• Home
  • Install
    • ChartExpo for Google Sheets
    • ChartExpo for Microsoft Excel
    • ChartExpo for Power BI
  • Charts
    • Chart type
      • Box and Whisker Plot
      • Clustered Bar Chart
      • Clustered Column Chart
      • Comparison Bar Chart
      • Control Chart
      • CSAT Score Bar Chart
      • CSAT Score Survey Chart
      • Dot Plot Chart
      • Double Bar Graph
      • Funnel Chart
      • Gauge Chart
      • Likert Scale Chart
      • Matrix Chart
      • Multi Axis Line Chart
      • Overlapping Bar Chart
      • Pareto Chart
      • Radar Chart
      • Radial Bar Chart
      • Sankey Diagram
      • Scatter Plot Chart
      • Slope Chart
      • Sunburst Chart
      • Tornado Chart
      • Waterfall Chart
      • Word Cloud
    • Chart category
      • Bar Charts
      • Circle Graphs
      • Column Charts
      • Combo Charts
      • Comparison Charts
      • Line Graphs
      • PPC Charts
      • Sentiment Analysis Charts
      • Survey Charts
  • Gallery
  • Videos
  • Pricing
  • Contact Us
  • FAQs
  • Blog

Get a reward

Categories
All Data Visualizations Data Analytics Data Stories
Add-ons
  • Google Sheets
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Power BI
All Data Visualizations Data Analytics
Data Stories
  • Healthcare
Add-ons
  • Google Sheets
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Power BI

We use cookies

This website uses cookies to provide better user experience and user's session management.
By continuing visiting this website you consent the use of these cookies.

Ok

ChartExpo Survey



Home > Blog > Data Visualization > Add-ons > Google Sheets >

How to Visualize Futures’ Data with Bar Chart?

Forecasting developments, such as sales, costs, and profits, presents a tremendous opportunity for businesses like yours to scale.

bar chart futures

Forecasting refers to all the tools and techniques you can use to predict metrics, such as the revenue generated. The technique we’ll be talking about in great detail is data visualization.

Why?

Data visualization is the lifeblood of a reliable and solid business forecasting plan. Some of the best-suited charts for business forecasting includes:

  • Double Axis Line and Chart
  • Sentiment Trend Chart
  • Pareto Bar Chart
  • Grouped Bar Chart

Tools, such as Google Sheets, lack ready-made Bar Chart Futures for your data stories.

But you can transform the spreadsheet into a reliable tool by installing third-party add-ons to access visually appealing and ready-to-use Bar Chart Futures in Google Sheets.

Table of Content:

  1. What are Bar Chart Futures, and When Should You Use them?
  2. How to Visualize Data Using Bar Chart for Business Forecasting?
  3. How to Visualize Data using Double Axis Line and Bar Chart in ChartExpo?
  4. Video Tutorial: How to Make a Bar Chart in Google Sheets?
  5. Advantages of Bar Chart Futures
  6. Bar Chart Best Practices
  7. Wrap Up

What are Bar Chart Futures, and When Should You Use them?

A Bar Chart Futures is a graph that displays forecast insights using rectangular bars or columns.

You can use the visualization design to inform your decision-making process.

The chart is useful for looking at data sets and making comparisons. For example, it’s easier to see items taking the largest chunk of your budget using a visualization design, such as a Bar Chart.

Also, a Bar Chart Futures can display trends over time, or reveal patterns in periodic sequences.

Bar charts can also represent more complex categories using stacked or grouped bar charts. For example, if you had two houses and needed budgets for each, you could plot them on the same x-axis with a grouped bar chart, using varying colors to represent each house.

Data in the chart is represented using vertical or horizontal bars aligned with the values of each category.

And this means the length or height of each bar is proportionally equivalent to the corresponding data points. The bar chart can be plotted in clusters to show more than one metric in some instances.

Bar Graphs are an effective way to compare items between different groups. Besides, it can display comparison insights into your raw and bulky data.

Bar Chart Futures provide a visual presentation of categorical data. Categorical data is a grouping of data into discrete groups, such as months of the year, age group, shoe sizes, and animals. These categories are usually qualitative.

In a column (vertical) bar chart, categories appear along the horizontal axis, and the height of the bar corresponds to the value of each category.

Bar Chart Futures have a discrete domain of categories and are usually scaled so that all the data can fit on the chart.

When there is no natural ordering of the categories being compared, bars on the chart may be arranged in any order.

