How to Create a Funnel Chart in Looker

Funnel charts are one of the best ways to visualize how users move through a specific journey, showing you exactly where they drop off. This article walks you through how to build a powerful funnel chart in Looker Studio (formerly Data Studio), from preparing your data to interpreting the results, using a simple workaround since there's no native funnel chart type.

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What is a Funnel Chart, Really?

Think of a funnel chart as a visual story of a process with multiple steps. It shows the number of people who start a process and how many of them make it to each subsequent stage. The shape itself - wide at the top and narrow at the bottom - instantly highlights drop-offs.

They’re incredibly useful for answering questions like:

• E-commerce Checkout: Where do customers abandon their shopping carts most often?
• Marketing Campaigns: How many people who saw our ad clicked it, signed up for a webinar, and then attended?
• Sales Pipeline: Out of all our new leads this month, how many scheduled a demo, received a proposal, and ultimately became customers?

Each bar represents a stage, and the decrease in size from one bar to the next shows the conversion rate - or lack thereof. Identifying the biggest drop is the first step toward fixing it.

Preparing Your Data for a Funnel Chart

Before you jump into Looker Studio, your data needs to be structured correctly. A great chart is built on a foundation of clean, organized data. You'll need two main components:

1. Dimensions: These are the names of your funnel stages (e.g., "Viewed Product," "Added to Cart," "Began Checkout," "Purchased").
2. Metrics: These are the numeric values for each stage (e.g., the count of users, sessions, or events for each corresponding stage).

For many use cases, your data might already be in Google Analytics 4 or you can pull it into a Google Sheet. If you're using a Google Sheet, your data should look something like this:

This simple, two-column structure is perfect. The 'Stage' column will be your dimension, and the 'Users' column will be your metric.

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Using Google Analytics 4 Data

If you're pulling data directly from GA4, you might not have a single dimension that lists all your funnel stages perfectly. In this case, you'll need to create a funnel report by using separate metrics for each stage. For example, your GA4 metrics might be:

• Total Users
• Users with a view_item event
• Users with an add_to_cart event
• Users with a begin_checkout event
• Users with a purchase event

This is totally fine. Looker Studio lets you add these separate metrics into your chart, and we'll cover how to handle that below.

Step-by-Step: Creating a Funnel Chart in Looker Studio

You may be surprised to learn that Looker Studio does not have a built-in, out-of-the-box funnel chart. But don't worry - we can create an excellent visual equivalent using a simple bar chart with a few clever styling tweaks.

Step 1: Get Your Data into Looker Studio

First, open a blank Looker Studio report.

1. On the main page, click on Create > Report.
2. You'll be prompted to add data. Select your data source - either Google Analytics for GA4 data or Google Sheets if you've prepared an external file.
3. Follow the authentication prompts to connect your account and select the correct property or sheet.

Step 2: Add and Configure a Bar Chart

Once your data is connected, delete the default table that Looker Studio adds. Now, let's create our chart.

1. Navigate to the toolbar and click Add a chart.
2. Select a Bar chart. A standard bar chart works best, but a stacked bar chart can also be used.
3. Click on the canvas to place your chart.

Now, let’s set it up. With the chart selected, look at the Setup panel on the right.

If you're using a Google Sheet:

• Dimension: Drag your 'Stage' column here.
• Metric: Drag your 'Users' (or whatever you named the metric) column here. Ensure the aggregation is set to Sum or Count as needed.

If You're Using GA4 Data (with separate metrics for each stage):

• Dimension: Leave this empty or use a placeholder that has only one value (like the report start date, which effectively groups a-ok).
• Metric: Add each of your funnel metrics in order. For example: Total Users, View Item Event Count, Add to Cart Event Count, and Purchase Event Count. Rename them in Looker Studio for clarity (e.g., "Viewed Item" instead of full metric name).

