With the plethora of data being generated each day, the ability to synthesize data from numerous sources is more crucial now than ever. There’s great value in powerful dashboards showcasing your key metrics and merging insights from various databases, spreadsheets, and tools in one cohesive view. This blog will introduce you to data blending in Google Data Studio and its importance in data analytics.
Overview of Google Data Studio
Google Data Studio is a cloud-based tool that simplifies reporting and dashboard creation by allowing businesses to analyze and visualize data from multiple sources in one platform. It integrates seamlessly with other Google products like Analytics, AdWords, and YouTube, along with third-party tools such as Facebook Ads and Salesforce.
The key advantage of Google Data Studio is its ability to blend data from various platforms into comprehensive reports without complex coding. Its drag-and-drop interface and advanced customization options, like interactive charts, filters, and tables, make data analysis simpler and more efficient. This makes it an invaluable tool for businesses that rely on data from multiple sources for decision making — as all businesses should.
Purpose of Data Blending
The purpose of data blending is to provide businesses with a more complete view of their data, enabling better decision making. Combining datasets from various sources, such as sales figures, website traffic, and customer demographics, helps businesses tap into insights that may otherwise be missed if analyzed separately. For example, blending website traffic data with customer demographics can help identify the most valuable customer segments, guiding targeted marketing strategies and improving conversion rates.
While traditional methods of merging data from separate sources can be time consuming and complex, tools like Google Data Studio simplify the process by enabling easy data blending while safeguarding sensitive information. Blended datasets allow for more comprehensive analyses.
Benefits of Blending Data Sources
Blending data sources into one centralized location brings tremendous benefits for businesses. Uniting data from multiple departments into a single touchpoint enables a clearer, more comprehensive view of customer behavior and company performance and often unveils valuable insights.
With automated tools like Google Data Studio handling the heavy lifting, employees are freed from the labor-intensive task of manually extracting and merging raw data from Excel sheets. This reduces complexity — often introduced by SQL coding and working within relational database models — and results in significant cost savings by eliminating inefficiencies and errors in manual work.
Data blending empowers businesses to create visualizations, dashboards, and reports that provide a holistic view of their data, facilitating data-driven decision-making that can optimize processes and outcomes. A 360-degree understanding of customers' needs enables businesses to tailor products and services more effectively, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Step-by-Step Guide to Easy Data Blending in Google Data Studio
Step 1: Connect your data sources
The first step is to connect all the necessary data sources that you want to blend. This can include different files, spreadsheets, or even databases. Go to the “Resource” menu and click on “Manage added data sources.” From here, you can search for and add the required data sources.
Step 2: Create a new report
Once all your desired data sources are connected, create a new report by clicking the “Create” button in the main menu. This will open a blank canvas for you to start working on your blended report.
Step 3: Add charts and table:
Now, it’s time to visualize your blended data by adding charts and tables onto your canvas. You can also rearrange their positions by dragging them around.
Step 4: Edit chart properties
With each chart or table selected, you can customize its properties, such as dimensions and metrics, from the respective side panel. You can also select which specific fields from each data source should be used for blending.
Step 5: Blend your data
After customizing each chart with its desired fields from different data sources, click “Blend Data” within one of the charts’ side panels. This will open up an interface where you can choose which fields should be used for blending across all charts.
Step 6: Add filters (optional)
To make your blended report more interactive and focused, you can add filters that apply across all charts at once. These filters allow users to drill down into specific data points and see how they are affected across all the blended data sources.
Having covered the steps for blending data in Google Data Studio, it's important to now address some of the platform's limitations and challenges.
Google Data Studio: Limitations and Challenges
Limited Data Sources
One of the main challenges of using Google Data Studio is its limited number of data sources. While it does support popular platforms like Google Analytics, Google Sheets, and BigQuery, it falls short in offering integrations with many other databases or applications. This can be a major limitation for businesses with diverse data sources that need to be blended into their reports.
Restriction on Data Size
Another limitation of Google Data Studio is the restriction on the amount of data that can be imported into a report. The free version only allows up to 100MB per data source or file, while the paid version increases this limit to 2GB per data source. For organizations dealing with large datasets, this might not be sufficient and could hinder their ability to create detailed reports.
Limited Customization Options
While Google Data Studio offers various visualizations and customization options for designing reports, some users may find them limiting compared to other visualization tools like Tableau or Power BI. For instance, there are no options for creating custom charts or adding JavaScript code for more advanced visuals.
Reliance on Other Tools
Google Data Studio is primarily designed as a reporting tool rather than an all-in-one analytics platform. This means that users may have to rely on other tools like Google Analytics or Adwords for collecting raw data before importing it into Data Studio for reporting purposes. This can result in additional costs and complications in managing multiple tools simultaneously.
Learning Curve
For those new to data visualization and reporting tools, getting started with Google Data Studio might take some time due to its learning curve. While the interface is user friendly and intuitive, mastering all its features requires time and practice. This may be a challenge for those with limited technical skills or for organizations that require quick and easy reporting solutions.
Also Read: A Complete Guide to Enterprise Business Intelligence
Every challenge comes with an opportunity to explore a solution. Let’s explore how Savant stands out as a superior choice for data blending.
Comparison: Google Data Studio vs. Savant
Google Data Studio is a web-based tool that allows users to analyze and visualize data from various sources, but its data blending capabilities are limited. Savant, on the other hand, is a powerful all-in-one analytics automation platform that includes tools for data blending and enrichment. It offers integrations with databases, cloud applications, and more, with over 200 pre-built connectors that facilitate seamless data flow to and from a spectrum of data sources. Unlike Google Data Studio, Savant supports complex calculations and transformations during the blending process.
Savant stands out in data blending by efficiently handling large datasets without sacrificing performance, making it ideal for organizations managing big data or teams requiring real-time collaboration. With advanced analytics features like predictive modeling and machine learning algorithms, it helps users uncover valuable insights from blended datasets.
The platform also ensures robust security through features like user-level permissions and access controls, protecting sensitive information while allowing authorized users to operate on their data.
Let's take a look at how to seamlessly blend data using Savant.
Step-by-Step Guide to Easy Data Blending With Savant
Savant's Blend Tool
The Blend tool in Savant allows you to merge two datasets by finding matching records and providing options for including or excluding unmatched rows. It’s designed for scenarios where you need to combine data from two sources, such as customer information and purchase history, and offers flexibility in configuring the output based on how records align between the two tables.
Steps to use the Blend tool:
Step 1: Select your input datasets and connect them to the Blend tool.