Remember, the longer the bar, the greater its value. The visualization design consists of two axes. On a vertical Bar Chart, the horizontal axis (or x-axis) shows the data categories. The vertical axis (or y-axis) is the scale. The colored bars are the data series.

The visualization design can be horizontal or vertical.

The greater their length or height, the greater the value of the bars. Bar charts are among the techniques used to present data visually so that the reader may readily recognize patterns or trends.

Bar Charts usually present categorical, discrete, or continuous variables grouped in class intervals.

Also, they consist of an axis and a series of labeled horizontal or vertical bars. The bars depict frequencies of different values of a variable or simply the different values themselves. The numbers on the y-axis of a vertical bar chart or the x-axis of a horizontal bar chart are called the scale.

When developing bar charts manually, draw a vertical or horizontal bar for each category or value. The height or length of the bar will represent the number of units or observations in that category (frequency) or simply the value of the variable. Select an arbitrary but consistent width for each bar as well.

Use the chart, especially if your goal is to display information segments. Vertical bar charts are useful to compare different categorical or discrete variables, such as age groups, classes, schools, etc.

Bar Chart Futures are also significant in displaying time series data. The space for labels on the x-axis is small, but ideal for years, minutes, hours, or months.

Vertical Bar charts are an excellent choice for emphasizing a change in magnitude. Use the chart if your goal is to display the following:

  • Description of components
  • Frequency distribution
  • Time-series statistics

Bar Charts are made up of 3 significant attributes, namely:

  • The chart can help you compare sets of data between different groups at a glance.
  • It displays categories on one axis and a discrete value on the other. And this means you can use them to show the relationship between the two axes.
  • You can leverage the chart to uncover big changes in your data over time.

Keep reading because we’ll address the following in the coming section: how to visualize data using Bar Chart for business forecasting?

How to Visualize Data Using Bar Chart for Business Forecasting?

Modern-day businesses generate a tremendous amount of data.

Almost all businesses have an online presence to target the ever-growing internet community. The data generated in offline and online operations are gold if you dig deeper into it using tools.

The insights you’re likely to uncover can help you forecast future performances, such as profitability and management of costs. And this is where Bar Chart Futures come into play.

Bar Chart Futures provide a visual presentation of categorical data. Categorical data is a grouping of data into discrete groups, such as months of the year.

Keep reading because, in the coming section, we’ll highlight easy-to-follow Bar Chart Futures examples.

Example #1: Double Axis Line and Bar Chart

A Double Axis Line and Bar Chart is one of the Bar Chart Futures examples that uses two axes to display relationships between two varying metrics. The visualization design can display a ton of information using limited space.

Take a look at the table below. Can you provide reliable insights into the data below?

Year Sales Profit Margin %
2011 16.52 7.9
2012 16.42 8.3
2013 16.17 9
2014 15.57 4.6
2015 16.48 9
2016 16.34 6.8
2017 14.99 7.9
2018 17.26 9.6
2019 13.67 6.9
2020 12.32 4.3
2021 11.28 5.6

Note the difference after visualizing the table above. You can easily point out low-hanging insights.

double axis line and bar chart using bar chart futures

Example #2: Sentiment Trend Chart

A Sentiment Trend Chart is one of the Bar Chart Futures examples you can use to display insights into market opinion towards your brand over time.

The chart combines a line and bars to display insights into varying metrics.

Take a look at the table below. It has data from a hypothetical YouTube channel.

Videos Likes Dislikes
March 36405 17641
April 36137 18853
May 30712 18294
June 33374 5412
July 34059 15268
August 39846 15689

Let’s take a look at the resulting chart below. You can easily point out the YouTube video with a significant negative sentiment level.

sentiment trend chart using bar chart futures

Example #3 Pareto Bar Chart

A Pareto Bar Graph is one of the Bar Chart Futures examples that’s made up of bars and a line graph. Each value is displayed in descending order by bars, and the line represents the cumulative total.

The chart is named based on the Pareto principle, which, in turn, derives its name from Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist.

The left vertical axis is the frequency of occurrence, but it can alternatively represent cost or another key metric. The right vertical axis is the cumulative percentage of the total number of occurrences, total cost, or the total of a key metric. The cumulative function is a concave function because the values are in decreasing order.

The purpose of the Pareto Chart is to highlight the most important among a (typically large) set of factors.

In quality control, Pareto charts are useful for finding defects to prioritize the greatest overall improvement that’s why many businesses use Pareto Chart in Quality Control process. It often represents the most common sources of defects, the highest occurring type of defect, or the most frequent reasons for customer complaints.

