Visualization Types

Choosing the right visualization makes the status of your goal immediately obvious at a glance. Here’s what each type does and when to reach for it.

Metric

A large hero number with an OKR progress bar and a vs-prior comparison pill.

When to use: Your primary KPI against a goal. Best when the number itself is the story — revenue, order count, AOV.

Shows: - The current value (large, bold) - OKR goal statement: “Grow 10% vs last period — reach $9,297” - Progress bar from 0 to goal - Delta vs comparison period: “+12% vs last month”

Supported by: Revenue, Orders, AOV, Items Sold, Store Sessions, Custom

Sparkline

A hero number with a delta pill and a trend line chart beneath it.

When to use: When the trend shape matters as much as the total. Use for Revenue Trend or Sessions Trend to spot peaks and dips.

Shows: - The current period total (hero number) - Delta vs comparison period - A mini line chart over the selected window

Supported by: Revenue, Orders, Items Sold, Store Sessions, Revenue Trend, Sessions Trend, Custom

Chart

A full-width trend line chart. The same as Sparkline but the trend dominates the card — the total is secondary.

When to use: When the trajectory is the main story and the total is secondary. Good for trend-heavy dashboards.

Tip: Pair a Metric card (for the goal and total) with a Chart card (for the trend) from the same data source. The Metric answers “are we on track?” and the Chart answers “how did we get here?”

Supported by: Revenue Trend, Sessions Trend, Custom

Bar

A horizontal bar chart with an optional goal line.

When to use: Comparing ranked items or showing progress against a fixed target visually. Good when you have multiple items to compare side-by-side.

Note: Bar does not plot daily time-series data. Use Sparkline or Chart for trends.

Supported by: Custom SmashGL

Gauge

An arc-style dial showing % progress toward a goal.

When to use: When goal progress is the entire story at a glance. Good for long-horizon fixed targets where you want a “speedometer” feel — annual revenue goals, multi-month campaigns.

Requires: A goal (set via the Simple tab or a GOAL clause in SmashGL). Without a goal, the arc renders empty.

Note: Gauge does not show a vs-prior comparison pill or trend data.

Supported by: Custom SmashGL with GOAL clause

Badge

A simple large-number summary with no comparison or trend.

When to use: Status signals where the number speaks for itself — inventory counts, flags, alerts. Not for goal tracking or metrics where comparison matters.

Supported by: Inventory Health, Custom

Table

Ranked rows sorted by a metric, displayed as a data table.

When to use: Ranked data like top products by revenue, where you need to see the breakdown, not just the total. Table is the only visualization that supports multi-row dimensional data (queries using GROUP BY product_title or similar). Using Metric or Sparkline on a multi-row query will only show the first row.

Supported by: Top Products, Custom SmashGL with GROUP BY

Choosing the Right Visualization

Next Steps

• Creating cards
• SmashGL reference

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