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We’re sure you’ve all become the victims of lousy visualization at some point.
And nothing is boring like the random use of visualization charts to tell your data story. There are simple and easy-to-read charts like Gauge Chart templates that could have a powerful effect on your presentation.
And this is because they communicate your intended message in a clutter-free and simple way.
After all, one of the significant traits of a compelling story is SIMPLICITY. Yes, you heard that right. Simplicity sells. The essence of incorporating visual content, such as Gauge Charts, is to help compellingly tell your data story.
Let’s agree: Throwing in any chart into your story to highlight beauty is really counterintuitive. If you want your target audience to take action, you don’t want to confuse them with irrelevant charts highlighting beauty over facts. In this blog you will learn:
We’ve rounded up pointers, fresh tips, and how-to about Gauge Chart and its templates. But before we delve in, let’s learn the true definition of the gauge chart.
Definition: A Gauge Chart is one of the most commonly used tools for visualizing progressive values. Besides, it’s also known as a speedometer chart.
The Gauge chart looks like a speedometer or a dial (in most cases) with a needle pointing to a certain value over the pivot point. And the dial usually has different colors that divide the scale into several parts.
The use of contrasting colors has profound effects on our brains. We like to employ three colors in Gauge Charts, namely:
We find these colors incredibly effective in helping shape the narrative we want the audience to get. You should try it out.
So this strategic use of colors is vital if you want your data story to be as irresistible as a gummy bear.
A gauge chart indicates the reading on a dial with the help of a needle. And this makes it incredibly valuable in comparing a small number of variables. This chart has ranges that communicate insights instantly. So you don’t have to struggle to see the bigger picture.
A tested and proven way of visualizing your data effectively using a Gauge chart is using colors strategically. And this includes red (poor performance, yellow (mod/ average performance), and green (target or top performance).
Well, don’t get us wrong. The fact above is based on what’s actually working. We’ve discovered that the aforementioned colors get an overwhelming response.
These colors are somewhat embedded into our brains as a reference for a particular phenomenon. For instance, red mostly stands for danger or hazard. And green is most associated with what’s desired- optimum performance.
The tool we always recommend to our clients and other users is ChartExpo. And this highly affordable and easy-to-use tool comes as an add-in for Excel.
Besides, it comes with a very user-friendly interface to provide you unlimited access and convenience with simplicity. So, you don’t need programming or coding skills to use it. And in fact, you only need basic knowledge of visualization to operate it without hitches.
ChartExpo comes with an extensive library of chart templates: Over 50 visualizations, to be exact. And Gauge Chart template is one of them.
Add ChartExpo in your Microsoft Excel.
Select Gauge chart template from the list of charts
After clicking on the chart you will see the Gauge Chart template on the screen.
You can explore the sample data of the chart by clicking ‘Add sample Chart + Data’ at the base of the chart.
Now let’s suppose you are a business owner and you want to check how much your products are sold from your total stock so that you can check the sales performance. Replace your own data with the data you explore from the chart.
| Topic | Product Sales | Total Products |
| Product Sold | 45 | 100 |
Insights:
You will see the chart on your screen.
To get FREE Gauge chart templates, sign up for ChartExpo to get a 7-day no credit asked, no string attached trial.
Imagine you run a company that serves four markets, namely:
You want to communicate about the overall revenue position of the company during the forthcoming shareholders’ meeting. Essentially, you want to show the company’s performance against the objectives you set during the last meeting.
The table below has the sample data we’ll use for demonstration purposes. We’ll use a single Gauge chart for each of the markets for the sake of clarity.
| Markets | Current Sales Revenue | Target Sales Revenue |
| North | 55 | 100 |
| South | 120 | 250 |
| East | 60 | 75 |
| West | 250 | 300 |
Let’s power up our ChartExpo to visualize our data using Gauge Chart in Excel.
North
As a significant decision-maker, it’s time to divert more resources to the best-performing markets to maximize sales revenue. The Eastern and Western markets can generate more value for the shareholders than the Northern and Southern markets.
A gauge chart is one of those easy-to-read charts you need to learn about, and most importantly, leverage it to persuade your audience. And the uniqueness of this chart template is its simplicity. You can get insights instantly without subjecting your brain to cognitive overload.
