How to Use Microsoft 365 Copilot for Data Analysis in Minutes!

How to Analyse Sales Data with Microsoft 365 Copilot: A Simple Guide for Everyday Users

Have you ever opened a spreadsheet and felt completely lost? You are not alone. I recently worked with a client who faced this exact challenge. Every month, she received new sales data for her coffee shop, but with limited confidence in Excel and a tight deadline, she felt overwhelmed. Even with access to Microsoft 365 Copilot, she was unsure where to begin.

In this blog, I will walk you through the same steps I shared with her, showing you how to use Copilot in Excel and beyond to turn your data into meaningful insights. Whether you are new to Microsoft 365 or looking to build your confidence, these tips will help you get started.

Getting Started with Copilot in Excel

Most of us use Excel every week, but not everyone knows how to unlock its full potential. With Copilot, you can quickly analyse your sales data and uncover key trends. Here is how you can use it:

• Summarise Key Trends: Ask Copilot to highlight total revenue, most popular products, average sale size and top performing stores. This is perfect for monthly sales reviews or preparing reports for management.
• Build Formula Columns: Use Copilot to suggest new columns, such as average sale per product or a column to track promotion code usage. This helps you spot which products or offers are driving sales.
• Use the Copilot Function in Excel: Type =Copilot in a cell and prompt it to classify products, for example, as iced or hot coffee. This is useful for segmenting your product range or understanding customer preferences.
• Summarise Customer Feedback: Let Copilot turn a column of customer comments into a short summary. This is ideal for sharing feedback trends with your team or identifying areas for improvement.

Beyond Excel: Copilot Chat and Analyst

If you prefer not to work in Excel, Copilot Chat on the web offers another way to analyse your data. Simply upload your sales file and ask Copilot to summarise key points or create visualisations. This is especially helpful if you want to share charts with your management team or need quick answers without building formulas.

Copilot Analyst takes things a step further. It can drill down into your data, showing store performance by time of day, product trends and payment method breakdowns. This is great for deeper analysis or when you want to explore your data from different angles.

Final Thoughts

With Microsoft 365 Copilot, you do not need to be an Excel expert to get valuable insights from your data. Whether you are preparing monthly reports, tracking promotions or summarising customer feedback, Copilot can help you work smarter and faster.