Visualize your data with a new set of charts: Treemap, Butterfly, Sankey, and Cluster charts in Zoho CRM

Visualize your data with a new set of charts: Treemap, Butterfly, Sankey, and Cluster charts in Zoho CRM

Dear customers,

When it comes to analytics, it's not just about the numbers; it's about understanding the story behind them. 

With that philosophy in mind, we’re excited to introduce a line of representations to the existing array of chart types in Zoho CRM: Treemap, butterfly, sankey and cluster charts. Let's go!

Treemaps

Treemap charts are used to visually represent hierarchical datasets in a rectangular layout. It aligns its parent categories as larger tiles with their sub-categories nested within them. The size of each tile is proportional to its corresponding value, making it easy to compare different segments within the hierarchy.

This is how a treemap chart looks:


These structured data representations help you understand overall performance and contributions, as well as compare participating entities at a glance.
 
Unlike traditional bar charts or pie charts, treemaps can be used if your datasets are large and exhibit parent-child relationships.
 
Here are some examples to better understand their usage:
 

Comparing revenue distribution between functions

A company's revenue is distributed among its functions before it gets further disbursed to its employees. Treemap charts can be used to depict this distribution and compare it between functions. As you can see below, the hierarchy can be represented as a treemap to compare it directly with other functions:


The hierarchy at the top shows just the numbers and levels, but the treemap chart represents the numbers proportionally, allowing leaders to visualize the difference in distribution.
 
Interpretation: As you can easily see in the treemap, sales and marketing receive the same amount of revenue, while engineering is given significantly more than the other two.

Likewise, with treemap charts, you can:
  • Compare popular lead sources with lead counts is the measure and lead source being the participating entity—a classic single-grouping configuration.
  • View cost savings achieved across departments. With the departments as the grouping parameters and the cost saved as the measured amount, the chart lays out all the departments as tiles in proportion, based on money saved.
  • Compare ad spends across channels, where channels are the parent grouping and ad spend is the measured unit.

Butterfly

Butterfly charts are used to compare two related datasets side-by-side, resulting in a representation that looks like a butterfly or tornado.
 
Now, how does it differ from bar charts?
 
The standard bar chart can compare two entities for a given measure. Say, you are comparing the performance of Mary and Charles. The two users' data is represented using bars, and the length will denote their performances. But, when it comes to comparing their performances over a period or their contribution across different stages, a bar chart is not sufficient.
 
A butterfly chart, though, will let you visually compare Mary and Charles' contributions directly and compare their own metrics across duration or other attributes.

With butterfly charts, you can:
  • Compare revenue between two of your branches each month. With branches being compared for sum of sales revenue, grouped by closing date.
  • Compare the performance of two reps in a given quarter. Compared between two users for average of amount of deals, grouped by closing date until today.

In addition to the user-based comparison above, butterfly charts are well-suited to visualizing other types of data comparisons, like:
  • Picklist-based comparisons
  • Duration-based comparisons
  • Aggregate-based comparisons

Business scenario


Comparing the number of deals closed for each lead sources: Duration-based comparison

You can identify the productive lead source by comparing the number of deal closures for every lead source in your organization based on their closing week.


Analyzing effective sales methodology, inbound vs. outbound: Picklist-based comparison


Businesses use both inbound and outbound lead generation strategies, and each of these methods can reap different results based on the season and occasion. By comparing inbound versus outbound each month, you can identify which works best at what time.

Analyze the amount versus the expected revenue between accounts: Aggregate-based comparison


Expected revenue is a result of a deal's progression in the sales pipeline. Comparing the amount versus their expected revenue will not only help visualize the expected revenue of participating accounts but also indicate the accounts' stage in the sales pipeline.


Sankey

A Sankey Chart is designed to visualize the movement of data across different data groups. Unlike traditional charts—such as bar, column, pie, or donut—that mainly provide a static distribution of values, the Sankey Chart focuses on illustrating the flow between multiple segments or grouping fields. This makes it an ideal choice when you want to track how values (like lead counts, revenue, or deal statuses) move from one category to the next.

