A Segmentable Funnel

Ready for a fun workaround that you can use in Google Analytics if you like? We enjoyed this contribution from a poweruser that anyone can try.

Are you familiar with the Funnel Visualization report?

It's a visual representation of your onsite conversion funnel, showing how many visitors go to each step and how many leave the funnel at that step. You can spot trouble points with your funnel and take steps to correct the issue. Looking for a way to use Analytics to find a small tweak that will make a big difference on your bottom line? Improve just one step of your funnel abandonment - say by 1% - and that could translate to lots more conversions and money by making it easier for people to buy on your site.

However, an issue with the data and the visualization is that you can't segment it to find out what types of visitors are abandoning. For instance, which step is posing more problems for new visitors, than return visitors?

John Henson from LunaMetrics, a Google Analytics Certified Partner, has written a post on the LunaMetrics blog called "Segment your goal funnel in Google Analytics" about a workaround that will allow you to segment the funnel visualization. He calls it the "horizontal funnel" because visually, you look at the funnel from left to right, by using a goal as a step in the funnel, instead of the 10 steps in each funnel provided by Google Analytics. You'll see what he means below and in his post.

He uses the example of what a traditional e-commerce funnel looks like:

Shopping Cart -> Address Info -> Payment Info -> Review Order -> Thank You

And flips it on it's side to be able to segment it. In the image below: the values outlined in blue are the visits to each step, and the values outlined in orange are the exit rate between steps.

In John's words: "It's like a regular funnel, just flipped on it's side, using goals, first steps in funnels, and custom reports....As you can see, this is in a keyword report. So, the funnel can be seen in-line in the report, for whatever segments you want; in this case for individual keyword phrases. And you can apply Advanced Segments or Secondary Dimensions to the report."

He then explains how to implement this workaround easily. Curiosity piqued? Head over to John's post for all the details.

Posted by Jeff Gillis, Google Analytics Team