Supercharge Your Dashboards with Flip KPI Cards in Power BI
Table of Contents
Introduction
In today’s fast-paced and data-driven world, dashboards need to do more than simply display numbers; they should tell a story, spark curiosity, and deliver meaningful insights. With the constant evolution of visualisation tools, there is no reason for KPI cards to remain static and one-dimensional. It is time to reimagine them, not just as a metric but as dynamic elements with depth and context. Think of it as giving your KPIs a ‘second layer” or even a secret identity.
In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to create flip-style KPI cards in Power BI that display multiple layers of insight.
Step 1: Connect Slicer and KPI card
- Go to the Visualisation pane and select the Card(new) visual and add Name in the data field.
- Create a dynamic slicer with Name in the data field.
- In visualisation pane go to Format visual> Visual> Slicer settings> options>Style and select Dropdown and in Selection toggle Single select.
Now your slicer and KPI card should be able to interact.
Step 2: Populate KPI Card
- Go to Visualisation pane> Format visual> Images and toggle it On, in image type select Image URL. Go to the conditional formatting option fx.
Pro-tip: Go to Data View, Select the Image_URL column, go to Column Tools > Data Category, Set it to Image URL. This tells Power BI to render the content as images, not text.
- In the pop-up window, under “what field should we base this on? “, Select the URL column.
- The following should be your visual.
Protip: Format > Callout Values > Toggle Values and Label off.
- Now we will add more information on the KPI card. Go to Visualisation pane> Format visual> Reference labels> Add label. Select +Add data, add all the relevant data fields here.
Pro-tip: Experiment with the format options, adjust the display text, colors, fonts, and layout to best suit the tone and style of your report.
Step 3: Make Flip Happen
Create a Dummy Measure:
To make the flip happen without using complicated bookmarks, we need to create a dummy measure returning some vague value. This is used to enable pagination (i.e., the flipping behavior) in your KPI card. Dummy = 1 This simple measure will allow us to activate the age navigation feature for our KPI card visual. Add this dummy measure to our Data pane, this will enable us to scroll through our visual showing us our dummy value.
• To make the flip scenario, set the following measures:
• Visualisation Pane> Format visual> Layout
Arrangement => Single Column
Style => Cards
Max cards shown => 1
• Visualisation Pane> Format visual> Layout>Overflow
Overflow style => Paginated
Overflow direction => Horizontal
Step 4: Populate the Flip-side
- Go to Format >Visual> Images> Apply settings to> Series, select Dummy. Go ahead and toggle the image off.
• Now we need to hide the dummy value displayed, go to Visualisation pane> visual> Callout values > turn toggle off for Values and Label.
This gives us the blank canvas to work with
- In the same visualization pane go to Reference label> apply settings to> select series ‘Dummy’
- In the Add label, add the relevant data required on the flip side of the card.
Experiment with the settings to homogenise with your overall report.
- The flip side of the card should look like this:
Final Visual
Applications of Flip KPI Cards in the Data Journey
- Dashboard Storytelling & Data Presentation
Use case: Presenting core metrics on the front, with context or insights on the back.
- Front: “Revenue”
- Back: “Revenue YoY % Change” or “Top Product Contributor”
- Executive Summaries
Use case: Give leadership a quick snapshot on the front, with detailed breakdowns on the back.
- Front: “Total Leads”
- Back: “Lead Conversion Rate” or “Lead Source Distribution”
- Marketing Campaign Analysis
Use case: Show campaign performance metrics.
- Front: “Campaign Name & Impressions”
- Back: “CTR” or “Cost per Conversion”
- Product / Inventory Dashboards
Use case: Quick product overview with deeper stats on demand or stock.
- Front: “Product Image & Name”
- Back: “Current Stock” or “Sales Trend”
- Customer 360 Views (CRM Dashboards)
Use case: Show customer name and segment on the front, lifetime value or activity level on the back.
- Front: “Customer Name & Tier”
- Back: “Last Purchase Date” or “Lifetime Spend”
- Project Management Dashboards
Use case: Monitor project KPIs.
- Front: “Project Name & Status”
- Back: “Completion %” or “Budget Remaining”
- Educational or Training Platforms
Use case: Visualizing learners, courses, or scores.
- Front: “Student Name & Course”
- Back: “Final Score” or “Attendance”
Why Use Flip Cards Instead of Regular Cards?
| Feature | Benefit |
| Saves space | Displays multiple insights in one card |
| Enhances interactivity | Keeps users engaged in the dashboard |
| Improves data storytelling | Guides the viewer through layers of data |
| Reduces visual clutter | Avoids stacking too many visuals |
Conclusion
With a few tricks and Power BI layout settings, you can create flip-style KPI cards that enhance interactivity and storytelling. This method keeps your report clean, engaging, and insightful, and it works without the complexity of bookmarks.
Flip cards are an innovative way to present layered insights, allowing dashboards to go beyond surface-level metrics and deliver more meaningful information in a compact, interactive format.
FAQs
Yes, flip cards are built with native visuals, and pagination works seamlessly on Power BI Service.
Although it is technically possible to add more than one field, it is best to keep it to two or four values to keep the navigation clear and easy to use.
Yes! Flip cards support slicers, filters, and even row-level security.
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