Funnel Insights enable you to track how end users progress through specific processes in your application. Analyze these Insights and make data-driven improvements to reduce user friction and enhance the overall experience.
One metric tracked in a Funnel is the Average time, which represents the average duration users take to move from one step to the next. To understand the other metrics, see Understand Funnel Insights.
How Whatfix tracks Funnel progress
- First occurrence tracking: Whatfix only tracks the first time an end user performs each event in a Funnel.
- Sequential completion: Users must complete all previous steps in the specific order you set up to be counted in a Funnel step.
- Flexible progression: While steps must occur in order, other unrelated actions (such as Page views or other Custom events) can happen between Funnel steps without disqualifying the user.
How is Average time calculated?
The calculation of average time follows a two-tier approach:
At the step level, Whatfix records the timestamp of every action a user performs. The duration for a specific step is the time elapsed between the completion of one step and the start of the next one.
Example:
Consider a two-step process:
Step 1: Click "Create Quote"
Step 2: Add Products
| User | Time taken to move from Step 1 to Step 2 |
|---|---|
| User A | 5 minutes |
| User B | 10 minutes |
| User C | 15 minutes |
To get the average, Whatfix sums these durations and divides them by the number of users: (5+10+15)/3 = 10 minutes
How to view the step-level Average time?
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Funnel view:
When you hover your cursor over the dark-blue bar, a tooltip shows the Avg Time (Average time) taken between two steps.
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Table view:
Use the table view when you need to compare the Avg. time before next interaction across all steps simultaneously.
The Funnel's overall average time is determined by aggregating these step durations across all users:
Capture timestamps: Whatfix collects completion timestamps for every user as they progress.
Calculate total average: Whatfix sums the first instance of the time taken by each user to complete the process and divides it by the total number of users. If an end user performs the same process multiple times, Whatfix only considers the first instance for the calculation.
Example:
Consider you have a Funnel with three steps. Whatfix records how long each user took to get from Step 1 all the way to Step 3.
| User | Total Time Taken (Step 1 to Step 3) |
|---|---|
| User A | 20 minutes |
| User B | 35 minutes |
| User C | 50 minutes |
Whatfix calculates the total average by summing the individual completion times and dividing by the total number of users who finished the Funnel - (20+35+50)/3 = 35 minutes.
How to view the overall Average time?
View the Average under the Funnel view.
When you add the Select completion time to the Funnel, Whatfix uses the fastest timestamp for each user, resulting in the calculation of the fastest average time rather than the first instance of the time taken by the user to complete the Funnel.
Consider the following two scenarios with two users, User 1 and User 2 completing a Funnel:
Scenario 1:
When the Select completion time filter is not applied,
Time taken by User 1 to complete a process
Monday: 10 minutes
Tuesday: 5 minutes
Time taken by User 2 to complete a process
Monday: 15 minutes
Tuesday: 10 minutes
The average time calculated for the Funnel = (10 + 15) / 2 = 12.5 minutes
Scenario 2:
When the Select completion time filter is applied as 1 hour
Time taken by User 1 to complete a process
Monday: 10 minutes
Tuesday: 5 minutes
Time taken by User 2 to complete a process
Monday: 15 minutes
Tuesday: 10 minutes
The average time calculated for the Funnel = (5 + 10) / 2 = 7.5 minutes
Why does the Average time matter?
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Pinpoint friction: Step-level averages highlight exactly which UI element is slowing users down.
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Assess complexity: Funnel-level averages reveal if an entire process is too long or exhausting for the user.
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Measure improvement: Compare these metrics before and after adding Whatfix guidance content to see if your guidance actually reduces user effort.