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# Redesigning the funnel chart, five times
- URL: https://launch.ghostcms.templates.codememory.com/redesigning-the-funnel-chart-five-times/
- Published: 2026-07-06T14:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-06T14:00:00.000Z
- Description: More than half of our customers read the old funnel wrong. Five designs, fifty interviews and the one we shipped.
- Author: Tom Becker
- Tags: Design, #Import 2026-10-02 15:41

The funnel chart is the most used chart in Tally. It was also the one customers misread most often. Over three months, we redesigned it from scratch. This post shows what was wrong with the old design, the five versions we tried and the one we shipped.

![Five versions on paper before one line of code.](https://launch.ghostcms.templates.codememory.com/content/images/2026/10/chart-sketch.jpg)

Five versions on paper before one line of code.

## What was wrong

The old funnel was a row of bars, each one shorter than the last. It looked clear. In interviews, we asked customers to tell us where the biggest problem in their funnel was. More than half pointed at the wrong step.

The reason: the eye compares the height of bars, but the problem in a funnel is the drop between them. A step that loses 50% of people from a small group looks less alarming than a step that loses 20% from a big group, even though it is worse.

## Five attempts

We tried five designs and tested each with ten customers.

1. **Bars with percentages.** Better, but people read the numbers and ignored the shapes.
2. **A real funnel shape.** Pretty, and the hardest to read accurately. Removed after one test.
3. **Bars plus drop-off bars.** Showing the lost people as grey bars next to each step. Clear, but crowded.
4. **A single line.** Accurate, but it did not feel like a funnel, and people did not trust it.
5. **Bars with a highlighted drop.** The biggest drop is marked in colour, with a short sentence: "Most people leave here."

Design five won. Customers found the biggest problem correctly nine times out of ten.

> The best chart is the one that makes the right conclusion the easy one.  
>  
> **Tom Becker**

![The new funnel. The step that loses the most people is the only one in colour.](https://launch.ghostcms.templates.codememory.com/content/images/2026/10/chart-screen.jpg)

The new funnel. The step that loses the most people is the only one in colour.

## The details

Small choices mattered. Percentages are shown from the previous step by default, not from the start, because that is what people want to fix. Hovering any step shows both. The colour for the biggest drop is the only strong colour on the chart; everything else is grey.

We also added the time between steps, because several customers told us that a slow step often turns into a lost step a week later.

## What we learned

Test charts the way you test any interface: give people a question and watch them answer it. Asking whether they like a chart tells you almost nothing. Asking what it means tells you everything.

📊

The new funnel arrived in Tally 2.0\. Old funnels switched over automatically.

#### Can I go back to the old funnel?

No, but you can turn off the highlight in the chart settings.

#### Does the highlight work in black-and-white exports?

Yes. The step is also marked with a label, not only a colour.