Conversion
How to measure your e-commerce funnel and find the leak
Measure the share of shoppers who move from landing to product page, to cart, to checkout and to order, and split each step by device, channel and new or returning visitors. Then multiply each step's drop-off by the number of shoppers who reach it. The step with the biggest result is where your store loses the most sales.
By the MoraLab team · Updated · 2 min read
The five steps to measure
GA4, Shopify and WooCommerce can all show these steps once purchase events are set up correctly.
| Funnel step | What to measure | A big drop here usually means |
|---|---|---|
| Landing → product view | Share of sessions that view at least one product | The ad or landing page promises something the store doesn't show, or navigation fails |
| Product view → add to cart | Add-to-cart rate per product | The product page doesn't answer the buying questions, or the price is off |
| Cart → checkout started | Share of carts that start checkout | Surprise costs, no delivery date, or the cart used as a wishlist |
| Checkout started → order | Checkout completion rate | Forced accounts, long forms, missing payment methods, errors |
| Order → repeat order | Repeat purchase rate | The product or delivery disappointed, or there is no reason to return |
Split the numbers before you read them
Split every step by device (phone, computer, tablet), traffic source (paid search, social, organic, email, direct) and new versus returning visitors. A store with a healthy desktop checkout and a broken mobile one shows an average that only looks mediocre, and the fix is never found by looking at the average.
Find the biggest leak
Multiply each step's drop-off by the number of shoppers who reach it. A 30% drop on a step 10,000 people reach is a bigger opportunity than a 60% drop on a step 500 people reach. Start with the biggest number, then use our guide to why shoppers don't buy to work out what is going wrong there.
Frequently asked questions
Why did my conversion rate drop when my traffic grew?
New traffic, especially from broad social campaigns, is less ready to buy than returning visitors or search traffic. Orders can rise while the rate falls. Compare the rate and revenue per session by channel before you decide the store got worse.
Which tool should I use to measure the funnel?
The one you already have. GA4's e-commerce reports and the reports in Shopify and WooCommerce all show the steps. What matters is that purchases are tracked correctly and match your real orders.