Info
Key features
  • Flow visualization: With the Sankey Chart, you can observe the movement of data between different groups.
  • Multiple grouping fields: This chart works best when you have at least two grouping fields. You can go even further and add a third grouping to see an even more detailed mapping of your data flow.
  • Simple configuration: The configuration for the Sankey Chart is as simple as any other chart type in Analytics. 
Business scenarios:

Imagine you’re a sales manager trying to get a better handle on your team’s performance and your company’s pipeline. You want to understand not just how many deals are coming in, but also which sources are contributing the most value—and how those deals are progressing through different sales stages.
Let’s say you want to understand which lead sources are driving the most deal activity and how those deals progress through the pipeline. You can create a Sankey chart that maps the count of deals from Lead Source to Stage.

Let’s say you want to understand which lead sources are driving the most deal activity and how those deals progress through the pipeline. You can create a Sankey chart that maps the count of deals from Lead Source to Stage.



After analyzing the chart, you might notice that Online Store brings in a high volume of early-stage deals, while sources like External Referral contribute fewer deals that are more likely to reach advanced stages like Proposal or Negotiation.

This insight helps you prioritize nurturing the most profitable channels.

Sankey charts can also be helpful in other operational scenarios where understanding transitions across stages or teams is essential:
  • Regional revenue distribution: Visualize how revenue flows across different regions, product categories, and their corresponding annual revenue. This helps you compare which regions contribute the most to each product line and where your high-value segments lie.
  • Ticket handling flow: Visualize the flow of support tickets from their origin channel to internal departments and finally to resolution statuses. This can reveal workload imbalances or common points of delay in your support process.

Cluster  

A cluster chart is similar to stacked column charts, but instead of stacking horizontally, the data is represented as vertical bars. As you create a column chart with multiple groupings, you can change the type of column chart to a cluster chart to achieve this representation.
 
In the above image, you can see the stacked column chart compares the number of lead conversions based on popular sources between countries. The stacks appearing on top of existing stacks ask you to calibrate the record count (y-axis) based on the previous stacks, which can lead to inaccurate interpretations. In this case, a cluster representation will paint a clearer picture of the analyses.

Other minor enhancements:

In addition to the three charts we mentioned above, we've also made the following minor changes:
  • Display total summary: Thus far, for all charts, each participating measure included labels. Now, to better understand overall contributions, a check box to display the total summary is provided under More options on the Chart Configuration page. Based on the configuration, the total revenue or the rolled-up quantities will be prominently displayed.


  • Merge Y-axis: For charts that use two y-axis measurements, the intention is to view the progression of one entity against these two measures. Despite the scale, if the y-axis on the left is disproportionate to the values of the y-axis on the right, the plotted graph will result in a graphically and logically incorrect representation.

    As you can see in the image below, the plot area of the sum of amount bar and the sum of expected revenue aligns close together, while, the difference between $700,000 and $40,500 is drastic, creating inaccurate interpretations.

    In this enhancement, we're allowing neighboring values of measures to merge so that the interpretation can be more visually accurate.

  • Clone components to a different dashboard: Dashboards in Analytics serve in unique ways for various audiences—there can be separate dashboards for the sales team, marketing team, engineering team, and so on, and the chances of using the same measure for reference is common. Thus, when you clone a chart, you can now determine the target dashboard in which the cloned chart can be placed.

That's about treemap, butterfly, Sankey, and Cluster charts in Zoho CRM. With Waterfall chart following suit, we will open these charts for all customers gradually. For now, these are open for customers in the US DC. 

Resource: Help document

Thanks and have a good one!

Kind regards,
Saranya Balasubramanian


      • Recent Topics

      • Marketing Tip #5: Improve store speed with optimized images

        Slow-loading websites can turn visitors away. One of the biggest culprits? Large, uncompressed images. By optimizing your images, your store loads faster and creates a smoother shopping experience leading to higher sales. It also indirectly improves SEO.

      • SMS to customers from within Bigin

        Hi All, Is there anyone else crying out for Bigin SMS capability to send an SMS to customers directly from the Bigin interface? We have inbuilt telephony already with call recordings which works well. What's lacking is the ability to send and receive

      • Admins cannot see each others' Scheduled Reports?!

        Very frustrating that as an admin I cannot see what my reports my fellow admins have created and scheduled.  After asking about this on the help chat, I was told the issue is trust and security.  By giving someone Admin status, it means we trust them with those responsibilities. Please change this, it is not a good process to have to bother other users to change a report or change users within a report.

      • Writer update results in BitDefender blocking it as malware

        After updating Writer to latest update, Bitdefender blocked the app and writer no longer runs.

