How to Build and Analyse Conversion Funnels

The Funnels feature in SourceLoop answers a question the dashboards can’t: “Of the people who entered our pipeline at step A, how many actually reached step B, then C, then converted, and where exactly are we losing them?”

The Traffic and Revenue report tells you channel totals. The Content report tells you which pages got the most visits. Funnels tell you the literal progression of visitors through a sequence of steps, and the percentage who drop out at each one.

This guide covers everything: how to build a funnel, how to read the two report views (Overview and Breakdown), how to compare periods, the settings that change how steps are counted, and the common patterns marketers use them for.

What a funnel actually is in SourceLoop

A funnel is an ordered sequence of conditions. The classic four-step lead funnel looks like:

Step	Condition
1	Visitor lands on /pricing
2	Visitor lands on /signup
3	Visitor submits the signup form
4	Visitor reaches /dashboard/welcome (account created)

SourceLoop counts every unique visitor who matches step 1, then checks how many of them also matched step 2, then step 3, then step 4, in order. The numbers fall as you go down the steps. That falloff is the drop-off, and the percentage who reach the final step is the conversion rate.

What you’ll get from a funnel

In one screen:

• Conversion rate from step 1 to the final step, the headline metric
• Per-step drop-off counts and percentages, the diagnostic detail
• Median time from step 1 to each subsequent step (how long does each transition take?)
• A visual chart showing the funnel collapsing from step to step
• A breakdown by channel, source, country, device, etc., so you can see which segments convert better
• Period-over-period comparison, did this funnel improve or regress since last quarter?

Funnels are the right tool when:

• You suspect a specific step in your conversion journey is leaking, but you don’t know where
• You ran an A/B test on a step and want to measure its impact end-to-end
• You’re trying to compare conversion rates across channels for the same journey
• You need to show stakeholders a clear before/after when you changed a landing page or form

Step 1: Build a funnel

1. Sign in to SourceLoop.
2. Click Funnels in the left sidebar.
3. Click New funnel at the bottom of the funnels list, or Create your first funnel if you have none yet.

The Create funnel drawer opens with four numbered sections.

Section 1: Name the funnel

Give it a name you’ll recognise in the list, such as “Pricing → Signup → Activated” or “Demo request to closed-won”.

Section 2: Add the steps

Each step is one thing the visitor must do. There are three kinds:

Step type	Matches	Example
Page view	A page or pattern on your site	/pricing or /blog/*
Event	An event your site sends, optionally narrowed to one element	form_submitted, or a click on “Start now”
Revenue	A payment or subscription event from your billing tool	Trial started, Subscription started, Trial converted to paid

For each step, pick the type, the match (such as equals, starts with, or contains), and the value, and give it a friendly name if you like. Mark a step as Optional step when people can skip it.

Section 3: Choose an audience (optional)

Click Add filter to narrow every step to a slice of traffic, such as mobile visitors only or paid traffic only.

Section 4: Configure the settings

Setting	Options	When to change
Count unique	Per visitor (anonymous ID), Per session, Per identified user	Per session when the funnel should be completed in one visit. Per identified user to follow people after they sign in or fill a form.
Step order	Sequential (in order), Any order	Any order when the steps don’t have to happen in a set order.
Conversion window	Empty for no limit, or a number of days, under Advanced options	Set it to require completion within, say, 7 days.

Click Create funnel. SourceLoop computes it against your existing data straight away.

Step 2: Read the Overview report

Open a funnel from the list on the left and you land on the Overview tab. Set the date range and, if you want, a comparison at the top right.

The chart

Each step shows how many visitors reached it and their share of everyone who entered. The shaded band between steps shows who dropped off, with the drop-off rate, the step conversion from the previous step, and the median time it took. The first step is the Entry point and the last shows the Completion rate.

The step table

Column	What it shows
Step	Step name and position
Definition	The condition, such as a URL pattern or event name
Visitors	How many reached this step
% of entered	Share of everyone who reached the first step
Step conversion	Share of the previous step who reached this one
Drop-off	Share and number who left at this step

The biggest drop-off is usually your weakest step and the best place to start improving.

