User Journeys

Visualize the paths users take through your product. While funnels measure step conversion, journey analysis reveals the unexpected routes users actually take.

Funnels vs journeys

	Funnel	Journey (Sankey)
Question	”Do users complete step A → B → C?"	"What paths do users actually take?”
Structure	Fixed steps you define	Discovered from event sequences
Best for	Conversion optimization	Discovery, unexpected behavior

Example: Onboarding path discovery

Go to Insights
Select User flow (Sankey) visualization
Start event: signup_completed
Depth: 4 steps
Range: Last 30 days

Reading the Sankey


signup_completed (100%)
  ├─ page_view /dashboard     62%
  ├─ page_view /settings      18%
  ├─ feature_used /import     12%
  └─ [exit]                    8%

The 8% immediate exit is worth investigating in Profiles.

Approach

Start with your entry event — signup_completed, product_viewed, or page_view
Set depth — 2–3 for quick discovery, 4–5 for full onboarding flows
Filter to a segment — plan = 'pro', $geo.country = 'US', or converted users only
Identify drop-off paths — paths that end without reaching your goal event

Use cases

Onboarding optimization — where do users abandon signup?
Feature discovery — which paths lead to activation?
Support triage — common paths before error events
Campaign attribution — do users from different channels take different paths?

Limitations

High-cardinality events produce noisy diagrams — filter to key pages
Very long sessions are truncated at the depth limit
Identity required — ensure identify() is called for cross-session paths

Funnel analysis — step conversion rates
Retention analysis — do users come back?
Profiles — individual user event history