualize Performance Across Multiple Dimensions (Egypt’s Scary Palm Tree), see this multivariate example here.[1]
- See Figure 1 below for a Palm Tree graph used in Salesforce’s State of the Connected Customer report. In this example, a single palm tree graph portrays how many customers strongly associate various feelings with trust.[2]
- Check out more examples of Palm Tree Graphs in one of our past articles on data visualization here.
- Want to see one in action? Be sure to check out our related video podcast on data visualizations here.
Source: Salesforce, Third Edition State of the Connected Customer
Figure 1
Want to try it for yourself?
DisplayR has an online tool available that you can use to create a free palm tree graph. Give it a try and let us know how it worked for you!
Want to take a deeper dive?
Check out our hands-on Data Visualization 101 course. Upon course completion, you will be able to:
- Use data visualization for data exploration
- Use data visualization for reporting
- Apply lessons from infographic design to research reporting
Research Rockstar also has a class on Infographics for Market Researchers. The goal is to introduce students to visualizing data in fresh and engaging ways. Through dozens of examples, and user-friendly websites to create infographics, the course shows students what constitutes good infographics and how to use them in market research deliverables.
[1]Using Palm Trees to Visualize Performance Across Multiple Dimensions (Egypt’s Scary Palm Tree) (DisplayR)
[2]Salesforce customer report (2019)
