#analytics#product#design

Funnel diagrams that actually help

Most funnel charts in dashboards are decoration. Three rules to make a funnel that triggers action.

Funnel diagrams that actually help

Funnel charts in dashboards usually show a sequence of steps with totals. Pretty, useless.

Funnel diagrams that actually help
A real activation funnel — each drop tells you where to dig.

What makes a funnel actually drive decisions:

  • Show drop percentages, not just totals. "30% drop from step 2 to 3" is actionable. "1242 → 869 users" is not.
  • Compare cohorts side by side. Last month vs this month. New users vs returning. Otherwise drops have no context.
  • Click into each drop. The funnel diagram is the entry point, not the answer. Each step needs a drill-down to session recordings.

Tools that get it right: Mixpanel, Amplitude, Posthog. Tools that mostly fail: Google Analytics, dashboards built by analysts in Looker.

Other articles
(01) Designing for retention vs acquisition Acquisition design wants to dazzle. Retention design wants to disappear. Most products optimise the wrong one. → (02) Liquid Glass on the web — is it worth copying the iOS 26 look Apple shipped Liquid Glass in iOS 26 and now everyone is porting it to web. Half of the attempts are old glassmorphism in a new wrapper. Here is what actually works. → (03) Designing onboarding that doesn't suck Most onboarding flows are tour bubbles wrapped around an empty UI. Three principles that actually drive activation. → (04) CRO beyond A/B tests — what big teams skip A/B testing is the obvious tool. Three less obvious moves that beat it on small samples. → (05) AI-generated images for ads — Midjourney, Sora, Flux A year of generative ads. Patterns that work and the visible AI smell that ruins campaigns. →