Funnel
A funnel is the steps a customer moves through from awareness to purchase — and a tool for finding where most of them drop off along the way.
What is a funnel?
A funnel — also called a sales funnel or conversion funnel — describes the steps a potential customer moves through from first contact to purchase. It is called a funnel because the number of visitors narrows at each step: many land on the page, fewer add to cart, and fewer still complete the purchase. The model is often split into top, middle, and bottom (TOFU/MOFU/BOFU), matching awareness, consideration, and decision.
Why does a funnel matter?
A funnel makes it visible where in the customer journey you lose the most people. Instead of guessing, you can measure drop-off step by step and prioritize the fix that closes the biggest gap. If 100 visitors turn into 3 purchases, the funnel tells you whether the problem is the product page, the cart, or the checkout itself. That is the core of conversion optimization: find the weakest step, fix it, and measure the effect.
Common use cases
- Measuring drop-off: map sessions → added to cart → reached checkout → completed purchase to find the biggest leak.
- Reducing cart abandonment: bottom-of-funnel drop-off is often the largest, with average cart abandonment rates around 70%.
- Building campaigns: match message and offer to top, middle, and bottom stages instead of hard-selling to cold visitors.
- Prioritizing CRO tests: use the funnel’s numbers to decide which step a split test should target first.
Shopify perspective
Shopify’s built-in analytics include an “online store conversion” report that shows the funnel as sessions → added to cart → reached checkout → completed purchase. Use it to see where customers drop off before investing in apps or a redesign. Keep in mind that the checkout is the bottom of the funnel and is locked on standard plans; deeper customization happens through Checkout Extensibility and has historically required Shopify Plus.