Product Manager & CRO at Exactius
How to Analyze Digital Marketing Funnel Performance
Featuring the Funnel Overview Report
Hey there! Let me walk you through how I analyze marketing funnels using Violet. Whether you're new to CRO or a seasoned pro, I'll show you exactly how to get the insights you need to optimize your funnel performance.
Finding Your Way Around
First things first - head over to the Funnel Management section in your Violet dashboard. You'll find it at the bottom of your menu bar. There are two reports we'll be working with:
- Funnel Overview Report
- Landing Page Performance Report
These are your go-to tools for understanding what's happening in your funnel. Let's dive into how to use them.
Breaking Down the Funnel Overview Report
Average Cycle Days: Your Funnel's Speed Test
This is usually the first thing I look at because it tells such a clear story. Think of it as your funnel's stopwatch - it shows you how long people spend at each stage. Pretty neat, right?
You'll see a breakdown that might look something like this:
- Lead to Qualified Lead: 0.8 days
- Qualified Lead to Opportunity: 2.3 days
- Opportunity to Closed Deal: 5.1 days
The cool thing is you can switch between weekly, monthly, or quarterly views depending on what makes sense for your business. I usually start with weekly to spot any immediate issues, then zoom out to see the bigger picture.
KPI Tracking: Your Funnel's Vital Signs
This is where we track the numbers that really matter to your business. While every company's a bit different, you'll probably want to keep an eye on:
- Sessions (your website visitors)
- Leads (people who've shown interest)
- Qualified Leads (the good ones!)
- Opportunities (potential deals)
- Closed Deals (the money makers)
Pro tip: Don't just look at the numbers - watch how they change over time. That's where the real insights come from.
Trailing Funnel Conversions: Where the Magic Happens
This is honestly my favorite part of the report. It shows you two super important things:
The Raw Numbers: Just the straight-up count of people at each stage. Useful, but not the whole story.
Percentage Previous Step: This is where things get interesting. Let me give you a real example: Say you notice your session-to-lead conversion dropped from 1.6% to under 1%. That's the kind of thing that should make you sit up and ask, "Hey, what changed?" Maybe it's a landing page issue, maybe it's your traffic sources - but now you know where to look.
The Customer Funnel View: Your Bird's Eye View
This one's pretty straightforward but super useful. You've got two ways to look at it:
The Full Picture: Shows everything from sessions down. Sometimes this can look a bit wonky because sessions numbers are usually huge compared to everything else.
The Zoomed-In View: This is what I usually use - it takes leads as your starting point (100%) and shows you how things flow from there. Much easier to spot what's really going on in your funnel.
Making This Work for You
Here's how I suggest using all this information:
Keep a Regular Eye on Things I like to check these numbers at least weekly. It's like taking your funnel's temperature - you want to catch any issues before they become problems.
When You Spot Changes Ask yourself:
- Is this a seasonal thing? (Holiday seasons can mess with your numbers)
- Did we change something recently?
- Is this happening to everyone in our industry?
- Did we roll out any new processes?
Taking Action When you spot something that needs fixing:
- Figure out exactly where the problem is
- Come up with a plan to fix it
- Test your solution
- Keep watching the numbers to see if it worked
The Landing Page Piece
Once you're comfortable with the funnel overview, hop over to the Landing Page Performance Report. This is where you can:
- See how different pages are performing
- Track your costs (cost per lead, cost per deal, etc.)
- Spot your winners and losers
The Bottom Line
Remember, there's no "perfect" way to analyze your funnel. The key is to stay curious and keep asking questions when you see something interesting in the data. The more you use these reports, the better you'll get at spotting opportunities to improve your funnel.
Play around with different time periods, keep track of when you make changes, and always be testing. Before you know it, you'll be a pro at this!
Need any clarification on any of this? Let me know - I'm always happy to dig deeper into any part of the analysis process.
