Funnels

What are funnels?

Funnels let you define a sequence of steps that represent a conversion path on your site. For example, a signup flow might look like: Homepage → Pricing page → Signup page → Thank-you page. Abner tracks how many visitors complete each step and shows you exactly where people drop off.

Unlike goals (which track a single action), funnels track a sequence of actions. Steps must happen in order within the same session, but visitors can do other things between steps — only the ordering matters.

Creating a funnel

To create a funnel:

1. Open the dashboard for the site you want to configure.
2. Scroll down to the Funnels section (below Goals).
3. Click + Add funnel.
4. Enter a funnel name (e.g. "Signup flow" or "Checkout process").
5. Define your steps (minimum 2, maximum 8). For each step:
   • Give the step a descriptive name (e.g. "Visited pricing").
   • Choose the step type: Pageview or Custom Event.
   • For pageview steps, enter the URL path and select a match type (exact or contains).
   • For custom event steps, enter the event name exactly as sent from your code.
6. Click Create Funnel.

Your funnel appears immediately on the dashboard and starts showing data for the selected date range.

Step types

Pageview steps

Pageview steps match when a visitor loads a page whose URL path matches your pattern. Two matching modes are available:

• Exact match — The path must match exactly. /pricing matches only /pricing.
• Contains match — The path must contain the string anywhere. /blog matches /blog, /blog/post, etc.

Custom event steps

Custom event steps match when your site fires a specific event. Enter the event name exactly as sent via the Abner JavaScript API. See the Custom Events documentation for details.

You can mix pageview and custom event steps in the same funnel. For example: Visit /pricing (pageview) → Click "Start trial" (custom event) → Visit /signup (pageview) → Signup completed (custom event).

Reading the funnel chart

Each funnel displays a bar chart on your dashboard. Here's what the numbers mean:

Bar colors shift from deep purple (first step) to lighter shades as conversion rates decrease, giving you a quick visual indicator of where the biggest drop-offs occur.

How funnel matching works

Abner uses sequential matching within each visitor session:

• Steps must occur in order within the same session.
• Visitors can perform other actions between funnel steps — only the sequence matters.
• Each visitor is counted once per funnel (unique visitors, not total events).
• A visitor who reaches step 3 is also counted in steps 1 and 2.

Example: SaaS signup funnel

Here's a typical funnel for tracking a SaaS signup flow:

Deleting a funnel

Hover over a funnel card on the dashboard and click the × button that appears in the top-right corner. You'll be asked to confirm before the funnel is deleted. Deleting a funnel does not delete any underlying analytics data — only the funnel definition is removed.

Tips

• Start broad, then narrow. Begin with 2–3 steps to validate the flow, then add intermediate steps to pinpoint where visitors get stuck.
• Use contains match for flexible paths. If your pricing page has subpaths like /pricing/pro and /pricing/enterprise, use a contains match on /pricing to capture all of them.
• Combine with goals. Use funnels to understand the flow and goals to track the final conversion. Together they give you both the "how many" and the "where do they drop off."
• Date range matters. Funnel data reflects the currently selected date range on the dashboard. Try different time windows to spot trends.