Simply Analytics Video Tutorials

When a business owner is starting a business or updating their business plan, they need to know about their customers. Simply Analytics is a database that allows business owners and entrepreneurs to obtain customer data, including but not limited to gender, age, income, consumer spending and educational level. Of course, any database with this much information has a learning curve. To help anyone learn to use Simply Analytics, I've created 4 video tutorials. 

Accessing Simply Analytics and Getting Started

To access Simply Analytics, you need an Arapahoe Libraries card or to be using a computer in any Arapahoe Libraries location. In the video below, I show how and where to get a library card on the Arapahoe Libraries website, how to find and access Simply Analytics and how to create a table with demographic information.

Simply Analytics Tutorial - Logging In and the Basics , opens a new window

Creating Heat Maps

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Heat maps are an excellent way to visualize many types of data, such as average household income, average age and average consumer spending.  Having a visual can help people better understand the information, and it can add more useful information to a business plan or presentation. In this video, I show how to create heat maps with a variety of location types, including zip codes, census tracts and block groups. Census tracts, opens a new window and block groups, opens a new window are small subdivisions of a county that were created by the U.S. Census.            

The video includes the steps for editing the quartiles (groupings) visualized in a heat map; this is an advanced feature that helps better visualize data for a metro-area or city.   Finally, I show you how to export and download your heat maps. 

Simply Analytics Tutorial - Creating Heat Maps, opens a new window

Creating Custom Locations

For business owners who have a physical location, such as a retail store or a restaurant, one of the best ways to understand the customers in their area is by looking at the surrounding area using a 1-mile, 3-mile and 5-mile radius with the location in the center of each. In this video, I provide best practices for creating and naming these radii, and how to create a custom location with multiple cities.

Simply Analytics Tutorial - Creating Custom Locations, opens a new window

Using Consumer Spending Data

Did you know that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) uses surveys and interviews to collect data on how much money consumers spend on common products and services? All of this information is part of the Consumer Expenditure Surveys program, opens a new window.  For business owners who are seeking a location for their store or restaurant, this is amazing information! Consumer spending data will also help online stores with their marketing plans.  

While this data can be valuable, it can sometimes appear skewed in certain situations, so it's important to understand how to best use this data. In this video, I show you how to use the Consumer Expenditure Data from the BLS as well as use the Nielsen Consumer Buying Power data both in tables and in heat maps.

Simply Analytics Tutorial - Consumer Spending Data, opens a new window

Getting Help with Simply Analytics

If you have questions about using Simply Analytics for your business or any other project, please submit an Ask a Librarian appointment so that one of our knowledgeable librarians can schedule a time to meet with you and assist with your questions. If you're seeking help with starting or growing a business, you can request an appointment with the Business Librarian at the top of the Business Help webpage.