Did you know that using a funnel chart is an approach that will help you aid visualization results, and thus facilitate valuable data interpretation about your business?
This chart type is considered to be one of the most relevant visualization types when the intention is to present reports and results; these charts are able to visually represent visitor trends, lead generation and much more.
After all, there are countless indicators that can be analyzed with this visualization type, as well as the contexts in which the tool can be adopted.
Check out this post in its entirety and discover the main features this amazing visual resource has to offer.
What is a Funnel Chart?
In short, a funnel chart can be defined as a visual representation used to visualize the behavior of data during any given process.
Widely adopted in sales funnel analysis, HR recruitment and order fulfillment roles, these diagrams neatly depict different stages along a single business process.

HR recruitment funnel chart example
When a sales process is started, for example, it is possible to see how many potential customers were initially contacted, how many of them responded to proposals and so on, until the sales funnel is drawn to a close.
In general, the length of each bar on the chart represents the number of customers present at each stage of the sales process.
When should you use the Funnel Chart?
It is common that during a sales process, which has several stages, part of the target audience makes the purchase, while another part ends up giving up.
This is just one of the many cases where relying on the funnel chart to analyze patterns, repetitions and behaviors is valuable for process insights.
Therefore, the ideal use case comes when these charts are evaluated from the point of view of a sequence of events that the data goes through. On top of this, it is essential to establish at least three stages and then observe that this data decreases after entering each stage.
How to read a Funnel Chart?
As mentioned, funnel charts show that data values gradually decrease from the first stage (the complete universe of opportunities and contacts) to the next stages (proposals,negotiations and closing stages).
While these chart types may be similar to the popular bar chart type, the funnel chart is different precisely because it presents bars that become progressively shorter.
The top bar (called the “head” or “bottom” of the funnel) represents the whole 100% of available data. Subsequent bars have lengths that represent only a proportion of that initial whole.
Knowing this, it is easy to identify the number of customers in each phase of a sales pipeline. After all, the number of potential customers progressively decreases as the funnel stages move on.
Funnel Chart examples
These are some common examples in which funnel charts are widely used:
- Qualified leads;
- Quantified measurements;
- Number of respondents in a survey;
- Satisfied customers;
- Closed deals;
- Successful calls;
- And much more.
Think, for example, of each phase during a sales process; every step, every movement made by the potential client, and the way he interacts with, responds to, or seeks out the selling company.

Sales process funnel chart example
It’s like a chess game: every move has to be meticulously calculated (and measured for success).
After all, as we’ve already seen, qualified leads (number of customers) gradually decrease as they move through the stages of the purchasing journey.
With all this in mind, it is essential to adopt the right strategy to secure a conversion.
Why is it worth it to adopt Funnel Charts for your analytics strategy?
Although some advantages that funnel charts provide have already been evident so far, it’s valuable to list the main ones. We’ll do this next:
Wide and easy viewing
Through funnel charts the user can visualize how a variable behaves across all stages of a process in a simplified way.
Picture an HR selection process. Each bar represents, in a very visual way, the number of candidates who move on to the next phase of recruitment. This makes collecting the necessary information much more practical.
Well-defined processes
Unlike most charts we know, which tend to only show data, the funnel chart, in turn, also highlights processes across time.
No wonder it is often used in different scenarios such as order fulfillment, website visitor behavior tracking, sales conversions and many other contexts.
It is even quite common for companies to use this tool when they want to represent the integrity of their workflows.
Identifies bottleneck quickly
Working with an intuitive representation that facilitates data interpretation and processes visualization obviously helps a lot when it comes to finding the pain points that compromise operations.
Thus, the funnel chart greatly favors bottlenecks identification along processes. When you choose to use this resource, it will help you and your analytics team identify possible problems faster, to then think about and adapt solutions that are capable of mitigating damage.
Qlik Sense | Excellence in technological innovation
Finally, now that you already know what a funnel chart is and understand its importance in the business world, you must be thinking: how can I create a chart that meets my organization’s demands?
Very simple: Qlik Sense is a data management system that creates charts based on information extracted from your organization’s databases and which can be tailored to deliver detailed insight-driven analysis.
With a dynamic layout, Qlik Sense has several data visualization options available, with charts and tables that help your decision making process along the way.
Now, with Qlik Sense and Cluster as your dataviz partner, you can create unique visualizations around the information you want to analyze and share them with your team.
To top it off, the tool generates reports with filters and other useful features via a powerful associative engine.
If your dataviz needs require you to build dashboards with the most technologically advanced features and real-time access to data and widespread adoption across the organization is your goal., Qlik Sense and Cluster is the right choice.
After our work is done, your team will be able to analyze data and create visualizations that will help you drive decisions based on data across the board, even without any programming skills.
Here at Cluster we help companies large and small make data visualizations in Qlik Sense accessible to all stakeholders. We offer no-code approaches and unique extensions that will help democratize data access across the organization.
If you already work or want to get to know Qlik Sense, get in touch to know Cluster’s features and optimize your experience to the fullest.
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