Glossary · Conversion & retention
What is conversion funnel?
A conversion funnel is an ordered sequence of steps a visitor takes toward a goal — for example landing page, pricing, sign-up, payment — measured as how many visitors reach each step and how many drop off between them.
Also called: Funnel, Sales funnel
Updated
How is a funnel measured?
Step conversion = visitors at step N ÷ visitors at step N−1 Overall conversion = visitors at last step ÷ visitors at first step
A funnel report counts visitors who completed step 1, then those of them who later completed step 2, and so on. Closed funnels require steps in order; some tools also require each step within a time limit of the previous one.
Conversion funnel example
The weakest step here is homepage → pricing (75% lost), but the cheapest fix may be sign-up → install: 200 people who already signed up didn't finish setup.
| Step | Visitors | From previous | From start |
|---|---|---|---|
| Viewed homepage | 10,000 | — | 100% |
| Viewed pricing | 2,500 | 25% | 25% |
| Signed up | 500 | 20% | 5% |
| Installed the script | 300 | 60% | 3% |
| Paid | 75 | 25% | 0.75% |
Why funnels matter
A single conversion rate says how well the whole journey works; a funnel says where it breaks. Fixing the step with the biggest absolute loss usually beats redesigning the whole site.
Common funnel pitfalls
- Steps people skip. If many visitors go straight from a blog post to sign-up, a funnel requiring the homepage first undercounts them.
- No time limit. A visitor who viewed pricing in January and signed up in June isn't the same journey.
- Cross-device journeys. Sign-up on mobile, payment on desktop looks like a drop-off unless users are identified.
- Too few visitors per step to separate signal from noise.
How VisitTrack builds funnels
In VisitTrack's Funnels tab, each step matches a page path or an event, in order, with an optional maximum time between consecutive steps. Attributed payments write a payment_completed event, so revenue can be the last step without extra code. Funnels can be created in the dashboard or by an AI assistant via the API and MCP. To compare sources, filter the Overview by your sign-up goal and break it down by channel or campaign. See funnel drop-off for reading the results.
Frequently asked questions
What are the stages of a conversion funnel?
Commonly awareness, interest, consideration, conversion and retention. In analytics, a funnel is simply the specific pages or events you choose as steps, such as landing page, pricing, sign-up and payment.
What is a good funnel conversion rate?
It depends on the steps and the product. Compare each step with its own history and look for the step with the largest absolute drop, rather than matching an external benchmark.
Related terms
- Funnel drop-offFunnel drop-off is the share of visitors who complete one step of a funnel but don't reach the next one — the leak between two stages of a conversion path.
- Conversion rateConversion rate is the percentage of visitors (or sessions) that complete a desired action — a sign-up, purchase, demo request or any other goal — out of all visitors (or sessions) in the same period.
- GoalA goal, or conversion goal, is a visitor action that you define in your analytics tool as a success — reaching a page, firing an event, completing a purchase — so the tool can count it and calculate a conversion rate for it.
- Micro-conversionA micro-conversion is a smaller action that signals a visitor is moving toward the main goal — such as viewing the pricing page, starting a sign-up form, watching a demo video or copying an install snippet — as opposed to the macro-conversion itself (the sign-up or purchase).
- Activation rateActivation rate is the percentage of new sign-ups who reach a defined "activation" milestone — the first moment they get real value from the product, such as creating a first project or seeing their first data.
Tools and guides
See which channels actually bring paying customers
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