Know Your Audience

Your Audience

The needs and interests of your audience should determine the viewpoint that you present, the level of detail in your report, and the amount of background and supplemental information that you provide.

Who Is Your Audience? What Do They Need?

Knowing your audience helps you create a more effective report that will engage them, reduce confusion, and enable them to more easily understand and analyze the information that you are presenting.

If your audience consists of distinct groups, considering individual requirements and constraints beforehand will help you meet everyone's expectations.

Examples

• Data scientists want to explore your data.
• Business analysts need to see different views of the data by year.
• New employees might benefit from the meanings of different terms.
• Executives who scan the report like to know who to contact for more information.
• Researchers require multiple ways to filter the data.

Consider These Factors

• What value does your report provide to your audience?
• Will most of your users be looking for specific data or changes in the data or will they be scanning for overall patterns?
• How often will your report be viewed, and how long will your users spend viewing?
• What level of familiarity will your audience have with the information in the report?
• Should you include explanations of the data?
• Should you describe the interactions?
• How will your audience use the information in your report?
• What actions will your users take after reading the report?

For any report to succeed, it must meet the needs of its audience.