      • Missing Import Options

        Hello, do I miss something or is there no space import option inside of this application? In ClickUp, you can import from every common application. We don't want to go through every page and export them one by one. That wastes time. We want to centralize

      • Zoho CRM Portal Field Level Permission Issue

        Hi Support Team, I am using the Zoho CRM Portal and configuring field-level editing permissions. However, we are unable to restrict portal users from editing certain fields. We have created a portal and provided View and Edit (Shared Only) access for

      • Collaboration with customers made easy with Zoom Meeting and Zoho Desk integration

        Hello everyone! We are happy to announce that you can now integrate your Zoho Desk account with Zoom Meeting. The integration bridges the gap between digital communication and human connection, empowering teams to deliver timely support when it matters

      • CRM Canvas - Upload Attachments

        I am in the process of changing my screens to Canvas.  On one screen, I have tabs with related lists, one of which is attachments.  There doesn't appear to be a way to upload documents though.  Am I missing something really obvious?  Does anyone have

      • TrueSync regularly filling up my local disk

        Seems that WorkDrive's TrueSync randomly starts filling up my local hard drive space. None of the folders have been set as "Make Offline" but still it seems to randomly start making file offline. The settings of the app is so minimal and is of no real

      • Kaizen #194 : Trigger Client Script via Custom buttons

        Hello everyone! Welcome back to another interesting and useful Kaizen post. We know that Client Scripts can be triggered with Canvas buttons and we discussed this with a use case in Kaizen#180. Today, let us discuss how to trigger Client Script when a

      • Picklist field shows "none" as default

        Hello, Is there an option to avoid showing "none" as the default value in a picklist field? I also don't want to see any option displayed. My expectation is to have a blank bar, and then when I display the drop-down list, I can choose whichever I wa

      • Stage-probability mapping feature in custom module

        Hi, I'm building a custom module for manage projects. I would like to implement the stage-probability feature that Potentials has. Is this possible?

      • Field Description is very small

        Hello, The field Description in the activity is very small. Why don't try open a new window, or a bigger popup, or increase the width of the "popup". Example:

      • StatusIQ

        Please add StatusIQ to data sources. We using site24x7 and StatusIQ together and site24x7 integration is already there. Thanks and regards, Torsten

      • In Zoho People, the Operations buttons are frequently not visible or do not appear consistently.

        In Zoho People, the Operations buttons are frequently not visible or do not appear consistently. We request you to please investigate and address this issue, as it is affecting daily HR operations and user access.

      • Marketing Tip #14: Increase cart value with product bundles

        Bundling products is a great way to increase average order value while giving customers more convenience. Think “camera + tripod + memory card” or “soap + lotion + bath salts.” Bundles make shopping easier and feel like a better deal. It’s a win-win for

      • Problem with Workdrive folders

        I'm having a problem a problem accessing files in a Zoho work drive folder when using the Zoho writer app. The problem folder appears grayed out in the Zoho work drive window in both the online and writer application. However I can open the folder in

      • Pre-orders at Zoho Commerce

        We plan to have regular producs that are avaliable for purchase now and we plan to have products that will be avaliable in 2-4 weeks. How we can take the pre-orders for these products? We need to take the money for the product now, but the delivery will

      • Can multiple agents be assigned to one ticket on purpose?

        Is it possible to assign one ticket to two or more agents at a time? I would like the option to have multiple people working on one ticket so that the same ticket is viewable for those agents on their list of pending tickets. Is something like this currently

      • Edit default "We are here to help you" text in chat SalesIQ widget

        Does anyone know how this text can be edited? I can't find it anywhere in settings. Thanks!

      • Feature Request: Sync Leave Tracker to Zoho Mail / Calendar or provide option to download information

        Zoho Leave Tracker offers the option to sync the leave Calendar to Microsoft 365 and Google Calendar. Adding an option to sync to Zoho-Mail Calendar would avoid duplication and add significant value for users. An alternative would be to allow users to

      • Multiple currencies - doesn’t seem to work for site visitors / customers

        I am trying to understand how the multiple currency feature works from the perspective of the website visitor who is shopping on my Zoho Commerce site. My site’s base currency is US Dollars (USD) but my store is for customers in Costa Rica and I would

      • Archiving Contacts

        How do I archive a list of contacts, or individual contacts?

      • How do people handle using Outlook and Zoho Project calendar at the same time?

