Conversion funnel analysis takes a close look at the steps a visitor must take to complete a transaction on your website. The goal, of course, is to identify and remove user pain points and bottlenecks so that the path to conversion is as smooth as possible. Conversion funnel analysis is also a vital component to truly understanding customer behavior, and one of the most effective ways of determining why a given visitor does – or does not – convert.

For example, let’s say you sell cakes online and want to determine how successfully your website is in encouraging users to make a purchase. The best place to start would be a scenario analysis – basically, you need to first identify all the steps a visitor must go through in order to make a purchase. In this case, let’s imagine your conversion funnel consists of six steps:

1. Product Page
2. Delivery Date Selected/Shopping Cart Page
3. Enter Cake or Card Message Page/Proceed to Checkout Page
4. Shipping Information Page
5. Billing information Page
6. Confirmation Page

Thanks to your scenario analysis, you quickly realize that a significant number of potential customers are dropping off on the fifth step (the billing page). A red flag should immediately pop up in your mind – something’s wrong here. But in order to get to the bottom of why users aren’t following through, you need to ask the right questions. So get critical, and start investigating what’s causing your customers to fall away. For example:

• Is your form too long?
• Are mandatory fields marked with an asterisk? Are there too many mandatory fields?
• Do you have a clear call-to-action?
• Are you losing your visitors’ trust because you don’t have a security and privacy policy link clearly displayed?
• Are customers able to review their order before submitting billing information?
• Are you surprising visitors with hidden information? (For example, if you don’t deliver cakes outside of the United States, you should disclose this information way before customers reach the billing page.)

Asking the right questions can help uncover your root causes of abandonment, and with that knowledge, you’ll be better able to optimize your funnel with solutions specifically targeted to individual pain points.

Also, don’t be afraid to get creative. Your web analytics tool has a number of other features that can help you further customize your funnel analysis. Here are a few other fun things you can do to get even more insight into your visitors’ behavior:

• Compare Calendar Feature: If you’re interested in seeing changes in abandonment and continuation rates over time, head to the Compare Calendar feature. It’s an easy way to compare funnel numbers side-by-side.
  
  
• Filters and Segments: Not all customers are created equal; what may be a pain point for some may not be a problem for others. In our cake example, for instance, applying a country filter would reveal how U.S. visitors behave compared to non-U.S. visitors. You might find that bottleneck in your conversion funnel only occurred for visitors outside of the U.S., which would support the theory that non-U.S. customers bailed out as a result of being unaware of your shipping policy until the end of the buying process.
  
  
• Path Analysis: Take a look at what pages visitors visit AFTER abandoning your funnel; it often provides a clearer idea of what they were looking for in the first place. For example, if you discover users are leaving your shipping page to visit the Customer Service section of your site (and specifically, to learn more about order tracking), then you might want to consider placing order tracking information directly on the shipping page itself. Eliminate any excuses potential customers have to leave your funnel, even for a moment.
  

Executed properly, conversion funnel analysis can save you considerable time, money and effort. After all, compelling campaigns and a wealth of traffic are great, but ultimately your ROI comes down to whether or not your customers convert. Aim for a smooth, seamless conversion path, and utilize conversion funnel analysis to remove roadblocks before they turn into missed opportunities.

Dianne Ignacio is a Web Performance Analyst at Acronym Media.