GA4 Funnel Exploration: How to Set It Up and Read It

This guide is built from Google's Analytics Help article on funnel exploration, plus the Help pages on custom funnel reports, segments and filters in explorations, the segment builder and getting started with explorations. For the other exploration techniques, data retention and sampling, see our guide to GA4 explorations.

What a funnel exploration shows

Google describes it as a way to "visualize the steps your users take to complete a task and quickly see how well they are succeeding or failing at each step." Its own examples are how prospects become shoppers and then buyers, and how one-time buyers become repeat buyers.

For a service business, the task is usually an enquiry: a visit to a service page, then the contact page, then the form's key event. The standard reports tell you how many forms were sent. A funnel shows how many people reached each step before that and which step loses the most.

Create one

1. Open Explore in the left menu.
2. Under Start a new exploration, click the Funnel exploration template.
3. Edit the steps (see below). Until you add your own steps, Google says you'll see "No data for this combination of segments, values, filters, and date range."
4. Choose a standard (stepped) or trended (line chart) visualization.

Like every exploration, a funnel can only look back as far as the property's data retention setting allows. Our guide to GA4 data retention explains the 2-month default and how to change it.

Funnel steps and conditions

"Steps define the user journey you want to measure. You can define up to 10 steps in the funnel." To add or edit them, click the edit pencil in Tab Settings, then:

• Name each step. Google asks for "a distinctive name", which is what you will read on the chart.
• Add conditions. A step can use events or dimension values. Google's examples are the dimension User acquired campaign equals "Summer Sale", or the purchase event with a parameter value of 100 or more. Use AND or OR to add clauses.
• No metrics. Google says: "You can't define funnel steps based on metrics."
• Indirectly or directly followed by. For each new step you choose how it follows the last one. "Steps that indirectly follow the previous step can have other intervening actions." "Steps that directly follow the previous step must occur immediately after the previous step."
• Within. Click Within to set a time frame in which the step must follow, for example a form sent within 30 minutes of viewing the contact page.

The Summary card on the right updates as you build, showing how your conditions match your data. To reorder steps, drag them in Tab Settings; the More menu copies, removes or adds steps above or below one.

Our reading: because a directly followed step must come immediately after the last one, an automatic event in between, such as a scroll, can be enough to drop a user. We use it only when we know nothing else fires between the two steps. Our guide to enhanced measurement lists the events GA4 can add on its own.

Open and closed funnels

The "Make open funnel" toggle decides how users can enter:

The "Good for" column is our reading, not Google's. Some rules apply to both types:

• Users are counted only in the steps they complete in order. "If the user misses a step, they fall out of the funnel and aren't counted in any subsequent steps."
• A user enters once. If someone completes the steps several times in the date range, "only the first sequence of steps will be reported."
• In a closed funnel, a user who starts mid-way and later reaches step 1 is counted from step 1, because closed funnels "look for the first instance of step 1 in the user event stream."
• In an open funnel, the same user enters at their first qualifying step. "If the user navigates back to step 1 after they have entered mid funnel, the action is ignored."

Google's example: four users meet steps A, B, C / B, C / A, C / C only. In an open A-B-C funnel all four are counted, but the user who did A then C is counted only at A, because they skipped B. In a closed A-B funnel only the users who started at A are counted.

Breakdown, elapsed time and next action

Breakdown

A breakdown dimension, such as Device category, splits each step into rows. Google notes that users "are only attributed to the first instance of the breakdown value that applies to them": someone who enters on mobile and finishes on desktop appears in every step, but only under mobile. In a trended funnel, users are attributed to the first date they were active in each step. Rows per dimension sets how many rows show.

Show elapsed time

This toggle shows the average time between steps: for each step, the time between the previous and the current step, summed and divided by the number of users who reached the current step. Only the first time a user completes a step counts. In Google's example, user 1 reaches step 2 after 10 seconds and user 2 after 20, so step 2 shows "(10s + 20s) / 2 = 15s".