Step 3: Compare two periods

Use the comparison menu next to the date range to put the same funnel against an earlier period: vs previous period, vs 30 days earlier, or vs a year earlier. Each step then shows its change, so you can see whether last month’s changes improved conversion.

What to look for:

• Completion rate up or down: the headline answer
• Per-step shifts: a step that improved can hide one that got worse
• Entry volume: a higher completion rate sometimes means better-qualified traffic rather than a better funnel

Step 4: Break the funnel down by dimension

The Breakdown tab is the most powerful view for diagnosis. It splits the funnel by a dimension you pick, channel, source, country, device, browser, etc., so you can see how conversion differs across segments.

1. Click the Breakdown tab.
2. Pick a dimension: traffic source (channel, source, medium, campaign, referrer), location (country, region, city), device (device type, browser, operating system), or site (hostname).
3. Pick an attribution model from the model selector. The default is the workspace default (usually Last Non-Direct, matching Google Analytics).
4. SourceLoop shows a table with one row per dimension value (e.g., one row per channel), each with Entered, Completed, and Conv. rate columns.

Useful patterns:

• Channel with low Entered but high Conv. rate → small but efficient channel; consider investing more there
• Channel with high Entered but low Conv. rate → high traffic, weak fit; tighten targeting or the landing page
• Mobile rate meaningfully lower than Desktop on the same funnel → your mobile experience has friction; usually fixable with form simplification
• Conv. rate variation by country → either targeting issues, or localisation opportunities

Multi-model attribution in Breakdown

The Breakdown tab supports SourceLoop’s full set of attribution models. You can stack multiple models in the same view, so a single table can show Last Touch conversions alongside First Touch conversions alongside Linear conversions for the same channels in the same funnel.

The gap between Last Touch and First Touch credit for a channel = its assist value within this funnel. Useful for justifying top-of-funnel investment when defending budget. For more on the seven models, see 7 Types of Attribution Models.

Step 5: Manage funnels

The Funnels list page shows every funnel for the current website, with summary stats (Entered / Completed / Conv. rate) for the default date range.

For each funnel, the menu at the end of its row offers:

Action	What it does
Edit	Reopens the builder to change steps, name, audience, or settings
Delete	Removes the funnel for good, with no undo

You can also click Edit at the top right of an open funnel.

Common funnel patterns

A few funnels worth setting up early in your workspace:

Funnel	Steps
Lead capture funnel	Lands on /pricing → Lands on /signup → Submits signup form
Demo to closed-won	Submits demo form → Books meeting → Converts to paid
Blog to subscriber	Lands on /blog/* → Submits newsletter form
Trial activation	Signup completed → Lands on /dashboard/onboarding → Lands on /dashboard/(any feature)
Checkout funnel (ecommerce)	Lands on product page → Adds to cart → Reaches checkout → Payment complete

Once a funnel is set up, it computes against historical data automatically, so you can immediately see the last 30, 60, or 90 days of progression.

Counting, order, and conversion window in detail

These three settings often confuse first-time funnel users. A quick reference:

Count unique

Count unique	Counts	When to use
Per visitor	Unique anonymous IDs (the default)	Almost always; tracks the same person across sessions even before they identify themselves
Per session	Unique session IDs	When you want to measure a single-visit completion, e.g., “do they finish checkout without leaving?”
Per identified user	Unique user IDs (after identify call)	When tracking post-signup behaviour (in-product funnels)

Step order

Order mode	Behaviour	When to use
Sequential	Steps must occur in temporal order (the default)	Standard linear funnels: pricing → signup → activation
Any order	Steps can occur in any order, but all must occur within the window	Research funnels where order doesn’t matter; e.g., visit pricing + visit features + book demo, in any sequence

Conversion window

Setting	Behaviour
None (default)	No time limit, the funnel counts completions within the report’s date range
N days	Enforces that the visitor completes all steps within N days of step 1

A typical pattern: set a 7-day window for trial activation funnels (the visitor needs to activate within the trial period) but leave it unbounded for B2B sales funnels that span months.

What’s next

• Pick the right attribution model for the Breakdown tab: 7 Types of Attribution Models
• See channel-level traffic data: Traffic and Revenue report
• See landing-page-level data: Content report
• See the literal sequence of channels converters went through (instead of conditions you defined): Paths report