Multidimensional funnels

Multidimensional funnels are a great tool for answering the more advanced questions. For example, you may want to know if those that struggle to find spare parts are even visiting the right page.

To answer this, you create different steps in the funnel. For each step there are requirements. Those that fulfill the requirements move on to the next step, and those that do not are excluded.

This is how this funnel could be set up:

• Step 1: Looking for spare parts (based on the purpose question in the survey)
• Step 2: Struggled (based on the find question in the survey)
• Step 3: Visited the spare parts page (based on visited pages in analytics)
• Step 4: Used the contact form (based on goal in analytics)

From this funnel, you will be able to see where you are losing the visitors. It could be that they had no problem finding the right page, but while on that page they didn’t find the information about having to contact you for help. Or maybe you find that very few found the page, but those that did used the contact form.

Without the steps, it can be easy to misinterpret the data you have and assume that one thing is the problem when in reality the problem is something else. That’s why funnels are so useful.

However, funnels are no good if you don’t know how to create them or how to analyze them, so let’s look at that now.

Create funnels

You find the multidimensional funnels under “Advances tools/Funnels”.

Click on the button to create a new funnel.

Start by giving the funnel a name. Try to use a descriptive name, but you don’t have to explain every step. There will be descriptions of each step in the funnel too.

Next, select the website.

Now it’s time to add the steps. Start by editing the first one.

Give the step a title. This should be a description of the filters applied. For example, if you are filtering based on the purpose option “Spare parts”, the title can be “Looking for spare parts”. The title will also be visible in the funnel.

Also select the survey you want.

Note that you can only select survey versions or languages. You are technically selecting a displayed version. If you have more that one language and only want the filter to contain one of the languages, you need to add a filter for survey.

Then apply filters the same way you would when you create a new survey segment (which is explained in more detail in part 5). For this example, the filter needed is the option “Spare parts” from the purpose question.

Save the step and create all other steps you need.

Viewing funnels

Before looking at the funnel, there is a date setting for funnels too. In the top right corner, select the date range you are interested in. It works the same as the date range for the survey, and those settings are explained more in part 5.

Now, let’s look at the funnel. Although referred to as a funnel, the results are not yet displayed as a funnel. Instead, the steps are lined up next to each other in stacked bars.

The green is the visitors that fulfill the requirements, and the red is those that do not.

There is also grey for those that drop off, for example left the survey before answering a question in one of the steps.

For each step, you can also see how many have been filtered out from the previous steps.

However, it is optional to show the drop off and filtered out in the funnel. To hide, deselect the boxes under the funnel.

Now you will only see how many matched or didn’t match the requirements for each step.

Alright, there is less information in the funnel now, but how do you read what is left?

Looking at the funnel above, the first bar tells us that 38% of the visitors are looking for spare parts. Of them, 44% struggled to find what they were looking for. Of those that struggled, 73% visited the spare parts page. Of those that visited the spare parts page, 29% used the contact form.

This tells us that some of the visitors looking for spare parts struggled because they didn't find the right page. However, even when they did find the right page, less than a third used the intended contact form for getting spare parts. The low conversion rate could be because the form was too long or personal (for example focused more on who the customer is and less on the spare part needed), or because the form is easy to miss (for example placed far down on the page and hidden behind a light grey button that is easy to scroll by without noticing). 

This also gives us two action points. The first is to increase the conversion rate for the contact form, which could be done by moving the form and changing the design (for example). However, 100% of those looking for spare parts should visit the spare parts page, and therefore, maybe more links are needed on the website, perhaps one on every product page, and one easy to find on the home page.

Before we move on to the automatic reports, let’s look at some tips for combining modules.