Introduction to Formulae in Excel

In the last segment, we developed an understanding of the telemarketing dataset -

A bank contacted approximately 45,000 people for a telemarketing campaign and recorded their opinion on purchasing a new product. In this session, you will analyse the dataset to find profiles of people who should be targeted i.e. categories of people who have a higher propensity to buy the new product.

Why is this important?

A focused targeting will not only increase the sales of the new product but also reduce the marketing cost.

This is a fairly common analysis and a lot of you would have faced similar questions at work:

• Which customers to reach out for an e-mail marketing campaign?
• Which customers to target based on their demographics?

All such analyses include bucketing/segmenting. In this session, apart from Excel skills, we will also learn about developing the analytical skills like Bucketing & Segmenting. 

Remember, formulae start with an equal sign '='. Recall that:

• Cells are named as a combination of the respective rows and columns i.e. the cell at the intersection of Column A and Row 2 is named as A2.
• Formulae can use cell references. Copy and Pasting formulae adjust the input cells references appropriately.
• Double Click on the Autofill square at the bottom right of a cell to fill an entire range. Excel is smart enough to change the input references for each cell.

In the next  video, you will learn about Mathematical Formulae.

Recall, we used the Insert Function tab (FX) in the formula bar to search for functions. In the Insert Function dialogue box, each function has an explanation. Also, recall that while typing the formula, Excel prompts about the arguments. This should be kept in mind while working with formulae.

In the next segment, we will learn about more complex formulae which will help aggregate data i.e. we will answer the question - What is the response rate if the age group is 1 or 2 or 3 and so on.