Funnel Design Validation

Funnel Design Validation shows how sessions moved through and around a selected conversion path.

It combines the configured funnel steps with observed page journeys so you can see:

• Which channels brought sessions into the path.
• Whether sessions followed the intended sequence.
• Which other pages they explored.
• Whether they returned to the funnel.
• Where the observed session ended.

This is a behavioural journey report. It is not an attribution total and it does not replace the step-count funnel in Conversion Path Flow.

Before you begin

Funnel Design Validation needs:

1. Interaction tracking installed and enabled for the website.
2. Relevant pages added in Manage Session Tracking.
3. A conversion path with ordered steps.
4. Conversion zones assigned to the relevant steps.
5. Recorded sessions that entered the path.
6. Completed conversion, pageview and funnel background processing.

Select both a website and a conversion path before using the report.

Choose the reporting scope

The report follows the main Conversion dashboard filters and adds its own Channel and Device controls.

Date range

The date range selects sessions whose recorded entry into the path falls within the chosen period.

The report uses UTC-aligned date boundaries so the entrant, pageview and conversion-event windows remain consistent.

Detailed detours depend on retained pageview data. An older period can therefore contain durable path entrants while offering less detailed page-by-page journey evidence.

Website

Choose the website containing the conversion path.

The website must belong to the active workspace and be available to your account. Data from different websites is never combined.

Conversion path

Choose the path whose intended design you want to validate.

The selected path must belong to the selected website. Its configured step order supplies the main funnel lane shown in the diagram.

Campaign

Choose all campaigns, a named campaign or the no-campaign segment.

• A named campaign includes entrant sessions associated with that exact UTM campaign during the reporting period.
• No campaign includes sessions with no non-empty campaign value during the reporting period.

Campaign filtering is session-based.

Audience

The audience options are:

• Prospects — sessions not marked as authenticated.
• Identified Visitors — sessions marked as authenticated.
• All Traffic — both groups.

Audience status is separate from Cookie or Cookieless identity.

Channel

Use the local Channel selector to restrict the diagram to entrant sessions whose first available attributed channel matches the selected channel.

The Channel control is available when the website uses Cookie tracking and attributed touch data is available. It is hidden in Cookieless mode because a reliable attributed entry channel is unavailable.

Later touches do not overwrite the session’s entry channel.

Device

Use the local Device selector to show Desktop, Mobile or Tablet entrant sessions.

Device labels are normalised so common variants such as mobile-page or desktop-page are grouped under the appropriate device.

Read the diagram

The diagram is organised around the ordered steps of the selected path.

Entry Channel

An Entry Channel node represents the first available attributed channel for the entrant session.

Entry Channel is context for how the session arrived. It does not assign conversion credit or prove that the channel caused the subsequent behaviour.

Funnel Step

A numbered Funnel Step is one of the ordered steps configured in Manage Conversions.

Accepted conversion events are authoritative. Only events that actually advanced the selected path are used as completed funnel-step events. A click that matched a conversion zone but did not advance the path is excluded.

This prevents an out-of-sequence click from appearing as a false jump to a later step.

Explored page

A page outside the configured path shows where sessions went after entering the funnel.

Only the most common explored pages are shown individually for each departure point. Additional pages may be grouped into a summary node to keep the diagram readable.

Untracked Page

An Untracked Page is a page observed in the session journey that is not currently recognised as a tracked page for the selected website.

This can indicate:

• A page that should be added to Manage Session Tracking.
• A URL-normalisation mismatch.
• An old or removed page.
• An external or otherwise unsupported destination.

Returned to Funnel

A return node and dashed return flow show that the session explored elsewhere and later returned to a recognised funnel step.

Returning does not necessarily mean the visitor completed the path. It only confirms that the observed session re-entered the configured funnel.

End of observed session

The final node means no later qualifying transition was available in the observed session data.

It does not prove that the visitor permanently abandoned the business or never converted later. In Cookie mode, a later visit may be connected elsewhere in Wheremore’s durable conversion and attribution reporting, but this diagram remains a session-level view.

Nodes and paths

The session count on a node shows how many selected sessions visited that node.

Path width shows relative recorded flow between nodes. It is intended to make common routes easier to recognise; it is not an attribution allocation or a revenue measure.

Select or focus a node to inspect the available details.

Read the summary

The summary divides the selected entrant-session sample into four behavioural groups.

Linear

The session entered a recognised funnel step and no off-path page was observed afterwards.

Linear does not necessarily mean that every configured step was completed. It means the observed route did not leave the recognised funnel.

Explored and returned

The session visited at least one page outside the configured funnel and later returned to a recognised funnel step.

This can indicate useful supporting content, hesitation, comparison behaviour or a confusing diversion. Review the actual pages before deciding whether the detour is helpful or harmful.

Abandoned

The session left the recognised funnel and no return was observed before the session ended.

This is behavioural abandonment of the observed path, not proof that the person never converted later.

No observed flow

Wheremore has a valid path-entry record for the session but does not have enough accepted conversion or pageview activity after that entry to classify its route.