In recent months, we’ve received multiple inbox requests from users who want to learn how and when to use Gauge Charts (or Speedometer charts). Although they have learned different coolest visualizations but also interested to know about this visualization.
We’ve taken the liberty to provide fresh tips about leveraging this chart template to persuade your audience with a compelling story. We use Gauge Charts templates from time to time, depending on our goals and the audience. And these charts do work every time we use them in our narratives.
We’ve learned that these charts spark immediate interest among people due to their similarity with car speedometers. Yes, you heard that right.
Whether you’re a seasoned data visualization expert or a business person that works with data, we’re confident you’ll find value in the blog post.
We understand this isn’t a 30-second video or a 140 character tweet. Please be patient and read on.
If you work with data most of the time, you’ll find having a Gauge Chart or two in your presentation dashboard helps. And it helps by simply communicating insights with unmatched clarity and simplicity.
Audiences of all walks of life should understand a well-constructed chart. So if your chart is just adding confusion rather than help strengthen the credibility of your story, discard it very far.
A visualization chart template, such as Gauge Chart, should be used purposely as a medium but not a tool. And having a strategic medium to use to strengthen the credibility of your story and arouse the interests of your audiences is gold.
So what are the golden benefits of this chart?
Gauge charts are amazingly effective in capturing the attention of an audience. And to put the power of this type of visualization into perspective, here we’ll leave you some of the core business benefits:
This chart type is mainly used to display a limited data range. And this makes it a straightforward visualization. With the right data visualization tool, you can create a professional chart with just a few clicks.
We’ll go a bit deeper into this point further in the post. You don’t want to miss this.
There’s one interesting aspect that makes gauge charts very popular, especially among seasoned data visualization experts. It’s no doubt that people usually find them familiar, thanks to their resemblance to a car speedometer or a temperature indicator.
And this makes them valuable, especially in visualizing performance metrics to non-technical viewers for clarity and smooth understanding.
Essentially, you don’t have to be an aircraft engineer or senior captain to know red in an instrument gauge means danger. And green represents optimum or recommended levels.
Gauge Charts comes with a user-friendly interface. And this makes them easy to read and interpret.
Besides, the sequence of colors, usually from green to red, makes them intuitive and immediate to understand.
You’ll do wonders with some of the tips you’ll learn about Gauge Charts. Keep reading. And this brings us to the application part: How to best use these charts to create a compelling data story.
Because gauge charts are easy to read and understand, they can be applied in a plethora of scenarios, namely:
However, it is important to keep in mind that the Gauge Chart template is mainly used to display one value. Therefore, they’re not the best choice if you want to extract deeper insights from your data.
For this reason, it’s imperative to identify the best scenarios in which your business can benefit from this chart type.
So check out the tips below to discover how to best leverage this chart to create a persuasive and compelling story.
You can use a gauge chart if you have a linear metric and you want to tell a compelling story about its periodic changes.
Besides, you can use it to monitor your metrics based on a period to understand how the values change over time against your goals/objectives. And you can also compare the performance in different time periods-years, months, or quarters- to gauge performance.
You can use Gauge Charts to understand the performance of a specific KPI based on a target you’ve pre-defined.
Imagine you want to visualize sales KPIs that track the total revenue for a specific period based on a target. Use a gauge chart to visualize the percentage of the goal against the overall target.
This chart visualizes all the tasks in a project against the milestones set by the project managers. So, it’s easy to keep track of all the tasks and their respective milestones with just a simple dashboard.
When you have to compare a small number of values with the threshold values then you can use a gauge chart.
By using ChartExpo add-in in Excel you easily create a Gauge Chart in Excel.
A Gauge Chart, which looks like a car speedometer, is a very crucial tool for data storytelling due to its unmatched clarity and easy-to-read- design
Accessing easy-to-customize Gauge Chart templates for Excel does not have to be complicated and time-intensive if you create it with the ChartExpo library. It comes in jam-packed with over 50 Chart templates
Create compelling data stories with Gauge Chart Templates in ChartExpo add-in for Excel today.
Happy Charting
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