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Why is the sum of rows in a Custom Report not adding up to the bottom row total?
Why is the sum of rows in a Custom Report not adding up to the bottom row total?

This article details why the sum of your rows may not add up to the total in a Custom Report that contains average metrics or breakdowns.

Abby Garland avatar
Written by Abby Garland
Updated over a year ago

There are a few scenarios that can cause the bottom row of totals in a Custom Report to not add up to the sum of your rows of data.

If your report contains average metrics, the total in the bottom row is not visualizing the sum of the data points in your rows.

When you pull in average metrics (for example, Average Order Value) to a Custom Report, the total visualized in the bottom row when you’re viewing multiple rows worth of data is not the sum of all rows, but rather the sum of the numerator / the sum of the denominator. For example, in the case of AOV, this metric is calculated as:

Total Sales [Numerator] / Total Orders [Denominator].

The bottom row total calculation for a report showing multiple records for AOV is:

(Sum of Total Sales) / (Sum of Total Orders).

If your report contains a breakdown, Polar visualizes a separate line item for each metric & breakdown grouping.

When you add a breakdown to your Custom Report, this may also cause the total at the bottom of the report to not add up to the sum of each record. This is because Polar visualizes a separate line item for each unique grouping of metrics with the breakdowns. For example, if you apply the Order Tag breakdown to your Total Orders metrics, the sum of the rows could be greater than the true total number of orders if any order(s) had multiple Order Tags.

If you have any questions about how your data is being calculated, feel free to reach out to our Care Team via the in-app live chat for a deeper investigation.

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