Nope. That is not a dig at either William Shatner or one of my favorite analytic topics, the funnel. It’s just that both were epic in the day, then kind of dropped out for a while, and then came back, big time.
If you know me, I have all of the makings of a Star Trek fan (if you’ve read anything I’ve written, you get it). But I am not. I am not not a fan. I just never watched it (maybe because I wasn’t born when it was on), but I also have only seen a few episodes of the original series, and never other series or movies.
But I do know who William Shatner is. And I do know he is famous for his original role of Captain Kirk in the 60’s. BUT I more know him as the guy on T.J. Hooker (kind of), the guy in the Priceline commercials (definitely) and just being the iconic all around guy for many recent and recentish years.
Kind of like the funnel report. Yes, it’s been a ‘staple’ for decades now. But it kind of got boring – kind of was a ‘has-been’, if analytic reports can be has beens.
Good news. It’s back and better than ever. GA4 is the funnel report’s Priceline, well, at least, TJ Hooker.
So here are just a few highlights why I love the new William Shatner, um, I mean funnel report.
It’s so retro. Retroactive. You can look back in time with any new report you create (provided the pages/events existed at that time – come on, really, analytics are awesome, but they are not magic).
Open the party! Let anyone join the party at any time. You can ‘jump the line’ and start the funnel any one of the steps. Something tells me your funnel may not look so funnel-ey anymore.
You make the rules! Demand that one step immediately precedes the next. Or not. You pick and pick at each step. Something tells me your funnel is really not going to look so funnel-ey anymore.
Wait! Where did they go- The ‘Next Action’ lets you see what those losers, um abandoners, did when they left the funnel.
I feel fat. I need Photoshop – When one, or a few, steps are in proportionality bigger than the others, there is a Zoom button that ‘normalizes’ the view. There are options to easily understand the real data behind making those steps feel better.
Oh, and that is not even all. But that is a lot. And as Captain Kirk once said, “There’s No Such Thing As The Unknown, Only Things Temporarily Hidden.”
