# What is Conversion Funnel?

What is Conversion Funnel? The stages a customer moves through from discovering a product to purchase: awareness → interest → consideration → intent →…

## How it works in practice

The conversion funnel is the 'map' of the purchase journey. In a healthy business, as many people as possible enter the funnel and as few as possible drop off at each stage. When a funnel is broken, it's usually at one specific stage. Funnel analysis points exactly to where to invest.

## Related metrics

- TOFU/MOFU/BOFU — the funnel's stages
- Funnel Analysis — analyzing the funnel in GA4
- CRO — optimizing every stage
- Attribution — attribution by funnel stage

## Common misconception

'The funnel is linear.' Customers jump between stages — entering in the middle, moving to the top, going back to the bottom. Don't assume the journey is a straight line. Retargeting works precisely because customers exit the funnel and can be brought back.

## How to fix it

Funnel 'broken' at a specific stage? (1) GA4 → Explore → Funnel Exploration, (2) identify the biggest drop-off stage, (3) heatmaps + session recordings for that stage, (4) A/B test targeted fixes. Don't fix lower stages before fixing the problem stage.

## Real-world example

Shoe store: 5,000 visits → 1,200 product pages (a 76% drop from the homepage!) → 400 ATC → 160 checkout → 90 purchases. The biggest drop: homepage to product page. Fix: clearer navigation + a prominent search bar → 2,100 reached the product page → 2.3x purchases.

## Where to start

Map the conversion funnel in GA4 before any optimization. 30 minutes → you know where the biggest problem is. This prevents 'fixing the fence in the wrong field' when the real issue is at the top of the funnel.

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Category: Marketing · From the [Jimmy OS KPI Glossary](https://jimmy-os.com/glossary/kpi.md) · Source page: https://jimmy-os.com/glossary/kpi/conversion-funnel