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Quick answers
When should I pick Funnel?
When the story is: ordered drop-off: leads, checkouts, applications.
When should I avoid Funnel?
Skip it in cases like: stages are not nested subsets of the same population.
Who invented or popularised it?
Sales-management language of the mid-20th century; later CRM dashboards
What does it encode?
width (or area) of successive stages
Is it OK in ads?
Yes if one claim is visible at a glance in Meta, Google and retail print; otherwise link to a full figure.
Will a teacher accept it?
Yes for lab reports and poster boards if axes, units and a source line are present.
Funnel encodes values as width (or area) of successive stages. Sales-management language of the mid-20th century; later CRM dashboards.
In reports, ads and assignments it fits ordered drop-off: leads, checkouts, applications. Skip it when stages are not nested subsets of the same population.
Principles
- Encoding — The core mark of Funnel is width (or area) of successive stages.
- History — Sales-management language of the mid-20th century; later CRM dashboards
- Fit — ordered drop-off: leads, checkouts, applications
- Shared baseline — The eye compares length and position more accurately than area.
- Audience — PowerPoint, Excel or Google Sheets and Meta, Google and retail print share the same geometry.
Misconceptions
- Pretty equals true — Decoration rarely persuades; it slows reading.
- 3-D helps — Perspective distortion wrecks comparison. Keep it flat.
- More series is richer — Do not stack stories. One Funnel, one claim.
- Default palette is fine — Rainbow defaults fail color-blind viewers and grey print. Change Excel or Google Sheets defaults.
Why it matters
- Work — Work: ordered drop-off: leads, checkouts, applications. Readable in four minutes in PowerPoint.
- Ads — Ads: one number and one shape speak first in Meta, Google and retail print.
- School — School: for lab reports and poster boards, pick the form that answers the rubric.
- Craft — Craft: honour width (or area) of successive stages and decoration falls away.
Funnel: honour width (or area) of successive stages, and switch when stages are not nested subsets of the same population.