Take a look at the table below. How easy is it to deduce meaningful insights?

City Profit
Los Angeles 4723
Chicago 9550
Houston 3908
Phoenix 7023
Philadelphia 13631
San Antonio 7125
San Diego 11934
Dallas 14444
San Jose 7653
Austin 13531

Note the difference after visualizing the data above.

pareto bar chart using bar chart futures

Dallas, Philadelphia, Austin, San Diego, Chicago, San Jose, and San Antonio are the cities driving about 80% of profits.

Example #4: Grouped Bar Chart

A Grouped Bar Graph is one of the Bar Chart Futures examples you can use to display insights into two or more key data points.

Take a look at the table below:

Products Achieved Targeted
Rolex 1005 1387
Patek Philippe 667 620
Omega 1421 1145
Audemars Piguet 1091 1061
Piaget 1408 1342
Cartier 968 742

Notice the difference after visualizing the data above.

grouped bar chart using bar chart futures

So how can you access the ready-made and visually appealing charts we’ve just highlighted?

Google Sheets is one of the most used tools for visualizing data because it’s easy to use. 

However, if Google Sheets is your go-to tool, you cannot access ready-made and visually stunning Bar Chart Futures, such as Pareto Bar Graph.

But this does not mean you should ditch this freemium data visualization tool.

Did you know you can supercharge your Google Sheets with add-ons to access visually stunning and ready-to-go Bar Graphs?

Yes, you can increase the functionality of your tool and access a ready-made Bar Chart in Google Sheets for your data stories.

The add-in we recommend you to use is ChartExpo.

So, what is ChartExpo?

We recommend this tool (ChartExpo) because it’s super easy to use.

You don’t need to take programming night classes to extract insights from your data. ChartExpo is more of a ‘drag-and-drop tool,’ which means you’ll only need to scroll your mouse and fill in respective metrics and dimensions in your data.

The Bar Chart Futures generator comes with a 7-day free trial period.

The easy-to-use tool produces charts that are incredibly easy to read and interpret. And it allows you to save charts in the world’s most recognized formats, namely PNG, PDF, and JPG.

In the coming section, we’ll use ChartExpo to visualize data using one of the Bar Chart Futures examples (Double Axis Line Bar and Chart).

How to Visualize Data using Double Axis Line and Bar Chart in ChartExpo?

Year Sales Profit Margin %
2011 16.52 7.9
2012 16.42 8.3
2013 16.17 9
2014 15.57 4.6
2015 16.48 9
2016 16.34 6.8
2017 14.99 7.9
2018 17.26 9.6
2019 13.67 6.9
2020 12.32 4.3
2021 11.28 5.6
  • Click the Extensions button> Charts, Graphs & Visualizations by ChartExpo >Open.
open chartexpo in google sheets
  • Click the Add New Chart button to access your fully stocked library of charts.
add new chart in google sheets
  • Once ChartExpo is loaded, you will see a list of charts.
list of charts in google sheets
  • Look for “Double Axis Line and Bar Chart”.
search chart in google sheets
  • Select the sheet holding your data and select the Metrics option. Fill in the numerical numbers (in our scenario, we’ll fill in: sales and profit margin percentage).
create chart in google sheets
  • Select the Dimensions button and fill in the dimensional data (in our example, we’ll use year)
bar graph futures

How to Add Trend Lines in the Chart?

  • Click the Edit Chart button to get started.
edit chart in google sheets
  • Once the Line and Bar Properties window shows, click the Trend Lines button and toggle the button to the right side.
edit trend lines in google sheets
  • Complete the simple process by clicking the Apply and the Save buttons, respective.
save chart in google sheets
  • Check out the final chart below.
double axis line and bar chart using bar chart futures

Insights

Between 2011 and 2013, the profit margin surpassed the sales value. However, the profitable streak declined in 2014 before bouncing back briefly in 2015.

Video Tutorial: How to Make a Bar Chart in Google Sheets?

In this video, you’ll learn how to make a bar chart in Google Sheets.

Advantages of Bar Chart Futures

  • Simplified Data Analysis

The visualization design simplifies the data analysis process because it can handle bulky and complex data efficiently.

  • Track Data Changes

Besides, the chart can help you uncover and track significant changes in your data over time.

Bar Chart Best Practices

  • Use a common zero-valued baseline

Ensure bars are aligned with a zero-value baseline. And this is because a baseline makes it easier for readers to compare bar lengths. It also adds the element of reliability.

