GROWTH MARKETING MINIDEGREE / CXL — REVIEW 6

In the last blog post, I talked about the capabilities of Google Analytics Universal and the differences of the new GA4. In this blog post, we will explore Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets for marketers with the sixth part of CXL Growth Marketing Minidegree.

You can go to the CXL website from here.

As you all know Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet developed by Microsoft for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications.

Google Sheets is a spreadsheet program included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google.

After briefly introducing it, I will now talk about the general differences and similarities between the two platforms.

Google sheets and excel are very much same in the terms of formulas and calculations and many of their features are the same, both have data in the form of a table or in other words rows and columns, the major difference between excel and google sheets is that google sheets provide us with us link which can be shared with other users to give them permission to read or edit the sheet at once while in excel only one person can edit the file at a time.

User-friendliness

While Excel comes with an extensive menu and many functions and features, Google Sheets is more minimalistic. It is, thus, seen by many users as more user-friendly. Many people feel overwhelmed by Excel’s functions and features and find Google Sheets to be clearer. On the other hand, Excel’s toolbar is better. It lets you make customizations and edits by simply clicking on the relevant icon. Since Google Sheets only uses a menu, you’ll often have to click through multiple menu trees to get to the function you’re looking for.

One thing you can safely forget about when using Google Sheets is manual saving. The program auto-saves all content at regular intervals. Only the latest version of Excel has this feature. If you see the “AutoSave” icon, your Excel spreadsheet will automatically be saved, and if you’re connected to OneDrive, your data will also automatically be backed up to the cloud. Otherwise, you’ll need to regularly save your file by clicking on the floppy disk icon.

Cloud and Syncing

Once again, Google Sheets comes out on top, and it makes sense why. Google Sheets was built from the ground up to be a cloud-based alternative to Microsoft Excel. Everything is accessible from your Google account and you’ll be able to see and access all of your files from Google Drive.

Syncing is easy because it’s all done automatically. If you create a file, it’s saved on your Google Drive, making it immediately accessible elsewhere.

Offline Access

Offline access is available for Google Sheets, but you’ll have difficulty accessing files you previously created whilst online. You need to install an offline extension to be able to work on files extensively offline, and the extension doesn’t work correctly at all times, leaving Google Sheets in a bit of a difficult position as far as catering for offline users goes.

Data Size

Many companies are concerned with how Google Sheets and Excel compare to one another in terms of data processing. For example, logistics companies often have to process huge amounts of data. While Google Sheets can fill and process approximately 5,000,000 cells, Excel can handle 17,179,869,184 cells. So, Excel has a greater amount of storage space. Massive spreadsheets with complicated formulas and numerous tabs are easier for Excel to manage.

Functions

When it comes to standard functions, Google Sheets and Excel are quite similar. Users who switch from one program to the other generally do not find that the functions they are accustomed to are lacking. From adding diagrams to applying formulas, both programs provide a comprehensive set of functions. The only difference is the location and presentation of options on user interface which can take a bit of getting used to. For example, pivot tables can be created in Excel using the “Insert’’ tab, while this function is found under the “Data” tab in Google Sheets.

However, if you’re looking to use special features such as statistical analysis, macros or data modelling, Excel is your best option. While Google Sheets continues to add more functions, only Excel offers special functions like these at this time.

Graphics

Presenting data and figures in diagrams makes it much easier to understand complex relationships and identify trends. Excel is a reliable tool for data visualization. In addition, Excel’s many years of experience provide a clear advantage over Google Sheets when it comes to high-quality graphical presentation. The same applies to the more comprehensive options for different display types and ready-made diagram designs in Excel.

Formulas

Whether or not a spreadsheet program is useful largely depends on the options offered by its formula functions. Such functions can make work much easier in many ways. Both Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel provide basic formulas such as SUM, AVERAGE, MIN and MAX. Users looking to calculate sums or maximum values in spreadsheets will find what they need in both programs.

Excel offers a wide selection of advanced formulas that are designed for specific fields. On the other hand, Google Sheets offers special formulas such as Google Finance which allows stock market prices to be integrated. Nevertheless, Excel is still superior to Google Sheets when it comes to highly complicated formulas.

Security

In the past few years, Excel has made some upgrades to its security since the password-protected files were easily hacked. Since then, security provisions are much improved when using the OneDrive cloud service. In principle, nothing can happen to your data when it is saved locally as long as you have a good antivirus program. Google Sheets works exclusively via the cloud. Therefore, your data is stored digitally on the internet. Technically, hackers could gain access to it. However, Google Sheets uses an HTTPS connection and two-factor authentication making it quite secure.

To summarize, I’d say that Excel is the top choice for now, but Google is pushing out updates to their Google Sheets software far faster than Microsoft is. As a result, the gap between the two options is getting smaller very quickly.

See you next week with a new blog post containing details from the CXL digital analytics mini degree program.

Thanks,

Mert Kolay