If you spend your days in sales or revenue ops, you know the pain: too many dashboards, not enough actual insight. You want to use Gong to cut through the noise and show your team exactly what matters—without extra clicks, confusion, or fluff. This guide is for anyone who wants to build and share truly useful custom insights dashboards in Gong, whether you’re a manager, analyst, or just the go-to “data person” on your team.
Let’s get real about what’s possible, what’s not, and how to skip the time-wasting traps.
Why Custom Dashboards in Gong Matter (and What to Ignore)
Gong comes with a ton of out-of-the-box dashboards—some are useful, most are generic. The default views try to please everyone, so they end up pleasing no one. Custom dashboards let you:
- Track what your team actually cares about (not just what the vendor thinks is important)
- Spot trends and issues fast, before they become PowerPoint slides
- Cut down on status meetings (seriously, people stop asking “can you pull this report?”)
But don’t kid yourself: Gong dashboards aren’t a magic bullet. They’re only as valuable as the questions you’re asking and the data you feed them. If your CRM is a mess, or your team isn’t logging calls right, you’ll just get prettier charts of bad data.
Ignore:
- Building dashboards just to “show activity.” (Nobody looks at these twice.)
- Overcomplicated metrics (“Weighted call sentiment by region and product line, Tuesday mornings only”).
- Making dashboards for execs who’ll never open them.
Focus on:
- Actionable, simple metrics your team will actually use.
- Visuals that answer real questions: “Are deals stalling after demo calls?”, “Who’s dominating talk time?”
Step 1: Decide What Insights Actually Matter
Before you click anything in Gong, get brutally clear on what questions you’re trying to answer. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a dashboard nobody uses.
Ask yourself (or your team):
- What decisions do we need to make faster?
- Where do we lose deals, and can we spot that sooner?
- What behavior separates top reps from the rest?
Pro tip:
Start with one or two must-have questions. You can always add more later. For example, “Show me deals that have gone dark for 2+ weeks” or “Which reps ask the most discovery questions?”
Step 2: Get Your Data (and Team) in Order
Garbage in, garbage out. Gong pulls data from calls, emails, CRM fields, and user activity. If your team isn’t consistent—like not logging calls, or updating stages—your dashboards will be full of holes.
Checklist:
- Make sure call recording is enabled for the right teams and deal types.
- Double-check your CRM sync settings. If fields are missing in Gong, fix your CRM first.
- Standardize how reps log notes and activities. You don’t need perfect compliance, but wild inconsistency will wreck your insights.
Don’t:
- Waste hours building dashboards on incomplete or dirty data. Fix the basics first.
Step 3: Build Your Dashboard in Gong
Alright, time to get your hands dirty.
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Go to Insights > Dashboards.
You’ll see a bunch of prebuilt dashboards. Ignore these for now. -
Click “Create Dashboard.”
Give it a clear name. (Not “Q2 Buzzwords”—use something like “Stalled Deals This Quarter” or “Manager Coaching Overview.”) -
Add Widgets.
This is where you pick what you want to see—charts, tables, leaderboards, lists. For each widget: - Choose the data source (calls, deals, activities, etc.)
- Filter ruthlessly: by team, date range, stage, call type, whatever matters most.
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Pick the right visualization (bar chart, pie, table—don’t get fancy for the sake of it).
-
Tweak and Preview.
Play with filters and date ranges until the dashboard tells a clear, simple story. If you can’t explain what a widget shows in one sentence, it’s too complicated.
Pro tips: - Drag widgets to reorganize. Put the most important stuff at the top. - Don’t overload your dashboard—5-7 widgets is usually plenty. - Use “Save as Template” if you’ll need similar dashboards for different teams.
Step 4: Share (Without Spamming)
You built a dashboard. Now, how do you get the right eyes on it—without annoying everyone or creating “dashboard fatigue”?
Options in Gong:
- Direct Share:
Click “Share” and enter users or groups. They’ll get notified and the dashboard appears under “Shared with Me.” - Send the Link:
Copy the dashboard URL and paste it into Slack or email. (Make sure sharing permissions are set so the recipient can actually see it.) - Set Up Scheduled Emails:
For metrics that need regular attention, set up a weekly or monthly email. Don’t overdo it—nobody loves daily dashboards in their inbox.
Who to share with:
- The people who own the metric (not everyone in the org)
- Managers who give feedback and coaching
- Reps who want to self-serve insights
Don’t:
- Blast dashboards to huge email groups. Quality over quantity.
- Share dashboards with sensitive info without checking permissions.
Step 5: Keep It Alive (and Useful)
Dashboards aren’t “set and forget.” People ignore stale data, and business questions change. Make it a habit to:
- Review dashboards monthly. Kill or update widgets nobody uses.
- Ask for feedback: “Is this helping you? What’s missing?”
- Watch for data drift—if CRM fields change or calls aren’t logged, your metrics break.
Warning:
Resist the urge to keep adding stuff. Most dashboards die from bloat, not starvation.
Honest Takes: What Works, What Doesn’t
Works well: - Surfacing call stats, talk ratios, and pipeline trends for active teams - Comparing rep behaviors (like call length or question count) to spot coaching opportunities - Quickly flagging deals that are stuck or at risk
Doesn’t work so well: - Overly granular dashboards (“calls with objection handling by vertical by state”) - Anything dependent on flawless data entry (it never happens) - Using dashboards to “monitor” instead of drive action (people will tune out)
Ignore: - Flashy charts you can’t explain in plain English - Building dashboards to impress leadership unless they’ve asked for them
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Iterate as Needed
The best Gong dashboards are the ones people actually use. Start simple, focus on actionable insights, and don’t sweat perfection. You’ll get more value from a basic dashboard that sparks real conversations than a fancy one nobody checks.
Dashboards aren’t a destination—they’re a tool. Build what’s useful, prune the rest, and don’t be afraid to tweak as you learn what your team really needs. That’s how you make Gong work for you, not the other way around.