A GA4 funnel exploration shows you, step by step, where visitors give up on the way to becoming customers. If you used Universal Analytics, this replaces the old goals and funnel visualization, which stopped working when Universal Analytics was shut down. The new version is more flexible, and once you’ve built one funnel, the rest take minutes.
This guide walks through building a funnel, choosing open or closed, reading the results, and fixing the drop-offs it reveals.
Goals are gone: what replaced them
Universal Analytics had four goal types: destination, duration, pages per session and event. GA4 has one concept instead: events. Anything important becomes an event, and the events that matter most to the business are marked as key events (previously called conversions).
To mark one, go to Admin, then Events under Data display, and click the star next to the event. Google’s key events documentation notes you can mark up to 30 on a standard property.
The old “destination goal”, such as reaching a thank-you page, becomes either a form_submit event from enhanced measurement or a page_view event for that URL, marked as a key event. Duration and pages-per-session goals don’t have a direct replacement, and frankly they weren’t very useful. Engagement rate does that job better.
How to build a GA4 funnel exploration
- Open Explore in the left menu and choose the Funnel exploration template.
- In the Tab settings panel, click the pencil next to Steps.
- Add each step as a condition. A step can be an event (form_start), a page (page_view where page location contains /pricing) or a combination.
- Name each step clearly. “Viewed pricing” reads better in a report than “page_view 2”.
- Click Apply. GA4 draws the funnel with completion and abandonment rates for each step.
You can add up to 10 steps, according to Google’s funnel exploration guide. In practice, three to five steps tell a clearer story.
Open or closed funnel?
In a closed funnel, users must start at step one to be counted. In an open funnel, they can enter at any step. Use closed when you want to measure a defined journey, such as landing page to enquiry. Use open when people commonly skip ahead, for example returning visitors who go straight to the booking page.
One rule applies to both: users are counted only for steps they complete in order. Skip a step and they drop out of the funnel from that point.
A worked example: a lead-generation funnel
Say you run a consultancy and your site’s job is to generate enquiries. A sensible funnel might be:
| Step | Condition | Users (example) | Completion |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Landed on a service page | page_view, page path contains /services | 2,000 | 100% |
| 2. Viewed pricing | page_view, page path contains /pricing | 620 | 31% |
| 3. Started the form | form_start | 180 | 29% |
| 4. Submitted the form | form_submit | 54 | 30% |
These numbers are illustrative, but the shape is common. The biggest absolute loss is between steps 1 and 2: most people never reach pricing. That’s the step to work on first, perhaps with a clearer link to pricing from each service page, or with a starting price shown on the service page itself.
The drop from form start to form submit (70% abandon) points at the form. Count the fields. Remove anything you don’t need before the first call.
Features that make the funnel far more useful
- Breakdown. Add a dimension such as device category or country. If mobile users abandon the form at twice the desktop rate, you’ve found a layout problem, not a demand problem.
- Segment comparison. Compare up to four segments side by side, for example paid search against organic search, to see which traffic is more likely to finish.
- Elapsed time. Switch on “Show elapsed time” to see the average time between steps. A long gap before the form often means people are comparing you with competitors.
- Next action. Choose a dimension (page title works well) and GA4 shows the top five things users did after a step. It tells you where people wander off to instead of converting.
- Trended funnel. Switch the visualization to trended to watch completion rates over time. Useful after a redesign, to check the change actually helped.
Common mistakes
The GA4 funnel exploration shows nothing: usually the step conditions don’t match how the event is really recorded. Check the exact event names and page paths in the Realtime report first.
Numbers look too small: explorations only use data within your retention window. If retention is still at the default 2 months, change it to 14 months in Admin, then Data retention.
Every step shows the same count: the steps are probably firing on the same page load. Make sure each step is a distinct action.
Turn the funnel into a habit
Build the funnel once, save it, and check it every month alongside your weekly traffic review. A GA4 funnel exploration is the fastest way to find the one page or form costing you the most enquiries, and fixing that one step usually beats buying more traffic.