Efficiency Through AI

How Ryan Abramson uses ChatGPT with Excel to Identify Patterns, Trends, and Predictable Next Steps in Marketing

When responsiveness and quick action matters, one challenge continues to rise above all: making sense of the numbers. Marketers sit on treasure troves of data—campaign performance metrics, customer behavior analytics, social media insights, email engagement, and more. But how do you turn that data into decisions?

Enter ChatGPT integrated with Excel—a powerful new way to accelerate your marketing analysis by identifying patterns, trends, and next steps using AI-powered interpretation layered on the familiar backbone of Microsoft Excel.

In this article, we’ll explore:

• How ChatGPT works with Excel

• Practical use cases in marketing

• Real-world examples and prompt suggestions

• How to create AI-powered insights

• The future of Excel and ChatGPT integration

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✅ Ryan Abramson Tip Number 1. Always Start with Clean, Structured Data
“Before you ask ChatGPT to find trends or make predictions, take time to clean your Excel data—remove duplicates, label columns clearly, and ensure dates or numerical fields are consistent. Clean data equals smarter AI results.”

I. How ChatGPT Works with Excel

While Excel is the go-to tool for number crunching, visualization, and basic analytics, it can be limited when it comes to natural language interpretation, pattern recognition, and forecasting.

That’s where ChatGPT steps in.

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There are two main ways to use ChatGPT with Excel:

1. Within Excel Using ChatGPT Add-ins or Plugins Services like Microsoft Copilot for Excel (powered by GPT-4) or third-party plugins such as ChatGPT for Sheets and Docs (from Google Workspace Marketplace) allow direct in-cell prompts and responses.

2. External Analysis You can export Excel data and use ChatGPT’s Code Interpreter (Advanced Data Analysis) to:

II. Practical Use Cases in Marketing

When ChatGPT meets Excel, marketers unlock superpowers. Here are ways this synergy enhances marketing efforts:

1. Campaign Performance Analysis

Identify high-performing channels, campaigns, or content by comparing metrics across time or segments.

Helpful Prompt:

"Analyze this Excel dataset of my campaign performance by channel. What trends do you see? Which channels are improving or declining?"

2. Audience Segmentation and Behavior Prediction

Use behavioral data to identify user cohorts and forecast actions such as purchases, unsubscribes, or re-engagement.

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Helpful Prompt:

"Segment this customer data by behavior over time. Which segments are likely to convert next month based on current trends?"

3. Sales Funnel Optimization

Evaluate how leads move through your funnel and identify drop-off points.

Helpful Prompt:

"Based on this funnel data, where is the largest drop-off happening, and how can I improve conversion at that stage?"

4. Content Strategy Development

Determine what kind of content is resonating best with audiences and why.

Helpful Prompt:

"Compare the engagement rates of my blog posts, videos, and infographics. What content type is performing best, and what should I publish next?"

5. SEO Trend Spotting

Identify which keywords or topics are trending and their impact on organic traffic.

Helpful Prompt:

"Analyze keyword performance data in this sheet. What patterns can you find, and which keywords should I focus on next month?"

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✅ Ryan Abramson Tip Number 2. Layer Insights with Business Context
“AI can show you patterns, but you add the meaning. Combine ChatGPT's findings with your marketing goals—like lead generation, retention, or brand growth—to make the insights actionable.” 

III. Examples in Action

Let’s walk through a real-world scenario using ChatGPT with Excel data.

🧪 Example: Email Campaign Engagement

You export a dataset from Mailchimp with the following columns:

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• Campaign Name

• Send Date

• Open Rate (%)

• Click-Through Rate (%)

• Unsubscribe Rate (%)

• Revenue Generated

Prompt to ChatGPT:

"Analyze the performance of these email campaigns over the last 6 months. Identify any trends or patterns in open and click-through rates, and tell me which factors might be influencing revenue generation."

AI Insight Output:

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• Campaigns sent on Tuesdays and Thursdays had a 17% higher average open rate.

• Subject lines with emojis had 12% higher click-through rates.

• Revenue was positively correlated with click-through rate but not with open rate.

• The top 3 performing campaigns all featured discounts in the subject line.

Actionable Recommendation: Focus on Tuesday/Thursday sends, test emojis and discounts in subject lines, and optimize post-click experience to increase revenue.

✅ Ryan Abramson Tip Number 3. Use ChatGPT to Draft Campaigns Based on Data
“Once ChatGPT identifies top-performing content types or keywords, ask it to generate headlines, social posts, or email drafts based on those trends. Turn insights into action without delay.”

