Google Analytics Funnel is Not Reporting

Question

I'm having a problem with Google Analytics with the funnel report. Currently I'm tracking transactions but my funnel report is showing that no one is entering the funnel. I have a tricky set up.

1) We are using a third party vendor to run our shopping cart and ordering process they want their tracking code on the site and we want ours.

For example:

_gaq.push(
 ['_setAccount', 'UA-10187XXX-1'], // OurDomain.com GA property ID
 ['_setDomainName', '.OurDomain.com'],
 ['_setAllowLinker', true],
 ['_setAllowHash', false],

 ['_trackPageview', '/customer_shopping_cart_funnel/personal_info_customer.html'],

 ['b._setAccount', 'UA-12670XXX-3'] // vendors GA property ID

 , ['b._trackPageview', '/customer_shopping_cart_funnel/personal_info_customer.html']

);

2) Once someone enters the ordering process some of the urls do not change. I tried using _trackPageView like this:

// example for each step
['_trackPageview', '/customer_shopping_cart_funnel/step1.html']
['_trackPageview', '/customer_shopping_cart_funnel/step2.html']
['_trackPageview', '/customer_shopping_cart_funnel/step3.html']
['_trackPageview', '/customer_shopping_cart_funnel/order_confirmation.html']

3) This is how the funnel should go:

• User lands on page to chose country for ordering process
• User enters shopping cart
• User selects products (User is able to visit multiple products)
• User enters in buying information
• User reviews order and submits order
• Order confirmation page

The problem I have is that we need to track from the page that shows the flags, but within the shopping experience they can move around to several pages.

With the funnel, from what I understand, you need to specifically list all of the steps. What I did is assigned each product page the same _trackPageView value so the step was always the same.

What can I do here to get the funnel to report correctly?

Answer 1

Are you able to track these pages in other reports? If so, I imagine the problem is with how your goal funnel is set up.

Ensure the URL's you've set for each step are correct, and match just as they are listed in your reports. If you're using a profile filter to change how URL's are shown in your reports, make sure to take that into account. It might also be a good idea to mark the flag page as being a required step, as well.

As for specifically listing all of the steps of a funnel, the pageviews that take place during the visits do not have to match the exact sequence of the funnel to count towards the funnel and goal.

As an example, lets say your funnel is step1 > step2 > step3 > order_confirmation.

A sequence of page views including additional pages not specified in the funnel, such as, step1 > step2 > step3 > contact_us > order_confirmation, will still count toward the goal funnel.

Additionally, as long as the first page of the funnel was viewed prior to reaching the goal, Google Analytics will artificially backfill the missed pages to have at least as many views as subsequent ones.

Using the same example funnel as above, visiting the pages step1 > step3 > order_confirmation will still count as meeting the funnel goal, even though step2 was skipped. And, step2 will be "backfilled" as having been viewed even though it wasn't.

Thus, Google Analytics will display any visit that includes a pageview of step1 prior to a pageview of order_confirmation as matching every step of every funnel that has step1 as the first step and order_confirmation as the Goal URL. This means that assigning each product page the same _trackPageView value is unnecessary for the goal funnel to track properly.