Which widgets to use in your dashboard and when

In two lines: a widget is each block of a dashboard. Choosing the right type makes the difference between a report that's understood at a glance and one that confuses. They're all added with Add Widget and chosen in Widget Type.

KPI

Shows a single metric in large, with its variation compared to the previous period. It's the first thing your client looks at.

Use it for the numbers that sum up the month: total spend, conversions, CPA, ROAS. The variation is painted green when it improves, red when it worsens and gray when it doesn't change. It supports number, currency, percentage and duration formats.

Reserve KPIs for the essentials. Four or five at the top communicate more than twenty piled up.

Chart

Visualizes the evolution or distribution of your data. It has several subtypes:

Lines — trends over time (day-by-day spend, weekly clicks).
Bars — comparisons (performance by campaign or by platform).
Area — accumulated volume.
Pie — how a total is split (share by channel).
Composite — combines types in a single chart.

You can show several metrics together, customize the colors and turn the legend and grid on or off.

Table

Data in rows and columns, with the dimensions and metrics you choose. It's the view for the detail: campaigns, keywords, ads.

It includes an automatic totals row, a heatmap to spot high and low values at a glance, column sorting, compact mode and CSV download. Rate metrics (CTR, CPC, ROAS) are averaged in a weighted way, so the table total doesn't lie.

Ad Preview in tables

When you group a table by Ad ID and Ad Name, you can add the Ad Preview metric: each row shows a thumbnail of the ad's creative next to its metrics. It works with Meta Ads, TikTok Ads and Google Ads (responsive Display, uploaded banners, video with its YouTube thumbnail, and Demand Gen, including carousels). Click a thumbnail to open the full preview; Google search ads show an icon that opens their headlines and descriptions.

Combine Ad Preview with the heatmap: the client sees which creative is behind each number and the team can brief new pieces without leaving the dashboard.

Text and Image

Text lets you write notes, an executive summary or an explanation within the report: the context a number alone doesn't give. Image inserts logos, screenshots or fixed visual elements. Both are included when you export to PDF.

Control filters

These are special widgets that filter the data of the rest of the dashboard: by campaign, ad set, account and more, depending on the platform. Whoever looks at the report can narrow the view without editing anything. Active filters are shown at the top and are recorded on the PDF cover page.

A well-built dashboard usually has this order from top to bottom: KPIs (the summary), charts (the trend) and tables (the detail). That way reading goes from the general to the specific.

Still have questions?

Ask MIA, the MB Suite AI assistant: open it with the MB AI button (⌘J) in the top bar. MIA knows the section you're in, so you can ask it directly about what you see on screen.