I’ve got a story for you today… It’s time we connect the dots between your demanding data analysis tasks and your existing skillsets. But don’t worry, it won’t require you to break a sweat, and you might just learn a thing or two about conversion rate tracking and SLO funnels along the way. 

Today I want to talk about a novel way I’ve discovered to unlock the power of Excel, SQL, NoSQL Python, and JavaScript, all right within your spreadsheet – it’s going to make your life SO much easier!

The day has come where you finally get the chance to say 👋 “see ya” to the daily data integration grind and…

Instead, get your groove on with a game-changing, new analytical workflow that’s certain to save you heaps of precious time.

I’m talking about a spreadsheet called Equals. 

Last week I had the chance to have a quick coffee chat with Bobby Pinero, Cofounder and CEO of Equals. What he was telling me about his spreadsheet product was nothing short of mind-boggling, so I had to go check it out for myself…

You won’t believe what I discovered!

✨ Imagine connecting a spreadsheet directly with the data that your company has sitting in RedShift, Snowflake, MySQL, NoSQL, Stripe, QuickBooks or just about any other business system (or API) you can think of – and then being able to analyze that data using handy-dandy Excel formulas, SQL statements, Python or JS, directly within the spreadsheet interface!

✨ Imagine being able to use your existing Excel skills to build and publish real-time updating reports for stakeholders… or being able to set-it and forget-it, by automating this publishing workflow so all your daily / weekly / monthly reporting requirements go on autopilot while you prop up your heels and sip your latte. 🥤

✨Imagine dramatically decreasing the time and hassle involved in communicating the finding of your analyses by using an easy-peasy 1-click publishing workflow to send them directly to Slack, Google Slides or email!

That ^^ is the power of Equals!

It’s a spreadsheet that could do all the above, plus SO much more…

The truth is, though, my heart sunk when I saw how easy it is to integrate disparate data sources and generate real-time reporting inside Equals…

😱 Did I ever tell you about my conversion rate tracking debacle?

It got me thinking back to when I really needed a product like Equals and had to scrape by with manual reporting and guess-timation as my only option.

In 2019, I launched my very first self-liquidating offer (SLO) funnel. SLO funnels focus on audience-building, driving numerous customers through the sale of low-cost, high-value products.

The term “self-liquidating” comes from the idea that when you run ads to the funnel and the offer aligns perfectly with the needs of visitors driven by your traffic source, while the funnel pages are finely tuned for conversions, the revenue and leads generated cover the full cost of customer acquisition. In fact, you can even make a small profit, hence the “self-liquidating” label.

However, for a SLO funnel to succeed, you must achieve:

• A 10% conversion rate for warm traffic
• A 2.5% conversion rate for cold traffic (from ads)

Without reliable conversion rate tracking & reporting, scaling your funnel becomes a challenge, as you can’t confidently determine if the costs justify the returns.

Without reliable conversion rate tracking & reporting, scaling your funnel becomes a challenge, as you can’t confidently determine if the costs justify the returns.

Since I had built my funnel on WordPress using WooCommerce, I lacked proper conversion rate reporting for the funnel pages. Naturally, I turned to Google Analytics and Looker Studio in an attempt to obtain the necessary data. 

Unfortunately, the presence of complex UTM parameters in my referral links made it a real headache to get reliable reporting.

I shelled out nearly $500 on a pre-built conversion-tracking dashboard, along with the setup services needed to get it running. It ended up being a colossal waste of both time and money, as the connections quickly fell apart, and I couldn’t trust the data.

So, I decided to dive into Google Analytics and attempt to build a manual tracking system myself. To be honest, it wasn’t much more helpful.

The conversion rate tracking aspect of this funnel posed one of the most significant challenges in bringing the entire product suite to market. It was a major downer. 😢

If only I had known about Equals back then…

If only I had known about Equals back then, I could have effortlessly solved this conversion rate tracking problem, as easy as 1-2-3:

1. Connect my accounts in Google Analytics and Google Ads, Twitter Ads, or LinkedIn Ads (I’d track ad sources separately, of course).
2. Create a spreadsheet that automatically updates with real-time data on:
   1. Unique Page Views (#)
   2. New Orders (#)
   3. Conversion Rate, per page (%)
   4. Average Order Value ($)
3. Once I nailed down my conversion rate, I could simply duplicate this page and break down the calculations by advertising platforms (e.g., Google, Twitter, and LinkedIn – this way, I could verify the cost of customer acquisition independently, regardless of what the ads management platforms were telling me 😉.)

Alas, hindsight is 20-20. Equals even has a built-in template for this exact requirement! 

I could have just plugged in and been on my way in a matter of minutes rather than struggling for weeks…

But Equals is much more than just a conversion rate tracking and marketing analytics tool

Within Equals, data professionals can look forward to seamless data analysis using their favorite toolset, whether that be through Equals’ modern SQL editor or by scripting directly in Python, all within an environment that boasts effortless reporting and stakeholder management support.

And if you’re a business analyst, you can look forward to saving up to one week of every month by getting direct access to live updating spreadsheets and these automated reporting capabilities. 

I kid you not, look at what Barry O’Mahony has to say:

Honestly, I’m floored by what they’ve built over at Equals, and I’d love to tell you more about it but I’d need more time… I promise to pick back up on this next week.

And in the meantime, I definitely encourage you to go take a free test drive of Equals – the only spreadsheet known to man that has built-in connections to any database, versioning, and collaboration support.

❤️ Proudly produced in partnership with Equals! ❤️