The checkout path is a good example of a decision funnel. This type of path is characterized by the succession of several pages that must be viewed once and in a determined order (Ex: cart > login > delivery > payment > confirmation).
You can analyze the checkout funnel in:
- Journey analysis
- Funnels
Analyzing the Checkout funnel in Journey analysis
Journey analysis allows you to see how visitors progress through your site, page by page, from entry to exit.
The ideal conversion path: Checkout funnel
The highlighted journey shows the ideal succession of pages, without any movements forward and backward between the cart page and the confirmation page. This type of visualization shows that your site users are converting.
How to interpret it? The conversion path: purchase funnel reveals that your users convert without encountering a stumbling block.
Why is this ideal? In the short to medium term, your users are guided and reassured throughout the checkout funnel and find it a positive experience.
In the long term, your returning users know the different steps of the path well and can move quickly from page to page without dwelling on the reassurance elements.
| Questions to ask | How to answer |
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Understand which users take this path: Is this behavior isolated? What percentage of buyers takes this in-site path? Is this path only taken by returning users? Do new users take this path? |
Segment this path by New and Returning users to see to what extent this path is only taken by your loyal users using the Segment feature. |
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Understand which pages perform least well in the path: Are users unwilling to give personal information? Is the login step a stumbling block (viewing on the move, forgotten login details, desire to buy without creating an account, etc.)? |
Compare the behavior of users who took this path with those who didn't, and see the losses at each step (page). Isolate the step(s) that creates(s) the most losses using Journey analysis. |
Critical conversion path: show-stopping step in the checkout funnel
The highlighted journey shows the ideal succession of pages from cart page to confirmation page but undermined by a high Bounce rate at one step. This type of visualization shows that your users mainly stop at one step in the conversion path.
How to interpret it? The conversion path: show-stopping step in checkout funnel reveals that your users do not convert mainly because they encounter a stumbling block.
Why is this problematic?
In the short to medium term, this type of situation creates decreases the overall performance of your site.
In the long term, checkout being a sensitive step in the customer journey, a poor experience won't motivate users to return.
| Questions to ask | How to answer |
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Understand which elements on the exit page hinder users in their conversion path: Which in-page elements is an obstacle to users moving to the next step? Which information needs to be completed during this step? Are there mistakes in this information? Which CTA let users go to the next step? Is it often used? |
Compare the behavior of users who reached the next page with those who didn't in the Zoning analysis feature. (Example: create the segment based on the reach-delivery-page behavior.) |
Critical conversion path: backward and forwards in the checkout
The highlighted journey shows the ideal succession of pages from cart page to confirmation page, interrupted by backward and forward movement between two steps. This type of visualization shows that your users move backward and forwards in the checkout funnel.
How to interpret it? The conversion path: backward and forwards in checkout funnel reveals that your users find it hard to complete their checkout, which could be due to lack of information, reassurance, or even a navigation problem.
Why is this problematic?
In the short to medium term, this type of situation creates frustration. It's never good for your users to move backwards and forwards in checkout: It's a linear journey, in which your users should ask themselves as few questions as possible. In most cases, the user will end up abandoning after several movements between the pages, which will impact your conversion rate.
In the long term, checkout being a sensitive step in the customer journey, a poor experience won't motivate your users to return.
| Questions to ask | How to answer |
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Understand what causes your users to turn back in their conversion path: Is it possible that the userlacked information in the previous step? Is the problem due to a completion error or a difficulty completing the step? What will the user do on the page after their return? (Modify an input field, correct an address element, view the delivery conditions, etc.) |
See how users behaves in the step that caused them to turn back, and in the step viewed several times, using the Zoning analysis feature. Comparing the behavior of user-buyers (converters) vs non-buyers (non-converters) on these pages will help you identify in-page stumbling blocks. Once the stumbling blocks are identified, segment by new/returning users to observe if this behavior is found more or less often in one of the populations. |
Succession of pages in the checkout funnel
The highlighted journeys reveal identical successions of pages consisting of key checkout funnel page types (e.g. Cart Page). They are barely, or not at all, followed by exits. This type of visualization shows that your users view the same page (the same type of page) successively.