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Step 3: Sort the Chart Correctly

A funnel must show the stages in a logical order, from the largest value to the smallest. In the Setup panel, scroll down to the Sort section.

• Set the primary sort field to your metric (e.g., 'Users').
• Select Descending. This ensures the bar with the largest value is at the top (or on the left, depending on orientation).

Step 4: Style the Bar Chart to Look Like a Funnel

Here’s the clever part. We’ll use the Style panel to make our bar chart feel like a proper funnel.

1. With the chart selected, click the Style tab in the right-hand panel.
2. Make it horizontal: Look for the bar chart options and find the one that says Horizontal. This will flip the bars to run from left-to-right, which is easier to read as a top-to-bottom process.
3. Add data labels: Check the box for Show data labels. This adds the exact numbers to each bar, making it much easier to read without hovering.
4. Clean up the axes: You can often hide the X-axis and Y-axis labels and titles if the data labels are clear enough, which reduces visual clutter.
5. Remove the grid: Set the grid color to transparent to make the chart look cleaner.
6. Adjust colors: Use a single color for all bars or a gradient to create a professional look. Too many clashing colors can be distracting.

When you're done, you'll have a clean, horizontal bar chart that very clearly functions as a funnel, showing the progression and drop-off from one stage to the next.

Advanced Tips for a Better Funnel Report

A basic chart is good, but a great chart delivers interactive insights. Here are a few ways to level up your funnel report.

Add Conversion Rate Metrics

The numbers alone are helpful, but the conversion rate between steps is even more powerful. You can add this directly to your chart.

1. In the Style panel, under the "Data Labels" section, find the option for Compact Numbers.
2. Next to your primary metric in the Style panel, you can choose what to display. To show the percentage of the largest bar, you can configure your data labels to show Percent of total.

For more precision, create a calculated field to show the conversion rate from the previous step. Click Add metric and then Create field.

An example formula for the second step would be:

SUM(Metric for Step 2) / SUM(Metric for Step 1)

You can create a separate "scorecard" visualization for each conversion rate and place it next to your funnel to provide even more context.

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Make Your Report Interactive with Controls

A static report answers one set of questions. An interactive report can answer dozens.

• Date Range Control: Add a date range control (found under Add a control). This allows you or your stakeholders to see how the funnel performed last week, last month, or during a specific campaign period.
• Filter Controls: Add a filter for dimensions like Device Category, Country, or Traffic Channel. This lets you drill down and see if your funnel works better on desktop vs. mobile, or if users from Google search convert better than users from Facebook Ads.

Interpreting Your Funnel Chart: Finding the Leaks

You’ve built your report. Now, how do you use it? The most important thing to look for is the biggest drop-off.

• Analyze the Gaps: The space between the end of one bar and the next visualizes the "leak." Which gap is the largest? That’s your biggest opportunity for improvement.
• Ask "Why?": Once you’ve found the leak, dig deeper.
• Segment Your Data: Use the filters you added. Does the biggest drop-off only happen on mobile devices? That might point to a design flaw on smaller screens. Does it affect users from a specific ad campaign? The ad’s message might be setting the wrong expectations.

Your funnel chart isn't just a report, it’s a diagnostic tool that tells you exactly where to focus your optimization efforts.

Final Thoughts

Building a funnel chart in Looker Studio is a powerful way to understand user behavior and pinpoint critical drop-off points in any multi-step process. By using a bar chart with smart styling and adding interactive controls and conversion rates, you can move beyond simple data dumps and create a truly insightful, actionable report for your team.

Manually connecting data sources and building reports like this in Looker Studio or other BI tools is effective, but it often requires getting all the technical setup just right. At Graphed, we created a way for anyone to get these insights in seconds. Instead of clicking through menus to configure a chart, you can just ask in plain English: "Show me my sales funnel from HubSpot leads to closed deals for this quarter." We instantly connect to your live data sources and build a real-time dashboard for you, saving you the time spent on manual chart-building so you can focus on making better decisions.