When the number of overlapping categories increases, Venn diagrams lose their effectiveness.
- They become cluttered and difficult to read
- Circular layouts do not scale well beyond three sets
- Visual comparisons between combinations are hard to interpret
Upset plots provide a scalable alternative. They replace circles with a matrix and bar chart layout that:
- Clearly illustrates category intersections
- Shows the size of each intersection with precision
- Supports easy comparison across multiple groups
Use Case: Product Combinations in Customer Orders
We used an Upset plot to address a key ecommerce question: Which product combinations drive the highest demand?
Key insights from the analysis:
- Clear visibility into the number of customers purchasing each product combination (for example, Laptop + Tablet)
- Bar lengths represent group size, allowing quick and scalable comparisons
- Enables identification of high-value bundles and cross-sell opportunities
Why Upset Plots Work
- Reveals the same relationships as Venn diagrams
- Scale effectively to handle larger category sets
- Highlights which combinations matter most and by what magnitude
- Simplifies complex overlaps, making patterns easier to act on
At Perceptive Analytics our mission is “to enable businesses to unlock value in data.” For over 20 years, we’ve partnered with more than 100 clients—from Fortune 500 companies to mid-sized firms—to solve complex data analytics challenges. Our services include Advanced Analytics, Generative AI, and Business Intelligence (Tableau, Power BI and Looker) turning data into strategic insight. We would love to talk to you. Do reach out to us.
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Principal, Benjamin Realty Advisors
I have been working with Chaitanya and Perceptive Analytics for about 20 months now. They did BI / reporting and excel tool development. Their work helped us in channeling our periodic reports to the senior and operational management. The team exceeded my expectations. Chaitanya would ask thought provoking questions that trigger a new line of thinking. They created good dashboards so our senior team can quickly interpret reports. We were able to make progress because the team knew finance and tools they created were easy to implement.
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CFO at Pearl Hospitality
Chaitanya and the Perceptive Analytics team worked on multiple strategic projects that involved Tableau data visualizations. Perceptive's work (~ 1 year) led to successful launch of our portal - this was an important milestone for us. Visualizations created were insightful, easy to understand and visually attractive. The team often suggested ways to show data in more intuitive way so our audience can understand it. They also knew Tableau well that helped in customizing it for our purposes. The team worked hard to finish the project on time managing expectations. I look forward to working with Perceptive on other projects.
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