Paths Are Not Funnels—and That Matters for Reports

A funnel answers whether people reach the next named step. A path answers which routes they actually took—including the ones your product team never drew on a whiteboard.

When reports collapse everything into a funnel, teams “fix” the wrong step because they cannot see the branch that already salvages users. Path analysis keeps those branches visible.

Start reports with the journeys you refuse to leave ambiguous. Then show the three most common sequences and the three most costly exits—not a wall of every possible graph.