How to find where buyers drop out

Plenty of people look at your products, and fewer pay. Somewhere between the product page and the paid order, most of them leave. A conversion funnel shows which step loses them, how many, and who they are, so you fix the step that costs the most buyers first.

What does a funnel show?

A funnel is a list of steps in order. For each step it counts the people who reached it and the share who went on to the next. Here is the sample shop’s funnel over the last 30 days, counted by person:

The largest loss comes right after the first step: 421 of 812 people looked at a product and left it there. The checkout loses 93 people at the last step, fewer in number and closer to the money. Of everyone who viewed a product, 17% paid.

Should I count by person or by visit?

Count by person when buying takes more than one visit. The steps can then happen across several visits, within a window of 1, 7, 14 or 30 days; 7 is the default. In the sample shop the median buyer took 10 days from first visit to purchase, so a 14-day or 30-day window is worth comparing with the default.

Count by visit when the steps belong in one sitting, such as a checkout from cart to payment. Each visit is then its own funnel, and the window does not apply.

Which steps make a good funnel?

Each step is an action or a goal, two to six in all. Start with a step many people take, such as viewing a product, and end with your purchase goal. The steps in between are the moments you can change: adding to the cart, starting the checkout, signing up. A new action can start from a page view, a click on a link or button, or a submitted form.

Who are the people who dropped out?

Every step opens the people behind it: those who reached it and those who stopped there. Each person’s page shows every visit with its events, their key pages and the goals they reached.

To follow them over time, save a segment under People with the same logic: added to the cart in the last 7 days, did not pay. In the sample shop, that segment, “Left a cart this week”, holds 23 people. Segments are evaluated when you open them, so the list stays current.

How to do it in MIRA FIVE

1. Make sure each step exists as an action or a goal. Create missing ones under Goals.
2. Open Journeys › Funnel.
3. Choose the steps in the order people take them, from two to six.
4. Under Count, pick People or Visits. For People, pick the window under Within: 1, 7, 14 or 30 days.
5. Read the drop between each pair of steps, and start with the largest.
6. Open the people who stopped at that step, and read a few of their pages.
7. Save a segment for them under People, and save the funnel to compare next month.

The Journeys page shows the funnel beside the journey map and conversion journeys.

What this leaves out

• Funnels read visitors who consented. A project that collects only without consent shows a notice on the Funnel screen instead, and Goals still count every conversion.
• A funnel shows where people leave. The person pages show what they did around that step; the reason is yours to find.