Possible reasons include:

• The entrant was backfilled from previously processed interaction evidence.
• Detailed pageview data is no longer retained for the selected period.
• Background processing has not completed.
• The session ended immediately after the recorded entry.
• The entry URL or step mapping cannot be resolved reliably.

This category keeps the four percentages reconcilable rather than silently leaving part of the entrant cohort unexplained.

Sampling on busy paths

To protect dashboard performance, Funnel Design Validation analyses the most recent 5,000 matching entrant sessions.

When more sessions match the filters, Wheremore displays a notice showing:

• The number of matching entrants.
• The number included in the diagram.
• That the diagram represents the most recent sample.

The diagram and its four summary percentages then describe the sampled sessions, not the complete matching population.

Use the aggregate Conversion dashboard reports when you need complete totals over a high-volume period.

Cookie and Cookieless behaviour

The core funnel, exploration, return and abandonment analysis is session-based and works in both tracking modes.

Cookie tracking

When Cookie tracking and attribution touches are available:

• Entry Channel nodes can be displayed.
• The Channel filter can be used.
• Other attribution reports may connect activity across visits.

The diagram still follows individual sessions. Cookie tracking does not make it a cross-device report.

Cookieless tracking

In Cookieless mode:

• Each session remains independent.
• Funnel steps, explored pages, returns and observed exits can still be shown.
• Entry Channel attribution and the local Channel filter are hidden.

Funnel Design Validation versus Conversion Path Flow

The two reports use the same configured conversion path but answer different questions.

Conversion Path Flow

• Uses a fixed entrant cohort.
• Counts how many entrant sessions recorded each ordered step.
• Shows progression and step-to-step loss.
• Is best for identifying which configured step loses the most sessions.

Funnel Design Validation

• Reconstructs observed session routes.
• Adds entry channels and pages outside the configured path.
• Shows detours, returns and observed exits.
• Is best for testing whether the funnel’s design reflects how people actually navigate.

Use Conversion Path Flow to locate the loss. Use Funnel Design Validation to understand the route around it.

Recommended workflow

1. Select the website, path and date range.
2. Start with all campaigns, audiences, channels and devices.
3. Check whether the report is sampled.
4. Compare Linear, Explored and returned, Abandoned, and No observed flow.
5. Identify the most common off-path pages.
6. Decide whether each detour supports the conversion decision or distracts from it.
7. Compare devices and channels where available.
8. Open Session Replay for representative sessions.
9. Use Page Engagement to inspect clicks and attention on the departure page.
10. Update the path, page design, internal links or conversion zones where the evidence supports a change.

Common patterns

Many sessions explore one supporting page and return

The page may provide information needed before conversion. Consider incorporating that information into the funnel or making the return route clearer.

Many sessions leave for one page and do not return

The page may be a distraction, an unintended exit, or a necessary step missing from the configured path.

A configured step has little incoming flow

Check:

• The previous step’s calls to action.
• The step order.
• The page assignment.
• Conversion-zone selectors.
• Device-specific zone configuration.

No observed flow is high

Try a more recent date range and allow background processing to finish. Confirm that the relevant pages remain tracked and that the path’s entry step maps to the expected page.

One device behaves differently

Use Page Engagement and Session Replay for that device. A responsive-layout difference may move, hide or alter the relevant conversion element.

Limitations

Funnel Design Validation:

• Does not prove why a visitor chose a route.
• Does not assign marketing attribution or revenue.
• Does not reliably identify the same person across devices.
• Does not treat a non-advancing zone match as completed path progress.
• Cannot always distinguish between repeated funnel steps that use the same webpage from pageviews alone.
• Shows only the most common off-path pages individually.
• Can use a recent-session sample on high-volume paths.
• Depends on retained pageview data for detailed detours.
• Is not updated in real time.

Troubleshooting

Select a website or conversion path

• Choose a website in the Conversion dashboard filters.
• Choose a path belonging to that website.
• Confirm the active workspace is correct.

No flow data is available

Check that:

• The selected dates overlap recorded activity.
• The path has ordered steps.
• Relevant steps have working conversion zones.
• Interaction tracking is enabled.
• Relevant pages are included in Manage Session Tracking.
• Campaign, audience and device filters are not excluding the sessions.
• Background conversion, pageview and funnel processing has completed.

The Channel filter is missing

The selected website may be using Cookieless tracking. Entry-channel filtering requires Cookie tracking and processed attribution-touch data.

An expected step is missing

• Confirm the zone is assigned to the correct path and step.
• Confirm the event advanced the path rather than merely matching a zone.
• Test the zone selector for the affected device.
• Confirm the step uses the expected webpage.

A page is marked as untracked

Add the page in Manage Session Tracking or check whether its stored URL differs because of protocol, www , query strings, fragments or trailing slashes.

The figures differ from another conversion report

Confirm whether the other report measures:

• Sessions, visitors, events or conversions.
• A complete population or a recent sample.
• Completed path steps or all zone matches.
• Attribution totals or behavioural navigation.

Funnel Design Validation is a sampled session-level behavioural report and should not be expected to equal attribution or revenue totals.

Recent activity is missing

Allow the conversion, pageview and funnel processes to complete, then reload the dashboard.