How to interpret it? The succession of pages reveals that, in the case of the cart page, your users make changes to items in their cart (removal, change of quantity, etc.).
In what cases is this behavior ideal or problematic?
The succession of pages is positive if it leads to the next step (Login or Delivery Page).
A stumbling block exists if the user leaves the site after seeing all these pages or turns back. You need to look for what might cause users to abandon, as with the Backwards-forwards-in-checkout-funnel path.
| Questions to ask | How to answer |
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Identify whether this succession of pages has a positive or negative effect on the navigation goal: What percentage of users will ultimately achieve the goal? What are the different ways each of these pages might be combined (remember to analyze any page, view tracking data)? Why? |
Use the Goals & Events feature to create a reach-next-checkout-page behavior. Identify if there is a problem with change of quantity, removal of product or anything else that generates a new page view in the cart by using the Zoning analysis feature. |
Analyzing the Checkout funnel
With Funnels you can get a closer look at the key steps of the Checkout funnel, measure step conversions and drop offs between each step, and locate possible usability issues.
Similar to the Journey analysis it relies on the pages defined in your mappings and lets you understand how your users progressed through key stages of your app or web flow.
Main difference with the Journey analysis is that Funnels allows you to analyze pages that have been visited in sequence, but not necessarily consecutively. This helps you get a better understanding of your funnel performance across the entire user session.
Identify step drop offs
To identify the steps where the users tend to drop off, go to Funnels. Define the steps in the funnel to include all the key stages of the user flow.
The highlighted step shows the percentage and amount of sessions progressing to the next step of the funnel out of those who reached the previous step. In the above example, the first step in the checkout (Checkout Step 1) is the page with the highest drop off rate with only 55.6% proceeding from the Login page to this page. This type of visualization shows both conversion and drop off rates, helping you to pinpoint the pages with the biggest opportunity for improvement.
How to interpret it? The big drop off between the different steps reveals that your users find it hard to complete their checkout, with the Login page being the biggest stumbling block. As only half of the visitors progress further, the page might be presenting anomalies discouraging the users to go deeper in the funnel.
| Questions to ask | How to answer |
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Understand why the page performs least well in the path: Are users unwilling to give personal information? Does the login step provide enough options for different user personae and browsing intentions? (viewing on the move, forgotten login details, desire to buy without creating an account, etc.)? |
Create a segment of the users following the specific page sequence by using the Shortcut option and analyze the user's behavior in the Zoning analysis feature. Note! By using the Shortcuts option within the funnel, the segment condition will be automatically filled to match the selected page flow |
Compare segments to identify struggle points
You can compare two populations (types of users, devices, different date ranges) to identify high drop off pages, narrow down any usability issues and troubleshoot faster.
Learn more about Compare mode in Funnels.
1) The highlighted KPIs show the two segments' funnel conversion rates or the percentage of sessions that completed the funnel out of those who entered it. In the above example, the funnel performed a lot better for Segment A (a period before the Checkout redesign) than for Segment B (a period after the Checkout redesign).
2) The highlighted step (the Checkout - Login page) has the highest difference in conversions of more than 60%.
How to interpret it? The redesign of the checkout has not improved the overall UX of the checkout flow. And the higher Cart abandonment rate suggests that the Cart page is preventing prospects from completing their orders. This can be caused by lack of proper guidance and information, unclear UI structure, or having enough functionalities to fit different browsing intentions (e.g., having a Wishlist for temporary storage of links to potentially interesting products that are further used at the decision stage, comparison functionality etc.)
Learn more about analyzing a Cart page
| Questions to ask | How to answer |
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Understand why the page underperforms after the flow redesign: Do the users have enough information for making the decision at this stage? Does the page provides reassurance about security and privacy concerns? Does the Cart page provide enough options for different user personae and browsing intentions? (comparing different products, saving products for later)? |
Create a segment of the dropped and the converted users by using the Shortcut option and compare their performance across the two date ranges in the Zoning analysis feature. Note! To create a segment of the dropped sessions in Compare mode, right click on the bar area that represents the step drop offs. |