In SaaS, growth doesn’t stop at acquisition — in fact, that’s where it really begins. Yet most CRMs and dashboards still focus heavily on top-of-funnel metrics. That’s where the bowtie dashboard changes the game.
Instead of looking at leads and deals in isolation, SaaS leaders are using bowtie dashboards to visualise the complete GTM strategy — across every stage of the customer journey, from awareness to impact.
Let’s break it down.
Why the traditional funnel is no longer enough
The classic marketing and sales funnel is focused almost entirely on acquisition: attracting leads, qualifying them, and closing deals.
But for recurring revenue businesses like SaaS, this model ignores what happens after the contract is signed — where retention, expansion, and impact drive real, compounding growth.
The bowtie model is the natural evolution of the funnel. It represents the entire customer lifecycle — and a bowtie dashboard lets you visualise and manage that lifecycle in one connected view.
The 7 stages of the bowtie model (and how to visualise them)
A bowtie dashboard brings together Volume Metrics (VMs), Conversion Rates (CRs), and Velocity Metrics (Δt) across each of the seven stages:
1. Awareness
How are people discovering your brand?
Track impressions, ad reach, branded search traffic, and referral sources. Great dashboards show trends by channel and audience segment.
2. Education
How well are leads learning about your solution?
Visualise content engagement (eBooks, webinars, product pages) and track metrics like time on site, downloads, and event participation.
3. Selection
Which leads are converting into opportunities?
This stage aligns with qualification and prioritization. Use metrics like MQL → SQL conversion, sales cycle velocity, and deal size.
4. Onboarding
Are new customers reaching first impact?
Visualise time to value (TTV), onboarding status, feature adoption, and CR6 (onboarding churn) vs CR7 (retention churn).
5. Retention
Are you delivering recurring impact to retain customers?
Dashboards here should show NRR, GRR, usage trends, support ticket volume, and product health scores.
6. Expansion
Are customers growing with you?
Break down upsell, cross-sell, and resell metrics. Track expansion revenue by segment, sales cycle length, and win rate.
7. Impact
Are customers getting what they paid for — and more?
Visualise impact metrics aligned with business outcomes (ROI, saved time, increased revenue). This reinforces product value and drives loyalty.
Benefits of visualising the full GTM with a bowtie dashboard
Implementing a bowtie dashboard isn’t just about better reporting — it’s about running a better business. Here’s why SaaS leaders are adopting this approach:
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Unified visibility: connect marketing, sales, onboarding, and CS around shared metrics
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Data-driven prioritization: identify weak links across the lifecycle, not just top of funnel
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Faster time to impact: track how quickly new customers reach value and expand
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Higher NRR: retain more customers and grow revenue within your base
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Smarter segmentation: slice the bowtie by GTM motion (enterprise, mid-market, PLG)
How to build your bowtie dashboard
To get started, you’ll need:
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A clean, unified data model that maps each stage of the customer journey
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Agreement on volume and conversion metrics (VM1–VM9, CR1–CR8)
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A CRM or BI tool that supports custom dashboards (HubSpot, Salesforce, Looker, etc.)
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Cross-functional input from Marketing, Sales, Onboarding, and CS teams
For SaaS companies serious about scaling, the bowtie dashboard becomes a central operating system — turning siloed data into one connected growth engine.
Funnels tell you how much you’re winning.
Bowties tell you how much you’re growing.
If your current dashboards stop at “closed won,” you’re flying blind on the second half of the customer journey. A bowtie dashboard helps SaaS leaders visualise the complete GTM — aligning the business around growth, not just acquisition.
