New in GA4: Custom Funnel Reports

Exciting news! Google’s latest update allows you to create custom funnel reports. With this feature, you can easily track users’ steps to complete a task and measure the rate of drop-offs at each stage. This flexibility allows you to create funnels tailored to your unique business needs and reference this valuable information in Reports. 

May 8, 2023 

Exciting news! Google’s latest update allows you to create custom funnel reports. With this feature, you can easily track users’ steps to complete a task and measure the rate of drop-offs at each stage. This flexibility allows you to create funnels tailored to your unique business needs and reference this valuable information in Reports. 

You can use these insights to optimize your website or app by identifying and addressing areas where users may experience inefficiencies or abandon their journeys. 

 

How custom funnels work

To create custom funnel reports in Google Analytics, you’ll need to build a funnel exploration and save it as a template. This exploration will serve as the mold for your report. Once you’ve created the exploration, you can save it as a funnel report, which will be saved to your report library. Your report library contains all the reports for your property, and you can add the funnel report to the left navigation for quick access.

 

Prerequisites

You must be an Editor or Administrator to create a funnel report and add it to your navigation.

 

How to Create a Funnel Report

  1. From the left menu, click Explore 
  2. Open or create a FUNNEL EXPLORATION
  3. Click Save in the top right to save the exploration as a report.
  4. Enter a name and description for the new report.
  5. Click Save.
  6. Your saved report includes these settings from the funnel exploration:
  • The applied filters
  • The step definitions
  • The type of funnel (that is, open or closed)
  • The dimension breakdown

Keep in Mind: Advanced edits (including elapsed time and next action) aren’t saved to the report.

 

Add the report to your navigation

  1. Below the saved exploration, click View Report in library.
    OR
    From the left menu, access the report library.
  2. In the Collections section, click Edit Collection below the collection where you want to add the report.
  3. In the Drag reports to create collection card, find the funnel report.
  4. Drag the funnel report from the card on the right, and drop it under a topic on the left.
  5. Click Save.

If the collection is unpublished, click More > Publish in the report library to publish the collection.

 

Re-create a funnel exploration from the report

If the original exploration that created the funnel report is deleted, no need to worry. You can still recover it by opening the funnel report in Explore. 

To open the report as an exploration:

  1. In the funnel report, click Add comparison above the report.
  2. On the right, click Explore.

 

Analyzing the funnel

Abandonment rate

Abandonment rate is a crucial metric that measures the percentage of users who drop off between the current step and the next step in your funnel. This rate is displayed below each bar that signifies the next step in the funnel. For instance, if there are 100 users who engage in a session (current step) and only 48 users view a product (next step), then the abandonment rate beneath the current step would be 48 (48%). It’s important to keep track of your abandonment rate to identify and address bottlenecks in your funnel and improve your user retention.

 

Completion rate

Completion rate is the percentage of users who successfully completed a step, and it’s the inverse of the abandonment rate. In other words, it measures how many users moved on to the next step after completing the previous one. You can easily check the completion rate by looking at the header of the next step, which shows this information. For instance, if the completion rate is 52%, the header of the next step would display this figure. 

To get more detailed information about user behavior, you can hover over each step in the report. This will reveal the number of users who completed (or didn’t complete) the step. For example, if you hover over the current step, you will see that 100 users completed it. If you hover over the next step, you will see that only 52 users made it that far. By analyzing completion rates for each step, you can identify where users drop off and optimize your conversion funnel.

 

View the funnel steps

To preview the steps comprising your funnel in a read-only mode, simply click “View funnel steps.” Note that you will not be able to alter the steps or conditions of the funnel from this perspective.

 

Open and closed funnels

You can see if a report is an open or closed funnel in the top left of the bar chart.

  • An open funnel shows data for users who enter at any step in the funnel.
  • A closed funnel shows data for users who enter at the first step in the funnel.

When looking at an open funnel, you’ll notice two stacked bars. The top one displays the total amount and percentage of users who began the funnel from the current step, while the bottom one shows the number and percentage of users who moved on from the previous step.

 

Examine your data using the table

The bar chart presents data in a visual format, and the table below it enables analytical insight. With the feature of dimension picker, the data can be segmented by different criteria such as time, location, or user demographics. The dimensions available for selection in the picker correspond to those in the Dimensions section of the original funnel exploration. At the top of the table, you can find metrics that showcase the number of active users completing each step of the funnel. This data can help you gain valuable insights into user behavior and make data-driven decisions.

 

Adjust the size of the chart

Easily adjust the size of each bar on the chart by using the plus and minus buttons in the bottom right corner. Zooming in allows for a closer examination of each individual bar, revealing even greater levels of detail. Please note that if you adjust the zoom level to the point where a bar’s height exceeds that of the graph, a curve will be added to indicate that the bar is not drawn to scale.

 

Adjust the date range

The report shows data for the last 28 days by default. You can adjust the date range using the drop-down menu in the top right of the report. 

 

funnelreport_daterange

 

Limits 

You can create up to 200 custom reports per property.

There are circumstance where you can’t save a funnel exploration as a report. Including: 

  • A filter, in the Filters column of Tab Settings, has a condition that is not supported by Reports
  • More than 5 filters are applied in the Filters column of Tab Settings
  • Segments are applied in the Segment comparisons column of Tab Settings
  • The funnel includes dimensions, metrics, or operators that aren’t supported by Reports
  • You’ve created a trended funnel instead of a standard funnel

 

Limits for saved reports

 

  • To customize your funnel exploration report, you can delete, rename, add, or remove it from report collections. However, to actually edit the report, you’ll need to make changes to the original funnel exploration and then save it as a new report. In other words, you can’t directly modify your report, but you can update the exploration behind it.

  • Warning: Partial Data Shown for Date Range:  If the date range in your funnel report falls outside of the event data retention for your property, a warning will appear. For instance, if your property has a data retention period of 2 months, the warning will appear if your report has a date range of 6 months. To resolve this, adjust the date range accordingly. 

  • Saved Report vs Funnel Exploration: Keep in mind that the saved report reflects the state of the funnel exploration when it was saved and is not linked to it. This means that any changes made to the exploration after the report is saved won’t affect the report. Similarly, altering the report won’t have any impact on the exploration.

 

Conclusion

Analyzing the behavior of customers while they interact with a brand or product is crucial in making data-driven decisions that optimize advertising campaigns. By identifying the points where customers lose interest, and pinpointing areas for improvement, advertisers can enhance user experience, boost conversion rates, and maximize their return on investment. Understanding these customer paths allows businesses to make informed decisions that lead to success in the competitive world of advertising.

At Napkyn, we keep track of the latest Google Analytics 4 developments and post updates to ensure you are always in the loop regarding new features and how to use them.  Sign up for our monthly newsletter to get the latest scoop on Google Analytics 4 as well as useful guides for getting the most out of this platform.

Have questions about transitioning or getting the most out of your GA4 implementation? Contact us.

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