Next action

Pick a dimension, such as Page title or Event name, to see the "Top 5 Next Actions" after each step. A "(no next action)" entry means a large share of users didn't move on. With page or screen dimensions, Google warns that it "doesn't always imply a drop-off"; the page title may simply not have changed as users moved to the next step.

Segments, filters and trended funnels

• Segment comparisons. Apply up to 4 segments, for example paid search users against organic users. The segment builder page says you can create up to 10 segments per exploration.
• Segments from the funnel. Right-click the data and choose "Create segment from selection", for example the users who reached the contact page but didn't send the form. The segments and filters page says you can use that segment to build an audience; see our guide to GA4 audiences.
• View users. The same right-click menu has View users, which opens the user explorer for the selection.
• Filters. Filters restrict the data in the tab. Google says that with multiple conditions, all of them must be met. The getting started page allows up to 10 filters per tab.
• Trended funnel. The line chart version shows how each step changes over the date range. You can see all steps at once or click a step name at the top to look at one.

Google's segment builder page also notes that user counts for the same sequence can differ slightly between paths, funnels, segments and audiences, because each "have optimizations that might not perfectly match." Small gaps between a funnel and another view are expected.

Save it as a funnel report

A funnel you check every month can live in the Reports section. Click Save as a report in the Library in the top right of the exploration, name it and save. Google lists what carries over: filters, step definitions, the open or closed type and the breakdown dimension. "Advanced edits (including elapsed time and next action) aren't saved to the report." After that, add it to a collection in the report library so it shows in the left menu.

Points from Google's funnel report page:

• You must be an Editor or Administrator to save it and add it to the navigation. See our guide to GA4 user permissions.
• The button is grayed out when segments are applied, more than 5 filters are used, a filter, dimension or operator isn't supported by Reports, or the funnel is trended rather than standard.
• The report is a copy. Changes to the exploration don't change the report, and the report itself can only be renamed, deleted or moved between collections. To change it, edit the exploration and save a new report.
• The report shows retention rate in each step's header and abandonment rate under each bar. Open funnels show stacked bars: users who started at that step on top, users who continued from the previous step below.
• It defaults to the last 28 days. A "Partial data shown for date range" warning means the range goes past the property's event data retention.

How we build funnels

This is our own practice, not Google guidance:

• We start with three or four steps that match a real path on the site: service or landing page, contact page, form start if it is tracked, form sent. Ten steps is the limit, not a target.
• We use indirectly followed by almost everywhere and add a Within limit only where a delay would mean a different visit's intent.
• We build the closed version first to see the journey we designed, then switch to open to see how many people skip the start.
• We break down by Device category, since a form that works on desktop and fails on phones shows up as one step losing far more mobile users.
• We turn the biggest drop-off into a segment and look at those users' pages in a free form exploration or a path exploration before changing the page.
• If the last step depends on a form event, we check it fires in DebugView first. A broken event looks like a broken funnel.

Frequently asked questions

How many steps can a GA4 funnel exploration have?

Up to 10. Each step can have one or more conditions based on events or dimension values, joined with AND or OR. Steps can't be based on metrics.

What is the difference between an open and a closed funnel in GA4?

In a closed funnel, users must enter at the first step. In an open funnel, they can enter at any step. In both, users are counted only in the steps they complete in order and enter the funnel once.

What does "directly followed by" mean in a GA4 funnel?

The step must happen immediately after the previous one, with nothing in between. "Indirectly followed by" allows other actions between the two steps.

Can I add a funnel exploration to the GA4 reports menu?

Yes, if you are an Editor or Administrator. Save it as a report in the Library, then add it to a collection. Trended funnels, funnels with segments and funnels with more than 5 filters can't be saved as reports.

Why does my funnel show "(no next action)"?

A large share of users at that step didn't continue, as measured by the next action dimension. With page or screen dimensions it can also mean the page title or screen didn't change between steps, so it is not always a drop-off.

For more on measurement, see our guides to GA4 basics, key events, the conversion paths report, ecommerce tracking and users vs sessions.