When you’re new to Mixpanel the funnel report can be challenging at first. Where other tools like Google Analytics never gave any flexibility to adjust the conversion window Mixpanel offers you absolute and total flexibility.
But what is the conversion window?The conversion window is the maximum amount of time we allow between the first and the last step of the funnel. If the funnel is completed without that window a funnel completion (aka conversion) will be counted. If the time to complete the funnel is larger than the conversion window no conversion will be counted. The user will be dropped off along the funnel.
In our example above we allow for a maximum time difference of 7 days between the first and the last step for a conversion to be counted.
If you’re a first-time Mixpanel user this can be daunting as you’re in total control of your funnel reporting and the metrics, such as conversion rate that go with it.
Most companies start by adopting the same conversion window they were used to in their previous tooling or make gut based assumptions to determine how to configure the conversion window. But what if I would tell you that there’s a report that can actually help you understand your time to convert better?
Finding the average time to convert
Note that the following configurations still require you to manually indicate a conversion window. It sounds quite paradoxical. Our recommendation would be to make it quite large. In the following examples we actually explore the following question:
“If we look at the total amount of conversions completed in a 7 day conversion window, what would be the average duration needed to convert?”.
It allows us to validate assumptions and zone in on setting our actual business relevant value.
Complete the following steps to identify your average time to conversion for a selected funnel:
Select a funnel report
Select a “funnel step” visualisation
In your funnel report select the gear at the top right
Select “average time from first step”
Your average time to completion from the first step is now visible in the table.
In our example it indicated 2.1 days.
Drilling deeper – A distribution of time to convert
The following report answers the question:
“If we look at the total number of conversions completed in a 7 day conversion window, what would the distribution of the duration be that was needed to convert?”.
What we are trying to understand here is where in the 7 days window the most funnel completions are completed. Does it take only 2 days? 3 days?
If you want more detailed insights on how what actual distribution of conversions broken down by time to convert looks like you can use the following report configuration:
Funnel report
Set the visualisation to bar chart
Select total conversions
In breakdown select “computed” and then “time to convert”
Selecting the three dots next to “time to convert” allows you to customise the bucket/intervals
Tick compare to overall
Where to go from here
The reports shared above should now give you a data-backed understanding of how long it would take to convert and allow for you to tweak your conversion window further to a value that represents business reality.
We can see that almost half of the 7 days conversions happen in only 24 hours. Meaning that the longer we open up the conversion window, the more we are being royal (and potentially less strict in ourselves) with conversion rates.
Furthermore these reports can be used in order to set targets for your product team in order to build faster converting funnels.
Need help? Feel free to reach out!
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