Choosing the Right Visualization

Choosing the Right Visualization

All seven visualizations display your data differently. Choosing the wrong one can obscure your insight — a Gauge where you need a trend, a Table where you need a total.

Quick Reference

Metric

Metric is the workhorse visualization for OKR dashboards. It shows a large hero number, a vs-prior percentage change pill, an OKR goal statement, and a progress bar filling toward the goal.

Choose Metric when:

• You have a single headline KPI and you want the number to dominate the card
• You have a goal — the progress bar is Metric's defining feature
• You want to compare vs. the previous period alongside the current number

Skip Metric when: The trend shape over time is as important as the total. Use Sparkline instead.

Sparkline

Sparkline combines a headline number with a trend line chart — you see the total and the daily shape in one card.

Choose Sparkline when:

• The trend shape matters: are sales accelerating? Is there a weekly cycle?
• You're debugging a period of unusual performance — which days drove it?
• You apply smoothing (Rolling 7d or EMA) to surface the signal under the noise

Requires: GROUP BY day in the query and enough days in the window to produce a meaningful line.

Chart

Chart is Sparkline with the trend line given the full card area and the hero number removed. The underlying query is identical; the layout emphasises the shape over the total.

Choose Chart when:

• The trend shape dominates and the exact total is secondary
• You're displaying a trend alongside a separate Metric card from the same data

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

Bar (Horizontal Bar Chart)

Bar renders values as horizontal bars — easy to compare magnitudes across items or to show a single value's progress against a goal line.

Choose Bar when:

• You have a ranked or comparative query and you want the size difference to be immediately visual
• You want to show goal progress in a bar format rather than an arc (Gauge) or number (Metric)

Skip Bar for time-series data — Bar does not plot daily values. Use Sparkline or Chart for trends.

Supports goals: Yes. When a goal is set, a vertical goal line is drawn on the bar chart.

Gauge

Gauge renders an arc/dial that fills from 0% to 100% as you approach your goal. The arc is the entire message — there is no vs-prior comparison pill and no trend line.

Choose Gauge when:

• Goal progress is the only story — you want an instant visual of "how full is the arc?"
• The percentage-to-goal is more meaningful than the absolute number (e.g. a 9-month revenue target)

Skip Gauge when:

• You also need to compare vs. the previous period — Gauge doesn't show a delta
• You need to see the daily trend — Gauge shows no time-series data

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

Badge

Badge is a stripped-down large-number display with no comparison, no goal, and no trend. It shows the number and nothing else.

Choose Badge when:

• The number is a status signal, not a growth metric (e.g. "14 products low on stock")
• Context doesn't require comparison — you need to know the number is non-zero, not whether it grew

Skip Badge for revenue, orders, sessions, or any metric where trend and comparison matter.

Table

Table displays ranked rows sorted by a metric — top products by revenue, top variants by items sold.

Choose Table when:

• Your query groups by a dimension (product_title, variant_title, etc.) and returns multiple rows
• You want to see which specific items drive performance, not just the aggregate total

Table is the only visualization that supports dimensional data. All other visualizations expect a single aggregate value or a time-series of single values. If you try to use Metric or Sparkline on a query returning 10 product rows, only the first row will be used.

Still need help? Open a support case