Hello Reader,

Let’s be honest...

sharing data in meetings is extremely hard. You might have the most valuable insights in the world, but if you present them badly, you’ve just wasted your time.

Luckily being good at presenting is a skill you can learn with a bit of practice!

So in this email, I’ll teach you six tips on presenting eCommerce data like a PRO. If you prefer watching a video instead of reading, watch it here.

1. Know your audience

So, Imagine you’re prepping a deck about marketing performance…

Then an hour before the meeting, your boss tells you that you’re actually presenting…

…to a room full of 8-year-olds.

(Why? Who knows. But stick with me.)

Would you still use phrases like “click-through rate” or “conversion rate”?

Of course not!

The same principle applies to any presentation. Ask yourself:

• Who are you speaking to? The email team cares about open rates. The customer support team? Maybe NPS scores. Senior execs? Business impact.
• What’s their data comfort level? Newbies need context and clear terms. Pros want deeper analysis and how significant your data is.
• What language do they speak? (Not literally… Duh! I mean industry jargon). Use terminology that feels familiar to them.
• ​

Once you understand your audience, you can tailor your message to meet their needs. This way, you won’t lose anyone's attention.

For bonus points, tease at the beginning of the presentation how the presentation will help them achieve their goals.

2. Be clear about your goal

Ever sat through a slide-heavy talk and thought,

“Cool… but what am I supposed to do with this?”

Yeah. That’s what we want to avoid…

Before you create a single chart, define:

• What’s the main point?
• What do I want them to do, decide, or understand?
• ​

You don’t need a Hollywood script — just a sentence like:

This goal keeps your story focused and your audience engaged. And you can summarize everything at the end of the presentation by answering your statement.

3. Start with the big picture

You know how every Netflix show starts with an aerial shot before zooming into a scene?

Like in Modern Family (one of my favorite shows), they first show Jay’s house and then they cut to Gloria screaming…

That’s not just to fill the time. It’s for context.

Start your presentation the same way:

• Begin with an overview: “Revenue dropped 10% this month.”
• Then zoom in: “Let’s dig into the top channels and pages that contributed.”

That way, when you dive into the nitty-gritty of bounce rates and CTA clicks, your audience understands why it matters.

4. One point per slide (seriously)

We've all done it:

“Oh no, I’ve only got 10 slides — better cram seven graphs into this one.”

Don't do it! Please!

When slides are too busy, people stop listening and start trying to decode your mess of bullet points.

Instead:

• Use one main idea per slide
• Support it with one (maybe two) charts or visuals
• Keep text minimal — your voice is there to explain

This gives your audience space to process, absorb, and ask good questions. And your data? It’ll look so much better with some breathing room.

5. Focus on actionable insights

Let me ask you…

Do you have that one friend whose stories just go on and on?

In the middle of the story, they tell what they ate for breakfast yesterday, and they will tell all the family history of each character, and so on…

If it does sound familiar, isn’t it really hard to understand what is the point of the whole story?

You see, they think that by adding more details, they enrich the story.

But actually, it makes it more confusing and unfocused.

The same thing applies to presentations with data.

So, don’t include anything in the slides that does not directly support the message you are trying to convey.

Your goal is to provide actionable insights to your audience.

Let me just repeat that, “actionable insights” that’s the goal. And the data you show is the proof.

Leave out the statistical significance formulas (unless you're talking to data scientists). Keep this stuff in the appendix. Lead with recommendations, next steps, or warnings.

Your goal is to give insights your audience can actually use to do their jobs better.

6. Tell a story

Data without structure = a bunch of numbers and it’s boring!

Data with a small story = something people remember & relate to.

Here’s a simple way to turn any insight into a mini-narrative:
​

1. Tell the big picture:“Why home page hero banner needs urgent attention.”
   ​
2. Set the scene: “Traffic increased by 25% this month...”
   ​
3. Introduce the twist (or the struggle): “…but bounce rate also spiked by 15%. So, more people were visiting, but they weren't sticking around. Clearly, something wasn’t working...”
   ​
4. Reveal the insight: *“We dug deeper, and it turns out that people are not clicking on our main CTA on the home page. Because the main CTA has 22% fewer clicks than the previous month.
   ​
   ​So we looked at what had changed from the previous month and noticed that the new home page hero banner makes the CTA blend with the background. They have similar colors.*​
   ​
5. Suggest a next step: “Let’s redesign the banner with a contrasting background to make sure they don’t interfere with each other.”

With storytelling, even a simple presentation becomes more than numbers, it becomes a mini journey people want to follow.

Now storytelling is an art form, and it deserves its own email.

So next week, I’ll tell you how to use storytelling in PowerPoint presentations.

Happy presenting,

Robert