The essentials
- One page: the summary fits on one screen with no scrolling, with 5 to 8 figures, a trend chart and three lines of commentary.
- Hierarchy: the business result top left, the channels in the middle, the diagnosis at the bottom; the reader follows that flow without thinking.
- Every figure has a context: a target, the previous period or a range; a number on its own informs nobody.
- The clarity test: someone from outside should be able to say in 60 seconds whether the month was good or bad, and why.
A dashboard is clear when its reader, with no training and no spoken explanation, knows within a minute whether things are going well and where to act. That outcome depends neither on the tool nor on the number of charts, but on design work: choosing few figures, ordering them, giving them context and commenting on them. Here are the rules that work for an agency client as for a leadership team, with a one-page template to reproduce.
Start from the reader's question
Before opening a tool, write in one sentence the question the dashboard answers for its recipient. For an owner: "Did marketing produce the enquiries and revenue planned this month, and where do I need to decide?" For an agency client: "What did my budget produce, and what did you do?" For an e-commerce manager: "Which channels and products made the margin?" Any element of the dashboard that doesn't serve that question is removed or moved to a detail page. Choosing the metrics by recipient is developed in which metrics to ask for in reporting.
The one-page template
| Zone | Example | Format | Share of the screen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Header | Period, update date, recipient's name | Text | 5 % |
| Results | 3 to 4 business figures: enquiries or sales, attributed revenue, cost per result, return on investment | Tiles with target and change | 20 % |
| Trend | The main result over 12 months, with the target as a line | A line or bar chart | 25 % |
| Channels | Result, cost and cost per result by channel | A 4- to 6-row table with colour coding | 25 % |
| Comment | Three lines: what explains the month, what was done, what is proposed | Written text | 15 % |
| Diagnosis | 2 to 3 alert metrics (organic traffic, site health, reviews) | Small tiles | 10 % |
The detail pages (one per channel) exist, but aren't sent: they are reachable by a link for those who want to dig. The summary-plus-details structure is compared with other options in a single dashboard or one per channel.
Six design rules
- One figure, one context: every tile shows the value, the target or the previous period, and the percentage change. "132 enquiries" informs nobody; "132 enquiries, target 120, +14% vs last month" does.
- The reading order: top to bottom and left to right, from the result to the cause. The reader should never have to look for where to start.
- Three colours: a neutral one for the data, one for "on target" and one for "off target". Ten-colour palettes make any chart unreadable.
- Labels in plain language: "quote requests" rather than "generate_lead conversions", "visits from Google" rather than "organic search". The technical names stay in the detail pages.
- One trend chart, not ten: the 12-month trend of the main result is enough; the other metrics are read as figures.
- The commentary is mandatory: the figures describe, the text explains. Three written lines are worth more than the rest of the page. Choosing the visual representations is detailed in visual KPIs: which representations to choose.
An example: an e-commerce client's summary page
| Element | Display |
|---|---|
| Results | Revenue €84,300 (target €80,000, +5%), orders 612 (+3%), advertising cost per order €18.40 (target €20), overall ROAS 5.1 |
| Trend | Monthly revenue over 12 months, target line, December peak annotated |
| Channels | Google Ads €31,200 for €6,100 spent; Meta €14,800 for €3,900; SEO €22,100; email €11,400; direct €4,800 |
| Comment | "A month above target thanks to SEO (+18%) after the category pages were rewritten. Meta below break-even (ROAS 3.8, threshold 4): budget cut by 20% on the 15th. Proposal: test Google Shopping on the 30 highest-margin lines." |
| Diagnosis | Organic traffic +12%, 0 critical errors, Google rating 4.6 |
The mistakes that make a dashboard unreadable
- Putting the traffic metrics (sessions, pageviews) at the top, ahead of the results.
- Showing different periods across charts (7 days here, 30 days there) without saying so.
- Comparing with the previous month in a seasonal business; compare with last year.
- Leaving metrics with no target because "the target hasn't been set". See adding target objectives to your dashboards.
- Sending a link with no commentary, assuming the reader will understand.
- Changing the structure every month: the reader relearns instead of reading.
The checklist before sending
The data is up to date and the update date is shown; every figure has a target or a comparison; the commentary is written and answers the three questions (why, what was done, what is proposed); the labels are understandable with no glossary; the page fits on a laptop screen; someone from outside read it in 60 seconds and could say whether the month was good. If any of those is missing, the dashboard isn't ready.
How GreenRed helps
Rather than juggling several tools, GreenRed's Overview module brings these metrics together in a single dashboard, compares them over time and tells you which actions come first. You can try it free, with no card, from the Pricing.
Frequently asked questions
How many metrics on a summary page?
Between five and eight figures, one trend chart and a four- to six-row table by channel. Beyond that, the reader stops prioritising. The extra metrics go into detail pages reachable by link, never onto the summary.
Do you need a different dashboard for the leadership team and the marketing team?
Yes: the leadership team reads a commented results page once a month, the team consults channel views every week with operational metrics. Both share the same data source and the same definitions, to avoid contradictory figures in meetings.
An online dashboard or a PDF sent by email?
The link to an up-to-date online dashboard remains the reference, but the monthly PDF with commentary is what the leadership team actually reads. The most effective practice combines both: a one-page PDF sent on the first working day, and a link for those who want the detail.
How do you handle the months when the data is incomplete?
Say so on the page, with the cause (a broken connector, a tracking change) and the estimated impact. A dashboard showing wrong figures with no warning loses the reader's trust for months. A clear note beats a chart quietly corrected.