How to use Google Data Studio (now Looker Studio) to Analyze Your Zendesk Data in 2024

Zendesk analytics generate indispensable insights for customer-centric businesses. 

While Zendesk has a robust analytics reporting feature called "Explore," it's easier to consolidate and manage all your data via a unified, dynamic dashboard. This is especially true if you process data from a collection of business software. 

Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio), for example, is a popular reporting and dashboard creation tool for businesses. 

Here's how to use Google Data Studio to take Zendesk analytics reporting to the next level.

Table of Contents

• Steps to Use Google Data Studio for Zendesk Analytics

• Connect your Zendesk data to Google Sheets
• Connect Google Sheets as a data source in Google Data Studio
• Build and customize your live Zendesk dashboard

• Turn your Zendesk Data into Stunning Dashboards with a User-Friendly Platform
• People Also Ask
• Analyze Your Zendesk Data Seamlessly with Google Data Studio

TL;DR: Why you should use Polymer to build a unified Zendesk analytics dashboard

Zendesk's built-in analytics features are useful for tracking performance metrics and KPIs, but it's limited in terms of customizability and integrations. 

Google Data Studio partly fixes these problems but lacks real-time synchronization features to ensure updated reporting. 

With Polymer, you can avoid these limitations.

Polymer’s stunning data visualizations, in-depth customizability, AI-driven insights, and real-time data updates help you create comprehensive and easy-to-understand dashboards.

Polymer's drag-and-drop interface also lets you configure interactivity within data visualizations—without writing a single line of code.

Steps to Use Google Data Studio for Zendesk Analytics

Follow these steps to view and manage your Zendesk data via Google Data Studio:

Connect your Zendesk data to Google Sheets

First, you need a Google Sheets dashboard to move your data from Zendesk to Google Data Studio.

An easy way to do this is through the Zendesk Connector extension. 

On a blank Google Sheets document, click 'Extensions.' In the 'Add-ons' sub-menu, click 'Get add-ons.' 

Image Source: Sheets.Google.com

Use the search bar to look for the Zendesk Connector extension. Click on the one developed specifically by Google. 

Image Source: Sheets.Google.com

On the extension page, click 'Install.' Be sure to review and grant the requested permissions to ensure Zendesk Connector works properly. 

Upon installation, click 'Done' to proceed to the next step. 

Image Source: Sheets.Google.com 

Back in Google Sheets, go to 'Extensions,' select 'Zendesk Connector,' and click 'Open.' This will launch the Zendesk Connector sidebar in the current Google Sheets document. 

Image Source: Sheets.Google.com

Provide your Zendesk subdomain, click 'Authorize,' and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the integration. Once authorized, you can choose the specific data sets you want to import into Google Sheets (tickets, metrics, etc.). 

Image Source: Sheets.Google.com

Connect Google Sheets as a data source in Google Data Studio

After importing your Zendesk data into Google Sheets, go to Google Data Studio to create a new data source. 

To do this, click 'Create' and select 'Data source' from the drop-down menu. 

Image Source: LookerStudio.Google.com

Search for 'Google Sheets' in the list of available data sources for Google Data Studio. Next, select the specific spreadsheet and worksheet that contains your imported data from Zendesk. 

Feel free to change the formatting options to the right as you see fit. When done, click 'Connect.' 

Image Source: LookerStudio.Google.com

Be sure to set the correct types for each form field before you create a report or use the "Explore" tool. 

For instance, text data like "assignee_id" may incorrectly use the "Date & Time" data type. Just choose the correct data type from the drop-down menu to fix it. 

Image Source: LookerStudio.Google.com

After verifying the data types, click 'Explore' to start constructing your Zendesk dashboard.

Build and customize your live Zendesk dashboard

Google Data Studio features a drag-and-drop interface to help visualize your data. 

Use an assortment of visualizations—from pivot tables to scatter charts—to make your Zendesk data more readable. 

Image Source: LookerStudio.Google.com

Under the "Setup" tab, configure the data dimensions and metrics you wish to use in your data visualization. 

You can also modify the appearance of your chart by switching to the "Style" tab. Just remember that the available appearance customization options depend on the vsualization type you used. 

Image Source: LookerStudio.Google.com

Turn your Zendesk data into stunning dashboards with a user-friendly and robust BI platform

Managing Zendesk data through Google Data Studio isn't rocket science, however, it has its own set of limitations.

But if you use a more streamlined Business Intelligence (BI) platform like Polymer, you'll get better, faster results. 

Polymer streamlines Zendesk analytics data management from start to finish. 

For example, to connect Zendesk as a data source, simply enter your API token along with a few account details. 

After successfully connecting Zendesk, your dashboard is all prepared and ready for customization. 

Just click your Zendesk data source under "Sources" to view all imported data. 

Polymer provides time-saving, AI-powered suggestions to help explore your data and extract meaningful insights. 

Under "Get to know your data," instantly convert data into valuable takeaways like the breakdown of tickets by status, number of updated tickets per assignee, and so on. 

Simply click on any insight you like and Polymer will handle the rest.

To create your own data visualization from scratch, click 'New Block' and pick the dashboard element you want to use. 

Polymer lets you create visualizations like heatmaps, dependency wheels, pie charts, funnels, and more without using code. 

For a detailed view of your Zendesk data, go to the 'Data' tab. Take note that you can easily rearrange the data columns by dragging and dropping their headers. 

Polymer automatically organizes everything in an interactive, color-coded table. If that's not enough, use the filter tool to sort your data according to specific categories. 

Finally, go to the 'Insights' tab to view and edit pre-built dashboards in Polymer tailored to your data source. 

For example, Polymer prepares a "Team Dashboard" that tracks the status, types, channels, and priority of all tickets. 

Other benefits of using Polymer to manage your Zendesk data

• Automatically synchronize your Zendesk analytics data. Using your API token, Polymer ensures you always get updated data from your custom dashboards. This is a huge advantage over Google Data Studio, which relies on manual imports or third-party connectors to update data. 
• Seamlessly weave interactivity into your dashboard. Interactivity is baked into almost every aspect of Polymer dashboard reports. No need to inject code or install add-ons to help your team analyze your data. 
• In-depth appearance customization options. Headers, colors, block sizes, and more—nearly everything you see on Polymer is customizable. Certain data visualizations include extra options like trend line visibility, logarithmic X-axis scaling, and so on. 
• Quickly add collaborators. If you need to share your Polymer dashboard with colleagues, simply enter their email and assign their access privileges. Access can be set to either "can view" or "can edit." 

People Also Ask

Does Zendesk have analytics? 

Zendesk offers analytics and visual reporting tools through the "Explore" feature. It focuses on pre-built reports that help team members get a deeper understanding of performance, tickets, customers, and more. 

What are Zendesk metrics? 

Zendesk metrics range from ticket priority breakdowns, responses per assignee, number of tickets, and other values that can measure performance. The set of KPIs and metrics available depends on the specific Zendesk products you use. 

How do I get Zendesk stats? 

All types of analytics and reporting are done through Zendesk's "Explore" feature. In addition to visualizing Zendesk data, users can also export data as JSON or CSV attachments. 

Analyze your Zendesk data seamlessly with Polymer

Customers are the lifeblood of any business, and there's no better way to maintain fruitful customer relationships than through platforms like Zendesk. 

And to stay on top of your Zendesk game, you need valuable performance metrics that lead to data-driven decisions. 

Polymer can help you create stunning visualizations, build dashboards, and present your data like a pro.

Click here to start a Polymer free trial and start crushing your CRM goals.