Automating Journey Detection: Why Manual Funnels Fail

The "Manual Funnel" is a lie we tell ourselves to feel in control.

You open your analytics tool and define a funnel:

1. Step 1: Landing Page
2. Step 2: Sign Up
3. Step 3: Value

You look at the conversion rate. 20%. Not bad. But what about the other 80%? Did they all leave? No. They just went off-road.

The "Real" User Journey

In reality, a user journey is a chaotic graph: Landing Page -> Pricing -> Blog -> Sign Up -> Error -> Sign Up -> Help Doc -> Value.

If you force this data into a 3-step funnel, you lose all the context of why they slowed down.

The Limitations of "Happy Path" Modeling

Most product managers only model the Happy Path. They optimize the shortest distance between two points. But if 60% of your users are taking a detour through the "Documentation" page, that detour is part of your product. You should know about it.

Using Algorithms, Not Guesses

Tivalio uses Algorithmic Journey Detection (Process Mining). Instead of you telling us the steps, we look at the raw event stream between Signup and Value.

We ask the data: "What are the most common nodes visited by successful users?"

We often discover Hidden Steps:

• Observation: "Wow, 40% of users who activate quickly visit the 'Templates' page first."
• Insight: The Templates Viewed event is a critical accelerator.
• Action: Put Templates in the main onboarding flow.

Let the Data Draw the Map

Stop guessing what the journey "should" be. Let the actual behavior of your users draw the map for you. You will find that your product has "Desire Paths"—shortcuts users have invented themselves. Pave those paths.