Funnel analysis for small teams

Teams tend to reach for this after something has already gone wrong. Most advice about funnel analysis assumes a team that does not exist at your size. Here is the version that does not.

Data you do not trust is worse than no data, because it gets quoted anyway. Budget a little time for it every quarter and it never becomes a project of its own.

What to keep

The biggest drop-off is the best place to work. That sounds obvious written down. It is still the thing most often skipped. Write the reasoning down alongside the decision, because the reasoning is what changes first.

What to drop

Process that exists to coordinate ten people is overhead when there are two of you. That sounds obvious written down. It is still the thing most often skipped.

The practical version

A leaky funnel wastes every pound of ad spend. Where this goes wrong is almost never a lack of knowledge. The practical test is whether someone new to the project could tell, in a minute, that it had been handled.

What this looks like day to day

Measurement is only useful when someone has agreed in advance what they would do differently. Three things worth confirming about funnel analysis before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• A leaky funnel wastes every pound of ad spend — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

None of this needs a rewrite. Most of it is a morning's work once someone decides to do it.