As a marketer, numbers are just as important as words. That's why I absolutely love Excel. But every time I think I’ve mastered it, I discover a new formula that makes my job even easier. Today, I’m excited to share with you one of my favorite formulas: MINIFS.
MINIFS is an Excel formula that allows you to find the smallest value in a range of cells, based on one or more criteria. Sounds complicated, right? Don't worry, once you get the hang of it, you'll see how incredibly useful this formula can be.
MINIFS works by comparing one or more criteria to a range of cells, and then it returns the smallest value that meets all of the defined criteria. Let's break it down with an example. Say you have a table of data showing the sales of different products in different regions:
| Region | Product | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| North | Product A | 100 |
| South | Product B | 200 |
| East | Product C | 150 |
| West | Product D | 300 |
| North | Product B | 50 |
| South | Product C | 75 |
Let's say you want to find the lowest sales number for the South region. With MINIFS, it's easy:
=MINIFS(C2:C7, A2:A7, "South")
This formula tells Excel to look in the Sales column (C2:C7), find the smallest value that meets the criteria of the Region column (A2:A7) being "South". The result is 75, which is the lowest sales number for the South region.
MINIFS can also handle multiple criteria, which makes it even more powerful. Let's say you want to find the lowest sales number for the South region, but only for Product B. You can use MINIFS with multiple criteria like this:
=MINIFS(C2:C7, A2:A7, "South", B2:B7, "Product B")
This formula tells Excel to look in the Sales column (C2:C7), find the smallest value that meets the criteria of the Region column (A2:A7) being "South" and the Product column (B2:B7) being "Product B". The result is 50, which is the lowest sales number for the South region and Product B.
MINIFS is just one of the many amazing formulas that Excel has to offer. Once you get the hang of it, you'll see how it can save you time and make your job as a marketer easier. So, don’t be afraid to try it out in your next Excel spreadsheet.
