Where to Find a PESTLE Analysis Template and How to Use it

Looking to use a PESTLE analysis effectively? It’s actually simpler than it seems; you only need a PESTLE analysis template to get you started. However, you first need to have a full understanding of what PESTLE is and the reasons why companies use it.

What is PESTLE analysis?

PESTLE analysis is a study of six macro-environmental factors. These factors affect businesses and industries worldwide. Each letter of the analysis stands for a specific environmental factor and are broken down as followed:

• Political factors
• Economic factors
• Socio-cultural/social factors
• Technological factors
• Legal factors
• Ecological/environmental factors

By studying how these factors influence a business, industry, or brand, a person can discover trends and use analytical data to enhance productivity and sales. As such, decision-makers can make informed and strategic changes that may lead to more success for the company or brand.

Who benefits from PESTLE analysis?

Anyone who conducts a PESTLE analysis will benefit from the data discovered. This analysis has been used by business analysts, CEOs, and anyone in a position to make strategic or important business decisions.

Not only do large companies or enterprises benefit from a PESTLE analysis — startups can too, so long as they take the time to be thorough with their study. Even students who wish to understand how businesses are susceptible to failures related to political, economic, and the remaining factors, can conduct a PESTLE analysis. All that’s needed is access to the relevant data.

For many, a PESTLE analysis template can help cut down the time it takes to do the analysis. Rather than creating everything from scratch, the template allows you to quickly add information to each respective category. You can create your PESTLE analysis yourself, or you can use a pre-designed template. But whichever PESTLE analysis template you choose, you should know how to use it correctly.

Using a PESTLE analysis template

If you’ve decided to use a pre-designed PESTLE analysis template, you can find many of them online. There are templates for PowerPoint, some for PEST analysis (which is the same as PESTLE, just minus the last two macro-environmental factors), and specific industries. For instance, if you’re planning to do or have a PESTLE analysis conducted for the banking industry, you can find templates designed to help you address common concerns for this industry.

Once you’ve found a template, you must start addressing questions included in the template, or questions you have. For instance, in the political section, you’d aim to answer what governmental laws and regulations affect your industry. Is political corruption a concern? What labor laws must the company abide by?

These are the type of questions you’ll answer for each section of the analysis and include in your PESTLE analysis template. The more questions you find answers for, the more complete your PESTLE analysis will be.

Generic templates — ones not focused on a certain industry — are similar to specific templates, but different in design. In that way, you can just select the one that is most visually appealing for the readers of the analysis. For the industry-specific templates, you’ll want to choose one that is both appealing and suits your needs.

Remember: the point of any analysis or template is to convey information thoroughly, accurately, and correctly. If your PESTLE analysis template is over-designed or difficult to read or follow, critical information may be lost in the shuffle. As such, the PESTLE analysis won’t be as effective as it could be.

A clean PESTLE analysis template, clearly conveying information of the six different environmental factors, will do wonders than a flashier template that’s difficult to understand.

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