A funnel tracks how many people progress through a sequence of steps: visit → sign up → activate → purchase.
Building a Funnel
- Define the steps precisely, with the events that mark each one.
- Decide the time window (for example, completing each step within seven days of the first).
- Decide whether steps must happen in order.
- Count users reaching each step and compute step-to-step and overall conversion rates.
Reading It
The steps with the biggest drop-off are where improvement matters most. A 40% drop between "add to cart" and "start checkout" points to a specific problem to investigate.
Segment the Funnel
Compare conversion by device, channel, region or customer type. A funnel that works on desktop but fails on mobile is a design problem, not a demand problem.
Time to Convert
Measure how long users take between steps. Long gaps can signal confusion or friction.
Common Pitfalls
- Inconsistent event tracking — steps missing for some platforms.
- Counting sessions rather than users (or vice versa) inconsistently.
- Ignoring people who skip steps or return later.
- Treating correlation as cause: a step associated with conversion may not cause it.
From Insight to Action
Combine funnel data with qualitative evidence — session recordings, user research, support tickets — to understand why people drop off, then test fixes with experiments.