How to select Chart & Visuals for your Business Goals?

Picking the correct chart and visuals to measure your performance!!

Introduction

While building dashboards, reports or any visual representation of data a vital question pops-up.

Which chart or visual shall I select to best represent this data?

And to select one from numerous of available chart and visuals we need to go back to the original requirement i.e business goal or the underlying KPI.

So here we are with some business goals and their corresponding chart and visuals.

Compare dimensions or categories

Bar charts compare metrics using vertical or horizontal bars and allow you to compare discrete quantities of different categories. To compare differences between categories, use bar charts only with a reasonable number of data points, such as up to 12, to keep comparisons visually clear.

Track changes or trend over time

A line chart can easily help depict the relationship between two or more variables over time. Similarly, an area chart can help you discover correlations within a dimension.

Highlight a single, critical metric

A scorecard shows a total for a single metric. This won’t be grouped with any dimension but may be impacted by filter controls. Scorecards may include a comparison to a previous time period, indicating increases or decreases.

Understand the composition of a whole set of data

Pie charts compare the parts of a whole and are most helpful when comparing only two or three values.

Visualize data in the real world

A geo-map provides an easy way to visualize how a measurement varies across a geographic area. To use a geo map, your data set needs to have geodata, such as latitude, longitude.

Discover relationships between variables

Scatter and bubble charts help you identify a correlation or lack of correlation between data points. These charts show your data as points or circles on a graph using X (left to right) and Y (top to bottom) axes. Scatter charts can include a trend line that shows how the variables in the chart are related.

See how well your data performs against a target

A bullet chart gives you a way to quickly see how well a given metric is performing against target benchmarks. These charts are often used in dashboards to provide meter or gauge-like widgets.

Summing-up

To conclude, there are a variety of charts and visuals catering to different business goals and KPIs. You need to pick & choose the one that suits you and your use case the most.

Source: Google Analytics Academy