To display the value breakdown between starting balance and ending balance across customer segments, which visual should you use?

To display the value breakdown between starting balance and ending balance across customer segments, which visual should you use?

• A. ribbon chart
• B. stacked bar chart
• C. treemap
• D. waterfall chart

Answer: (C)

You’re aiming to show how the total value in each customer segment breaks down into starting balance and ending balance, and you want to compare both across multiple segments at a glance. A treemap fits this well because it shows parts of a whole as rectangles, with size representing magnitude. By organizing the data so each segment is a block and then subdividing that block into starting balance and ending balance tiles, you can immediately see how much each balance contributes within a segment and compare those contributions across all segments. This makes the relative proportions easy to scan, even with many segments. Ribbon charts focus on ranking and changes over time, not a fixed part‑to‑whole breakdown. A stacked bar chart can show two values per category but often emphasizes the total of the bar and can be harder to compare proportions across many categories at once. A waterfall chart illustrates how a starting value evolves through sequential changes to reach an ending value, which isn’t the intended cross‑segment breakdown here.

You’re aiming to show how the total value in each customer segment breaks down into starting balance and ending balance, and you want to compare both across multiple segments at a glance. A treemap fits this well because it shows parts of a whole as rectangles, with size representing magnitude. By organizing the data so each segment is a block and then subdividing that block into starting balance and ending balance tiles, you can immediately see how much each balance contributes within a segment and compare those contributions across all segments. This makes the relative proportions easy to scan, even with many segments.

Ribbon charts focus on ranking and changes over time, not a fixed part‑to‑whole breakdown. A stacked bar chart can show two values per category but often emphasizes the total of the bar and can be harder to compare proportions across many categories at once. A waterfall chart illustrates how a starting value evolves through sequential changes to reach an ending value, which isn’t the intended cross‑segment breakdown here.