        We have an ongoing problem in our organisation where we use Zoho Projects to plan all of our projects tasks and that also allows us to look forward using the workload report to see which of our consultants are overstretched etc and which are available.

      • 10GB Email Storage Limits in Zoho CRM

        We’ve had Zoho One for almost 5 years and have always synced our emails from Gmail via IMAP… As of late, we’ve run into issues with our emails not syncing, due to being over the 10GB storage cap… What’s very odd is that we haven’t changed a thing? I know

      • How to set page defaults in zoho writer?

        hi, everytime i open the zoho writer i have to change the default page settings to - A4 from letter, margins to narrow and header and footer to 0. I cannot set this as default as that option is grayed out! so I am unable to click it. I saved the document

      • Enable History Tracking for Picklist Values Not Available

        When I create a custom picklist field in Deals, the "Enable History Tracking for Picklist Values" option is not available in the Edit Properties area of the picklist. When I create a picklist in any other Module, that option is available. Is there a specific reason why this isn't available for fields in the Deals Module?

      • Vault crashes on Android Devices

        Vault is continuously closing after entering the master password on my Android device. After several attempts I get a system message that says there is a bug in the app. I've uninstalled and reinstalled the app, and cleared the app cache, but nothing

      • ¿Cómo puedo configurar las contraseñas creadas bajo una directiva para que nunca caduquen y no aparezcan como caducadas en los informes?

        ¿Cómo puedo configurar las contraseñas creadas bajo una directiva para que nunca caduquen y no aparezcan como caducadas en los informes? La razón por la cual contraseña estas no deben caducar es porque su actualización depende de mi cliente y no de mí.

      • Camera access

        My picture doesn't appear in a group discussion. (The audio is fine.) The guide says "Click the lock icon on address bar," but I can't find it. Advise, please

      • Are static links available

        I'm still using Zoho Meeting in trial mode. My previous webinar software provided a static link, and I made the mistaken assumption that I could send out my link and start a meeting later. Mass confusion, but my fault. With a paid version do you get a

      • Why is Zoho Meeting quality so poor?

        I've just moved from Office 365 to Zoho Workplace and have been generally really positive about the new platform -- nicely integrated, nice GUI, good and easy-to-understand control and customisation, and at a reasonable price. However, what is going on

      • Integration between "Zoho Sprints Stories" and "Zoho Projects Tasks/Subtasks"

        We have two separate teams in our organization using Zoho for project management: The Development team uses Zoho Sprints and follows Agile/Scrum methodology. The Infrastructure team uses Zoho Projects for traditional task-based project management. In

      • Where can we specify custom CSS in Zoho Forms custom theme ?

        I'm using a form with a dark theme. The OTP popup window is unreadable, because for some reason, the OTP popup background fixes color to white, but still takes the font color specified in the custom theme. This ends up as white on white for me, rendering

      • Team Gamification

        Would love to motivate, engage and encourage our team with our social media posts. Would like to include Gamification features of Social Media in Zoho Social or Marketing Automation. And also bring in Social Advocacy tools/tracking/management to these,

      • Sync Data from MA to CRM

        Currently, it's a one-way sync of data from the CRM to MA. I believe we should have the ability to select fields to sync from MA to the CRM. The lead score is a perfect example of this. In an ideal world we would be able to impact the lead score of a

      • Update CRM record action

        Currently, MA only offers a "Push Data" action to push data to a CRM module. This action is built to cover the need to both create a new record and update an existing record. Because it has been implemented this way all required fields on the CRM module

      • Pro Lite Upgrade - Quick Access Tray

        Hello, I was going to upgrade to Pro Lite but the Quick Access Tray feature isn't available for Windows. Of the four features not available for Windows, the QAT is what I'm most interested in. Are there plans to add this feature for Windows anytime soon?

      • Boost your CRM communication with new font types, sizes, and default reply-to options while composing emails

        Hello Everyone, We’re excited to introduce a series of impactful enhancements to the email composer settings in Zoho CRM. These updates enable you to personalize and optimize your customer interactions with greater efficiency. So what's new? Add custom

      • Feature Enhancement Request – Text Formatting Options in Item Description (Zoho Books/Quotes Module)

        Dear Zoho Development Team, Greetings from Radiant360 Integrated Technical Services LLC. We would like to bring to your attention a functional limitation we've encountered within the Item Table / Quote Description section of Zoho Books (and Zoho CRM Quotes).

      • Next Page