  • Organize Category Values from Ascending to Descending Order

Order the bars either in ascending or descending order to help your audience decode insights easily.

FAQs:

What is a Bar Chart used for?

Bar Graphs are an effective way to compare items between different groups. Besides, it can display comparison insights into your raw and bulky data.

The visualization design provides a visual presentation of categorical data.

For example, it’s easier to see items taking the largest chunk of your budget using the chart.

Why do we use charts?

Charts play a critical part in crafting a compelling data narrative. Besides, they act as a backdrop that audiences can use to refer to insights.

Our brains interpret image content faster than numbers and texts. So, for you to create a persuasive data story, you’ve got to incorporate suitable and relevant Bar Charts.

Wrap Up

Forecasting developments, such as sales, costs, and profits present a humongous opportunity for businesses like yours to scale.

Forecasting refers to all the tools and techniques you can use to predict metrics, such as the revenue generated. The technique we’ll be talking about in great detail is data visualization.

Why?

Data visualization is the lifeblood of a reliable and solid business forecasting plan. Some of the best-suited charts for business forecasting include Double Axis Line and Bar, Sentiment Trend, Pareto Bar, and Grouped Bar Charts.

Data visualization tools, such as Google Sheets, lack ready-made Bar Chart Futures you can use to craft data stories.

We recommend installing third-party apps, such as ChartExpo, into your Google Sheets to access ready-made and visually appealing Bar Charts Futures.

ChartExpo is an add-on with insightful and easy-to-interpret Bar Charts for forecasting, plus many more visualization designs. You don’t require programming skills to visualize your data using the application.

Sign up for a 7-day free trial today to access ready-made and visually appealing Bar Charts Futures for your data story.

How much did you enjoy this article?

chartexpo ad

Get a reward

chartexpo ad
119914

Related articles

next previous
Google Sheets10 min read

How to Analyze Likert Scale Rating Data in Google Sheets?

What is a Likert scale rating? Click here to learn how to create a Likert scale survey using Google Forms and analyze survey data in Google Sheets.

Google Sheets9 min read

How to Analyze Survey Scale Questions in Google Sheets?

What is a survey scale? Click to learn how to create a survey using Google Forms and how to analyze survey scale questions in Google Sheets.

Google Sheets11 min read

How to Add a Trendline in Google Sheets?

What is a trendline? Click to learn types of trendlines to add in your visualizations and how to add a trendline in Google Sheets.

Google Sheets10 min read

How to Create a Dashboard in Google Sheets?

What is a dashboard in Google Sheets? Learn about the best charts for a dashboard and how to create an intuitive dashboard in Google Sheets.

Google Sheets12 min read

Analyze Your Google Forms Data Using Likert Scale

Do you know the best way to ask your audience for feedback? Google Forms’ Likert Scale questions offer deeper, more valuable insights into your customers.

ChartExpo logo

Turn Data into Visual
Stories

CHARTEXPO

  • Home
  • Gallery
  • Videos
  • Pricing
  • Contact us
  • FAQs
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Sitemap

INSTALL

  • ChartExpo for Google Sheets
  • ChartExpo for Microsoft Excel
  • ChartExpo for Power BI

CATEGORIES

  • Bar Charts
  • Circle Graphs
  • Column Charts
  • Combo Charts
  • Comparison Charts
  • Line Graphs
  • PPC Charts
  • Sentiment Analysis Charts
  • Survey Charts

TOP CHARTS

  • Sankey Diagram
  • Likert Scale Chart
  • Comparison Bar Chart
  • Pareto Chart
  • Funnel Chart
  • Gauge Chart
  • Radar Chart
  • Radial Bar Chart
  • Sunburst Chart
  • see more
  • Scatter Plot Chart
  • CSAT Score Bar Chart
  • CSAT Score Survey Chart
  • Dot Plot Chart
  • Double Bar Graph
  • Matrix Chart
  • Multi Axis Line Chart
  • Overlapping Bar Chart
  • Control Chart
  • Slope Chart
  • Clustered Bar Chart
  • Clustered Column Chart
  • Box and Whisker Plot
  • Tornado Chart
  • Waterfall Chart
  • Word Cloud
  • see less

RESOURCES

  • Blog
  • YouTube
SIGN UP FOR UPDATES

We wouldn't dream of spamming you or selling your info.

© 2023 ChartExpo, all rights reserved.