If you want your report to adapt to specific KPI or metrics, you could use Looker Studio's (formerly Google Studio) IF statement. It allows you to test the validity of certain causes and draw consequences from them. You can then perform certain calculations or execute certain routines if certain conditions you've defined are met.
The IF function from Looker Studio (formerly Google Studio) is the most direct and simple way to execute portions of code if certain conditions are met. Unlike other conditional statements such as IF ... THEN ... ELSE or SWITCH … CASE, this simple IF takes just three parameters.
It's as easy to understand as it is to operate. And because it's highly optimized, it's fast to execute. It's an instantaneous logical conditional branch. If its condition is evaluated as true, the command from the first variable in the IF instruction is executed. If this is not the case, the command from the second variable is automatically executed. It is highly recommended to prefer its usage to other conditional branches when simplicity and performance are required to have your formulas working properly.
How to use the IF function in Looker Studio
The IF function in Looker Studio allows you to conditionally return one value if a condition is true, and another value if the condition is false. The basic syntax is:
IF(condition, value_if_true, value_if_false)
This condition can be any code that can be evaluated as true or false. It can be a simple comparison or a formula. This is exactly the same for the true and false values. These can be also be generated with calculated fields.
For example:
IF(order_total > 100, 'High Value', 'Low Value')
This will return 'High Value' if the order_total is greater than 100, and 'Low Value' otherwise.
You can nest IF statements to check multiple conditions. For example:
IF(order_total > 100, 'High', IF(order_total > 50, 'Medium', 'Low'))
This will check if order total is above 100 first, then above 50, returning 'High', 'Medium' or 'Low' accordingly.
The IF function is very useful for conditionally formatting results or creating calculated fields that change based on logical conditions in Looker Studio.
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Common use case : Classify customers based on their order history and attributes
One common use case for the IF function is to classify customers based on their order history and attributes. For example, we could create a calculated field called 'Customer Lifetime Value Tier' that segments customers as Bronze, Silver, Gold, etc. based on their lifetime revenue:
IF(lifetime_revenue < 1000, 'Bronze',
IF(lifetime_revenue >= 1000 AND lifetime_revenue < 5000, 'Silver',
IF(lifetime_revenue >= 5000 AND lifetime_revenue < 10000, 'Gold',
IF(lifetime_revenue >= 10000, 'Platinum', 'N/A')
)
)
)
This checks the lifetime_revenue from lowest to highest tier and classifies each customer accordingly.
We can extend this to also factor in their order frequency and recent activity. For example:
IF(weeks_since_last_order > 52 OR orders_count < 2, 'Inactive',
IF(lifetime_revenue < 1000, 'Bronze',
IF(lifetime_revenue >= 1000 AND lifetime_revenue < 5000, 'Silver',
IF(lifetime_revenue >= 5000 AND lifetime_revenue < 10000, 'Gold',
IF(lifetime_revenue >= 10000, 'Platinum', 'N/A')
)
)
)
)
Now Inactive customers will be filtered out before the revenue check. This allows us to focus on only Active customers when analyzing the tiers.
The IF function allows this level of flexibility and logic when creating meaningful segments and metrics. We can use it to build powerful customer cohorts tailored to our specific business needs. The nested IFs allow us to check multiple criteria and conditions in a specific order of priority. By using Looker expressions and functions like IF, we can create reusable calculated fields that add a lot of intelligence to our analysis.
In summary
The IF function in Looker Studio (formerly Google Studio) allows for conditional logic in calculations. It tests a condition and returns one value if true and another if false. IF can be nested to check multiple criteria. This is useful for segmenting data based on thresholds, like classifying customers into tiers by lifetime revenue.
IF statement enables flexible calculated fields that adapt based on parameters. It can filter out inactive users before other logic. Complex nested IFs can check multiple conditions in priority order. Looker expressions like IF create intelligent calculated fields for analysis. They can build customizable cohorts specific to business needs.
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