Knowing the Audience

Why this matters

Great insights fail if they don’t land with the people who decide and act. As a Data Analyst, you will regularly:

• Brief executives with one-slide summaries that drive a decision.
• Equip marketing or product managers with just-enough evidence to pick a tactic today.
• Collaborate with engineers or analysts who need methods, caveats, and reproducibility.
• Adapt the same finding into a dashboard card, a meeting update, and a deep-dive doc.

Knowing the audience ensures you choose the right message, level of detail, visuals, and call to action.

Concept explained simply

Audience knowledge means answering: who is deciding, what decision is on the table, how much time they have, how data-fluent they are, and what action you want next.

Mental model: PACTS

• P — People: Roles, responsibilities, vocabulary.
• A — Aim: The decision they must make now (or soon).
• C — Constraints: Time, channel (email, meeting), risk tolerance.
• T — Tolerance (data literacy): How much detail and statistical nuance they want.
• S — Success: The specific action or outcome you want after your story.

Worked examples

How to do it step-by-step

Templates you can copy

People: [role/title, decision rights]
Aim: [one decision they must make]
Constraints: [time, channel, appetite for risk]
Tolerance: [low/medium/high data literacy]
Success: [specific action after this story]

Headline: [the answer in one sentence]
Key number: [metric + delta + time/segment]
Because: [1–2 causes or drivers]
Action: [recommended next step + expected impact]

Exercises

Do these to lock in the skill. A quick test awaits at the end.

Exercise 1 — Stakeholder mapping and PACTS (mirrors Exercise ex1)

Scenario: You analyzed trial-to-paid conversion. Finding: "Trials that see the checklist widget in first 24h convert +5.2pp higher; effect strongest in SMB." Meeting in 1 hour with the VP Product, a PM, and a Senior Engineer.

• Create a PACTS brief for each of the three roles.
• Classify each in the urgency × literacy matrix.
• Draft one shared headline that works for all, and one tailored action per role.

• I wrote PACTS for VP, PM, Engineer
• I placed each role in the matrix
• I drafted one shared headline
• I wrote tailored actions

Exercise 2 — Rewrite for two audiences (mirrors Exercise ex2)

Insight: "Users who received two onboarding emails activated 18% more features within 14 days (p=0.03). Effect strongest for SMB; neutral for Enterprise."

• Version A: Slack update for an executive (max 35 words, one number, one ask).
• Version B: Deep-dive slide title + subtitle for analysts (2 lines; include method hint).

• Version A has headline, key number, clear ask
• Version B mentions method and segment nuance

Common mistakes and self-check

• Starting with methods, not the decision: Fix by writing the one-line decision first.
• Overloading charts: Fix by asking, "What single visual proves the point?" Remove the rest.
• Jargon mismatch: Replace specialist terms with the audience’s vocabulary; add short tooltips in speech, not on the slide.
• Ignoring constraints: If they have 5 minutes, plan a 30-second headline and 2-minute Q&A.
• No clear ask: End with a specific action, owner, and time frame.

Practical projects

• Dashboard refit: Take an existing dashboard. Identify two audiences (exec and PM). Duplicate the dashboard and redesign the top row for each audience with tailored KPIs and copy.
• One insight, three formats: Turn one finding into: an exec one-pager, a PM briefing note, and an analyst notebook summary.
• Stakeholder playbook: Build a reusable PACTS catalog for your org’s top 5 roles.

Who this is for

• Data Analysts and aspiring analysts who present findings to mixed audiences.
• PMs and marketing analysts who need decision-ready summaries.
• Anyone translating analysis into action.

Prerequisites

• Basic descriptive analytics (metrics, segments, deltas).
• Comfort summarizing results in 2–3 sentences.
• Willingness to tailor communication style by role.

Learning path

• 1) Knowing the Audience (this lesson)
• 2) Crafting Clear Headlines and Key Numbers
• 3) Choosing the Right Visual for the Message
• 4) Structuring a Narrative Arc (Problem → Insight → Action)
• 5) Presenting with Confidence and Handling Objections

Next steps

• Apply PACTS to your next meeting invite; draft the headline first.
• Complete the exercises below and then take the Quick Test.
• Pick one Practical Project to complete this week.

Mini challenge (5 minutes)

Take an analysis you’ve done. Write two versions of the opener:

• Exec: 12-word headline + one number.
• Analyst: 12-word headline + one method keyword.

Quick Test info

Anyone can take the test. If you’re logged in, your progress is saved automatically.