How to find where visitors leave

Write your funnel down as four to six steps

A funnel is the path a visitor takes from landing on your site to converting. Writing it down turns a vague worry into numbers you can compare. Keep it short; each step should be a page view or event you already track.

• Online store: product page, add to cart, start checkout, add shipping, add payment, order
• Med spa or clinic: treatment page, booking page, choose time, enter details, confirmed
• Café: menu page, add item, cart, checkout, order placed
• B2B or SaaS: landing page, pricing page, form started, form submitted

Numbers show where people leave, recordings show why

Use analytics to find the leaky step, then watch real sessions at that step to understand it. GA4's funnel exploration report shows how many people complete each step and where they drop. Look for the largest drop in absolute numbers, not just percentages.

Then open a behavior tool. Microsoft Clarity is free and offers session recordings, heatmaps and scroll maps; Hotjar is a common paid alternative. Filter recordings to visitors who reached the leaky step but did not finish. Watch for rage clicks, which are repeated taps on something that does not respond, dead clicks on things that look clickable but are not, and people scrolling up and down hunting for information.

Split every report by device and traffic source

A blended average hides most problems, so always compare mobile with desktop and one channel with another. A checkout might convert well on desktop and poorly on phones because a payment button sits below the keyboard. Paid social visitors often behave differently from people who searched for you by name.

Look at new versus returning visitors too. If returning visitors convert well but new ones do not, the problem is often trust or clarity, not the checkout itself.

Ask visitors directly

Short surveys give you reasons that no report can. A one-question survey on the leaky page, or right after purchase, is enough. Good questions are open and specific, such as 'What, if anything, nearly stopped you from ordering today?' or 'What information is missing from this page?'

Your team already holds answers too. Read recent support emails, chat transcripts, reviews and the questions staff hear on the phone. The same three or four worries usually come up again and again: price, shipping, sizing, timing or trust.

Check speed and errors at the leaky step

Slow pages and silent errors cause drop-offs that look like disinterest. Run the page through Google's PageSpeed Insights and check the Core Web Vitals report in Search Console. These measure loading speed (Largest Contentful Paint), how quickly the page responds to taps (Interaction to Next Paint) and how much the layout jumps around (Cumulative Layout Shift).

Then try to break the step yourself on a real phone. Use a discount code, pick an out-of-stock size, enter a phone number with spaces, choose express shipping. Errors that only appear in edge cases are common and easy to fix once found.