Step 2: Click on the Blend tool and select the type of join out of the main path, such as an inner join, right outer join, outer join, etc.

Step 3: Configure conjunctive operators as necessary. Use AND when you want to match records only if all selected fields match between the two datasets. Use OR when you want to match records if any one of the selected fields matches.
Step 4: Select a field from the first input.

Step 5: Select an available operator.

Step 6: Select a field from the second input

Step 7: Select unmatched paths to view in the workflow and click Apply.

Savant's Join Tool
The Join tool in Savant allows you to combine two datasets based on matching values in a common field (or fields). This is particularly useful when you want to enrich or combine data from different sources that share key identifiers, such as customer IDs or product codes, enabling a more nuanced understanding of customer behavior.
Steps to use the Join tool:
Step 1: Select your input datasets and connect them to the Join tool.

Step 2: Click the Join tool and select the type of join out of the main path, such as an inner join, right outer join, outer join, etc. In this example, we’ll do an inner join, which only returns records where there is a match between the left and right inputs based on the join condition.

Step 3: Configure the AND/OR conjunctive operators as necessary.
Step 4: Select a field from the first input.

Step 5: Select an available operator.

Step 6: Select a field from the second input.

Step 7: Click ‘Apply’.
Savant's Stack Tool
The Stack tool in Savant facilitates the integration of multiple datasets by stacking their rows vertically. It allows users to consolidate data from multiple sources for comprehensive analysis.
Steps to use the Stack tool:
Step 1: Select your input datasets and connect them to the Stack tool input.

Step 2: Configure the tool settings as required.
- If including All Fields, the Stack tool will combine datasets and include every field from each dataset. If a dataset lacks a field present in another, the missing values will be left blank).
- If including Matched Fields, the Stack tool will only combine columns that have matching names across all datasets. You also have the option to format the stacked data according to one of the input tables, so you can choose to stack the fields by either Field Name or Field Position.
- When you Stack by Field Position, the Stack tool combines datasets based on the order of the columns, even if the column names differ. This is useful when datasets have similar structures but different column names.
In this example, we will select All Fields.

Step 3: Preview the stacked data.

Step 4: Apply and save the stacked dataset.
The Stack tool can accommodate up to 10 input datasets at once, enabling more extensive analyses without the hassle of individual data merges.
Savant's Subtract Tool
The Savant Subtract tool is a crucial feature for refining datasets through comparison and exclusion. It helps identify disparities between two datasets by removing records from one dataset that are also present in another. The tool's flexibility allows users to designate which dataset will be the subtract table, allowing for tailored analysis to suit varying analytical requirements.
Steps to use the Subtract tool:
Step 1: Identify the datasets you want to compare and connect them to the Subtract tool.

Step 2: Designate the subtract table from which the records will be retained after subtraction.

Step 3: Configure the Rules as necessary. In this example, let’s say you want to remove customers from the Active_Customers dataset who have canceled their accounts, which is tracked in the Cancelled_Customers dataset. So, we must subtract the Cancelled_Customers dataset from the Active_Customers dataset based on the Customer_ID field by configuring the rules as shown.

Step 4: Preview the results.

Step 5: Apply and save the new dataset.
The tool supports refined data analysis and ensures high-quality outputs, leading to deeper insights and more informed decision making.
Simplify Your Data Blending Process With Savant
Savant transforms the way businesses approach data blending. Its integration capabilities span various sources, including Google Analytics, BigQuery, and Excel, simplifying the process of combining datasets. Pre-configured connectors for platforms like Salesforce and HubSpot further enhance its utility, ensuring a smooth and efficient data flow.
Savant’s data blending capabilities allow for detailed, customizable reports, whether for high-level overviews or in-depth breakdowns. Its Microsoft Office integration ensures seamless access to blended datasets directly within Microsoft Excel, maintaining usability for teams accustomed to traditional tools.
Savant empowers businesses to turn data into actionable insights by combining an intuitive interface, advanced automation, and powerful data tools, making it an essential partner for modern data-driven businesses. Begin the process of ransforming your data operations today! Sign up for a demo now.
Also Read: 7 Best Data Wrangling Tools in 2024
FAQs
Can I blend real-time (live) and static (imported) data in Savant?
Savant enables users to blend real-time and static data for dynamic analyses, enabling richer insights and informed decisions with comprehensive reporting and visualization.
Do I need advanced technical skills or coding knowledge to blend multiple data sources in Savant?
Savant is a user-friendly, AI-powered platform that simplifies data blending and analysis without requiring advanced technical skills or coding knowledge. Its Gen AI-powered CoPilot empowers users to perform advanced data operations and create complex formulae with simple prompts in regular conversational language.
Can I schedule automated updates for my blended reports in Savant?
Savant allows for automated updates for blended reports, ensuring consistent data refreshes and timely insights. This feature saves time, improves efficiency, and aids teams in making informed decisions based on the latest available data.