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📊 Example: Social Media Trend Analysis

Your Excel file includes:

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• Post Date

• Platform (Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn)

• Engagement Rate

• Impressions

• Clicks

• Content Type (Video, Image, Carousel, Text)

Prompt:

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"Determine the best-performing content type per platform over the last 3 months, and identify what type of post I should publish next week for optimal engagement."

ChatGPT Analysis:

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• Instagram: Carousels had the highest engagement rate (5.2%) but fewer impressions.

• Twitter: Text posts performed best for impressions but lowest in clicks.

• LinkedIn: Videos led in both impressions and engagement.

Next Step: Publish a short-form video post on LinkedIn and a carousel on Instagram next week to maximize engagement.

IV. Generating Predictable Next Steps

What makes ChatGPT + Excel particularly potent is its ability to suggest what’s next, based on historical

data.

🔄 Forecasting Example:

You track monthly website traffic in Excel.

Prompt:

"Here’s my website traffic data by month for the past two years. Can you forecast traffic for the next 3 months and tell me what campaigns to run to meet a 10% growth goal?"

Response:

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• Forecast: March: 42K; April: 43.5K; May: 44.9K

• Suggestion: Increase paid social budget by 15% in April to meet growth target.

• Add blog content targeting spring-related keywords to capitalize on seasonal trends.

V. Future Capabilities of ChatGPT + Excel

As AI tools become more advanced, the collaboration between Excel and ChatGPT will become even more seamless and powerful. Here’s a glimpse of what’s coming:

🔮 Predictive and Prescriptive AI

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• Predictive Models: AI will more accurately forecast customer churn, LTV, and conversion.

• Prescriptive Analytics: ChatGPT will not only predict what will happen but recommend the best course of action based on those predictions.

🤝 Seamless Natural Language Integration

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• You'll be able to type: “What happened to our open rates last quarter?” directly into Excel, and ChatGPT will automatically analyze the data and return insights inline.

🎨 Auto-Created Dashboards and Reports

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• ChatGPT will design stunning data dashboards and PowerPoint presentations from raw Excel data without the need for manual formatting.

📈 Auto-Optimization for Campaigns

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• AI will run simulations to determine the best budget allocation across channels for maximum ROI.

VI. Tips for Using ChatGPT and Excel Effectively

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• Start with Clean Data: Ensure your Excel sheet is formatted with clear headers, consistent columns, and no empty rows.

• Be Specific in Your Prompts: Add context to your questions like “last 90 days,” “by platform,” or “focused on revenue.”

• Ask for Visuals: If you’re using ChatGPT’s Advanced Data Analysis, you can ask for line charts, bar graphs, and heatmaps.

• Refine with Follow-Up: Ask follow-up questions to dive deeper—ChatGPT remembers the structure and context of your data during a session.

• Export Insights: Turn ChatGPT’s responses into slides, reports, or summaries with one click in many integrations.

Final Thoughts

The integration of ChatGPT with Excel is a game-changer for marketers, providing a bridge between raw data and real decision-making. Whether you’re evaluating campaign ROI, forecasting trends, or developing content strategy, this duo lets you move faster and smarter.

As AI evolves, your marketing strategy will become even more anticipatory and personalized. Those who embrace tools like ChatGPT now will be best positioned to lead the charge into an AI-powered marketing

future.

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​✅ Ryan Abramson Tip Number 4. Ask ChatGPT to Build Visual Summaries
“I often use prompts like ‘Create a bar chart of campaign performance by platform’ when using Advanced Data Analysis mode. It gives me easy-to-digest visuals that I can include in board reports or client presentations.”

Bonus: 10 Helpful Prompts for Marketers Using Excel and ChatGPT

1. "Summarize key insights from this marketing dataset over the past quarter."

2. "Which marketing channel showed the greatest ROI month over month?"

3. "Create a forecast for next month’s social media engagement based on current trends."

4. "What’s the correlation between ad spend and revenue in this dataset?"

5. "Identify underperforming email campaigns and suggest improvements."

6. "Which customer segments are most likely to churn?"

7. "Analyze the impact of my content types on lead generation."

8. "Generate a report comparing campaign performance year over year."

9. "What time of day has the highest engagement rate for social media posts?"

10. "What marketing experiment should I run next based on this performance data?"

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✅ Ryan Abramson Tip Number 5. Don’t Be Afraid to Ask ‘What’s Next?’
“Once you see a trend, don’t stop there. I always follow up with prompts like ‘What’s the predicted outcome if this trend continues?’ or ‘What are three strategies I should try next based on this data?’—that’s where the real value happens.”