How to Create a Funnel Chart in Excel

A funnel chart is one of the best ways to visualize how a process flows from one stage to the next, instantly showing you where people drop off. Whether you're tracking a sales pipeline, marketing conversions, or user onboarding, Excel can help you build one. This guide will walk you through exactly how to create a funnel chart, covering both the simple one-click method for newer Excel versions and a clever workaround for older ones.

What Exactly Is a Funnel Chart?

Think of a funnel chart as a visual story of a process, presented in inverted pyramid form. It shows values across multiple stages, with each stage representing a subset of the previous one. The wide top part of the funnel represents the starting number (like all website visitors), and the narrow bottom represents the final desired outcome (like actual purchases). The decreasing width of each segment makes it incredibly easy to spot the biggest drop-offs in your process.

Common uses include:

• Sales Pipelines: Tracking leads from initial contact to closed deals. (Prospects > Qualified Leads > Proposals > Negotiations > Won Deals)
• Marketing Campaigns: Visualizing how many users move from ad impression to conversion. (Impressions > Clicks > Landing Page Views > Signups)
• Website User Journeys: Understanding user flow from a homepage visit to a specific action. (Homepage > Product Page > Add to Cart > Checkout > Purchase)
• Recruitment Processes: Showing the progression of candidates through the hiring process. (Applications > Screening > Interview > Offer > Hired)

Step 1: Get Your Data Ready

Before you can make any chart, you need to structure your data correctly. A funnel chart in Excel requires a simple two-column layout:

• Column 1: Stages. This column lists the names of each stage in your process, from start to finish.
• Column 2: Values. This column contains the number of people or items at each respective stage.

It’s important that your data is sorted in descending order of value, with the largest number at the top. This is what gives the chart its "funnel" shape. If your data isn't in this order, the chart won't render correctly.

Here’s a sample sales pipeline dataset you can use:

Stage Initial Outreach Responded to Email Demo Scheduled Proposal Sent Deal Closed

Number of Leads 5,000 1,200 450 150 50

Step 2: Create a Funnel Chart in Modern Excel (2019, Microsoft 365)

If you're using a newer version of Excel, creating a funnel chart takes less than a minute. Microsoft added it as a native chart type, which is a huge timesaver.

Three Clicks to Your Chart

1. First, highlight the entire data range you prepared, including the headers (e.g., A1:B6 in our example).
2. Navigate to the Insert tab on the Excel ribbon.
3. In the Charts section, click on the icon for "Insert Waterfall, Funnel, Stock, Surface, or Radar Chart," then select Funnel.

And that's it! Excel will instantly generate a funnel chart based on your selected data. It should pop up right on your worksheet.

Customizing Your Funnel Chart

The default chart is a great start, but a little formatting can make it much easier to read and present. Here are a few quick edits:

• Give it a title: Double-click the chart title to write something more descriptive, like "Q3 Sales Pipeline."
• Add data labels: Click the plus sign (+) next to the chart and check the box for Data Labels. This adds the exact value to each section of the funnel, so viewers don't have to guess. You can further customize these labels to show percentages if you'd like.
• Change the colors: Select the chart, and two new tabs - Chart Design and Format - will appear on the ribbon. Use the Chart Design tab to quickly experiment with different color schemes or styles. To change an individual funnel segment, just double-click that specific segment and use the format options to pick a new fill color.

The Workaround: How to Create a Funnel Chart in Older Excel Versions

Don't have a modern version of Excel? No problem. The built-in funnel chart is just a prettier, pre-made version of a cleverly formatted stacked bar chart. You can build it yourself with a few extra steps.

This method involves creating invisible "helper" bars that center the visible bars, giving the appearance of a funnel.

Step 1: Set Up a "Helper" Column

You’ll need to add a new column to your data. Let's call it "Offset." This column will hold the values for the invisible bars that push our real data into the center.

The formula for the first cell in this Offset column is:

=($B$2-B2)/2

Let's break that down:

• $B$2 is the largest value in your funnel (the very first stage). We use the dollar signs to make it an absolute reference, so it doesn’t change when we drag the formula down.
• B2 is the value of the current stage.
• We divide by 2 because we want to add an equal amount of hidden space on both sides of the bar.

After entering the formula in the first cell (C2 in our example), drag the fill handle down to apply it to the rest of the stages. Your data should now look like this:

Stage Initial Outreach Responded to Email Demo Scheduled Proposal Sent Deal Closed

Number of Leads 5,000 1,200 450 150 50

Offset 0 1,900 2,275 2,425 2,475

Step 2: Insert a Stacked Bar Chart

1. Select all three columns of data (Stage, Value, and Offset).
2. Go to the Insert tab.
3. Click Bar Chart and choose the 2-D Stacked Bar option.

You'll get a stacked bar chart that... doesn't look like a funnel yet. It's also upside down. Let’s fix that.

Step 3: Format the Chart into a Funnel

This is where the magic happens. We’ll tweak this stacked bar chart until it looks like a proper funnel.

1. Reverse the axis order: Right-click on the vertical axis (where the stage names are listed, like "Deal Closed," "Proposal Sent," etc.) and choose Format Axis. In the Format Axis pane, check the box for Categories in reverse order. This flips the chart, so your stages now read from top to bottom.
2. Hide the Offset bars: Click on one of the bars that represents your offset data (they're likely the first series in the legend, often colored blue). Go to the Format tab, click Shape Fill, and select No Fill. Now they're invisible.
3. Clean up the legend: We don't need "Offset" in the legend anymore. Click on the legend, and then click again on the word "Offset" to select it specifically. Press the delete key to remove it.
4. Adjust the gap width: To make the bars look more like a solid funnel, right-click on one of the visible bars and select Format Data Series. Find the Gap Width slider and set it to 0% or a low number like 10%. This will make the bars much thicker.

After these adjustments, you will have a functional and visually appealing funnel chart, even without the dedicated chart type. You can now add labels, a title, and adjust colors just like you would with any other Excel chart.

Best Practices for Clear Funnel Charts

Creating the chart is half the battle. Presenting it effectively is the other half.

• Keep it simple. Funnel charts are best with 4 to 6 stages. Anymore, and the chart becomes cluttered and hard to read.
• Label everything clearly. Make sure each stage has an intuitive name. Use data labels to show either the absolute numbers or the conversion rate from the previous stage, which provides a ton of context at a glance.
• Use color intentionally. You can use a single fading gradient color to represent the flow, or use different colors to highlight a specific stage where drop-off is particularly high. Just avoid using so many colors that it becomes distracting.

Final Thoughts

Building a funnel chart in Excel is a straightforward process, whether you’re using the handy built-in feature in recent versions or applying the stacked bar chart workaround in an older one. These charts provide an immediate, powerful snapshot of your business processes and expose key areas for improvement.

While Excel is great for manual, one-off reports, keeping those funnels updated with live data can turn into a repetitive task of exporting CSVs and re-building charts. Instead of rebuilding reports, we created Graphed to connect directly to platforms like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Google Analytics. This allows you to generate real-time funnel charts and other dashboards just by asking questions in plain English - no manual data prep or chart formatting required. Your reports stay updated automatically, freeing you up to focus on the insights, not the setup.