If you are interested in how to analyze the sales funnel of an online store, it means that you at least understand what the term means and how the whole process works: from attracting the attention of a potential buyer to payment.  You may want to consider using an external tool to help you develop your sales funnel (here is a Clickfunnels review to get you started), to increase your conversion rate. Once you have something set up, you’ll need to pay a lot of attention on how to analyze it to make the best impact.

Before you start analyzing the sales funnel, you need to literally draw all its components, taking as a basis your own online store. By independently analyzing the steps that the user goes from the moment of acquaintance with the site to purchase, you can identify difficulties that arise on the way to purchase.

Step 1: Analysis of channels for attracting visitors

Attracting visitors is possible from various channels: search engine, advertising, social networks, etc.

When evaluating the effectiveness of the channels, pay attention to the following points:

The entire target audience of your online store is clearly defined and, if necessary, segmented into groups. It is obvious that each group has individual peculiarities of behavior on the Internet, uses different channels of information search and responds to different calls to action. 

Segmentation of the audience by city can be done separately (to form appropriate proposals or to emphasize delivery).

Each group is drawn from one or more channels. Accordingly, it is desirable to evaluate the behavior of each group within the sales funnel separately.

The analysis of the sales funnel is best started with the evaluation:

  • existing traffic channels (search engines, advertisements, social networks, mailing lists, etc.);
  • clickability of links placed in each of the channels (the total number of visitors who came to the pages of the online store);
  • the cost of attracting a new visitor for each of the channels.

As a result, you should have a clear understanding of the effectiveness of each channel, as well as how much its use pays off. In the future, it is highly desirable to form the main criteria for evaluating user attention to the site (for example, the level of clickability of ads, the percentage of transitions from mailing lists, the number of direct entries, the volume of organic traffic, etc.).

Step 2: Analysis of user behavior in the online store

The next step is ー to evaluate the behavior of user groups directly within the online store.

Very conventionally, all behavior can be divided into:

Demonstrating interest. It includes the horizontal movement within the online store: study of different goods, pages with description of delivery conditions, reading of additional rules, transitions from the blog, opening of the page with contacts.

Expressing the desire to purchase goods or order services. This movement is already on the vertical of the online store: studying a certain product, reading reviews or watching a video review, adding an item to the cart.

Of course, to draw a clear line between the two groups is extremely difficult, because those interested may not be able to go to the action, and some of those who intend to buy the product, purposefully go to your online store and immediately move to the registration of the purchase (perhaps the decision to buy from you was formed a long time ago, or maybe just the proposal was the most attractive among competitors).

The analysis of this stage consists of an estimation:

Behavior of users on the entire web resource. The main task is to understand what the target audience does, how long it takes on pages, etc. Google Analytics and Magento SEO Suite will help you with this. Thanks to the tags and goals it is possible to build the entire path of visitors to the site.

User behavior on certain pages. The main task is to understand why the target audience acts like this, how it perceives (literally – sees) the online store, how it interacts with its components.

To understand the user’s behavior in the entire sales funnel, the following data should be collected:

  • Entry and exit pages;
  • The route of visitors to the site;
  • Amount of time spent on the site;
  • Actions of the target audience both on the whole site and on a separate page;
  • Click map – definition of the most clickable elements of the site. It is especially important to analyze the map of clicks of the most popular pages;
  • Scrolling map – to calculate how the attention of the visitor is distributed on the page.

As a result of the analysis you will get a map of user behavior (or the entire target audience, or, if desired, a more detailed ー segmented into groups). If during the analysis it turns out that there are no obstacles or errors on the way to purchase ー it does not necessarily mean that there is no need to change anything on the site.

Step 3: Analysis of key actions

Key actions are those that bring a visitor closer to the main purpose of ー buying a product or ordering a service. However, this often includes actions that allow creation of feedback (obtaining leads).

Here is a list of key actions to be taken into account:

  • The number of targeted activities performed (registration, subscription, inclusion of notifications);
  • Quantity and quality of collected leads;
  • Calculation of the cost of attracting 1 lead;
  • The number of visitors who have moved on to checkout;
  • Number of calls (or other requests to managers for advice);
  • Number of payments received;
  • Average online store receipt;

As a result, you will see a list of actual indicators for key actions.

Separately, you need to calculate how much you justify the investment in marketing in digital marketing solutions. To get more accurate data, it is better to analyze the funnel by user segments and traffic channels.

Stage 4: Post-purchase analysis

It would seem that the main goal has been achieved, having received payment and calculated the investments made in marketing. But, having made a sale, it is necessary to take care of the further retention of the client.

It is necessary to pay attention to:

  • Quantity and quality of received responses (directly in the online store);
  • Quantity and quality of the recommendations left (on other platforms);
  • Registration/subscriptions to mailing lists;
  • Customer Lifecycle Index  – that is, how long the customer will be coming back to you and buying again.

Buying a product or ordering a service should not be the final chord in the sales funnel. On the contrary, from now on you will be able to build a lasting relationship with the customer. The cost of retaining customers is much lower than attracting new ones. Especially since regular customers are often another great source of attracting new customers.

Conclusion

It’s no secret that the sales funnel analysis should be done systematically. But it is especially important to conduct it before and after the large-scale marketing campaigns. Comparing the received reports, you will see the changes that have occurred over a certain period.

Starting the independent analysis of the sales funnel, it is worth remembering the main objectives: to optimize the behavior of online store users, eliminate obvious and hidden errors, as well as creating the necessary conditions for comfortable shopping and the desire of the client to return to you for purchases.