How to Make a Waterfall Chart in Google Analytics

A waterfall chart is one of the best ways to visualize how a starting number is changed by a series of positive or negative values. If you've ever wanted to see exactly how your monthly website traffic grew or declined, or visualize your customer journey with all the drop-offs, a waterfall chart is the perfect tool for the job. This guide will walk you through how to create a waterfall analysis using your Google Analytics data.

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What is a Waterfall Chart, Exactly?

Think of a waterfall chart as a visual story of your data. It starts with an initial value on the left, and then each consecutive bar shows either an addition (a positive change) or a subtraction (a negative change), leading you to a final value on the right. The floating bars in the middle seem to “cascade” toward the final result, hence the name "waterfall."

A simple analogy is your bank account. You start the month with an initial balance. You get a paycheck (a positive bar going up), pay rent (a negative bar going down), buy groceries (another negative bar), and get a small refund (a small positive bar). The waterfall chart would show each of these transactions, ending with your final account balance.

Why is This Chart Type So Useful?

This visualization is incredibly powerful for marketing and business analysis because it doesn't just show you the beginning and ending numbers, it explains the journey between them. Here’s why it's so helpful:

• Pinpointing Key Contributors: Easily see which campaigns, channels, or events had the biggest positive or negative impact on your bottom line.
• Analyzing Funnel Drop-offs: Visualize exactly where users are abandoning a purchase or sign-up process.
• Storytelling with Data: Instead of saying "revenue went up," you can say "revenue started at $10k, we added $5k from Google Ads, lost $1k in refunds, but gained $3k from email marketing to land at $17k."
• Budget and Performance Tracking: Show how an initial budget is allocated across different initiatives and what the financial result is.

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The Challenge: Building a Waterfall Chart in Google Analytics

Here’s the straightforward answer: Google Analytics, including GA4, does not have a native, built-in feature to create waterfall charts. The standard reporting interface and even the advanced Exploration reports are designed for dashboards, tables, funnel visualizations, and user journey analysis, but not for the specific "bridge" analysis that a waterfall chart provides.

While Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio) is an incredibly versatile tool that connects to Google Analytics, it also lacks a standard waterfall chart option. You can sometimes find community-built visualizations that attempt it, but they often require significant setup and may not be reliable.

But that doesn't mean you can't get the insights you're after. The most common and reliable method is to perform the analysis outside of Google Analytics using a tool that's perfectly suited for this type of visualization: a spreadsheet.

How to Manually Create a Waterfall Chart with GA Data in Google Sheets

Since Google Sheets directly integrates with Google Analytics and has a native waterfall chart type, it's the perfect sandbox for this task. You simply have to export the right data from GA and structure it correctly in your sheet.

Let's walk through an example of visualizing your user journey from initial session to purchase to identify drop-off points.

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Step 1: Get Your Data from Google Analytics 4

First, you need to pull the specific numbers for each stage of your funnel. The easiest way to get an accurate count is by building a simple Funnel Exploration in GA4.

1. Navigate to the Explore section in your GA4 property.
2. Select the Funnel exploration template.
3. In the "Steps" section, define the stages of your customer journey. For an e-commerce site, this might look like:
4. Once GA4 generates the funnel report, switch the visualization from the standard "funnel chart" to the "funnel table" at the top right. You'll see a table with the user counts for each step.
5. Export this data. Click the share icon in the top right and export as a "CSV" or open it directly in "Google Sheets."

You now have the raw numbers you need to build your chart.

Step 2: Structure Your Data Correctly in Google Sheets

A waterfall chart requires your data to be formatted in a specific way, separating labels from their corresponding values. For our user funnel example, the goal is to show the drop-off between each step.

Let's say your exported data shows:

• Session Start: 10,000 users
• Viewed Product: 4,000 users
• Added to Cart: 800 users
• Purchase: 200 users

You'll need to set up a small table in Google Sheets to calculate the drop between each of these steps, because that's what the waterfall chart will visualize. These drops will be negative numbers.

The structure should look like this:

• Column A (Category): The label for each bar on the chart.
• Column B (Value): The number associated with that label.

Here’s how to translate your funnel data into this structure:

1. Initial Users: The first row in your table should be your starting point. Label it "Total Users" with the value 10,000.
2. Drop-off 1: Calculate the difference between Step 1 and Step 2. Label this "Didn't View Product." The value is 4,000 - 10,000 = -6,000.
3. Drop-off 2: Calculate the next drop. Label it "Didn't Add to Cart." The value is 800 - 4,000 = -3,200.
4. Drop-off 3: Calculate the final drop. Label it "Didn't Purchase." The value is 200 - 800 = -600.
5. Final Total: The last bar is your ending number. Label it "Total Purchases" with the value 200. You will need to set this final bar to be a "total" bar within the chart options.

Your finished table should look something like this:

Step 3: Insert the Waterfall Chart

This is the easy part!

1. Select your two-column table.
2. Go to the menu and click Insert > Chart.
3. In the Chart editor that pops up on the right, under "Chart type," scroll down to the "Other" section.
4. Select Waterfall chart.
5. Google Sheets automatically recognizes the positive and negative numbers and colors them differently. The last bar represents a result rather than a change. Click on the "Total Purchasers" legend item in the Chart editor and check the box that says "Subtotal after this column". This formats the last bar as a final result, anchoring it to the baseline.

And that’s it! You now have a clear, easy-to-read visualization of your user drop-offs created from Google Analytics data.

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Alternative: Using GA4 Funnels for Quick Insights

If you don't need the specific visual format of a waterfall chart and simply want to understand sequential drop-offs, the Funnel Exploration report in GA4 is an excellent built-in tool. After defining your steps (as we did in Step 1 above), the visualization that GA4 creates by default is a "stepped" funnel that clearly shows how many users from the initial cohort proceed from one stage to the next.

Next to each stage, it displays a completion rate and, critically, an abandonment rate. Clicking on a drop-off bar will even let you create a segment of those users for deeper analysis. While it’s not a classic waterfall chart, it answers the same core question: "Where are my users leaving the process?" — often much faster than exporting and formatting data manually.

Final Thoughts

While Google Analytics doesn't have a native waterfall chart, building this visualization is achievable by exporting your data to a tool like Google Sheets. By setting up the right data structure, you can create powerful charts that clearly show user journey drop-offs, month-over-month performance changes, and budget breakdowns. For quick sequential analysis, GA4's Funnel Exploration is an excellent alternative.

We believe getting these kinds of insights shouldn't require manual exports or wading through complex reports. With a tool like Graphed, you can connect directly to sources like Google Analytics and ask for the analysis you need in plain English. Instead of manually exporting and structuring data, we let you simply say, "Show me a chart of user drop-off from session start to purchase," and it immediately builds the visualization for you, providing insights in seconds, not hours.