One in every of my favourite issues about working at Amplitude is once I come throughout a product function that allows prospects to do one thing I haven’t been capable of do up to now. I’ve labored with many digital analytics platforms, and again then, I used to be fairly good at hacking them to do superb issues. However typically, there are issues a product simply can’t do, or you need to bend it a lot that it breaks.

An instance of this can be a function in Amplitude known as holding fixed inside conversion funnels. Within the instance under, I’ll present how this small however highly effective function in Amplitude can reply the next query:

How typically did guests convert from View Merchandise Particulars to Add to Cart to Full Buy with the identical product in every step?

However earlier than we dive into this query and the holding fixed function, let’s evaluation conversion funnels. A conversion funnel is a report kind the place you choose a selected set of milestone occasions. The digital analytics platform exhibits how typically customers transformed or dropped off between the steps. For instance, it’s possible you’ll wish to see how typically prospects who view merchandise add them to the cart after which buy the product.

On this state of affairs, the conversion from View Merchandise Particulars to Full Buy is 14.2%. This conversion funnel is fundamental, and most digital analytics platforms can do that.

In case you wished to get extra complicated, you might modify this conversion funnel to filter every step by a selected property worth. For instance, for those who wished to view how this conversion funnel modified when solely taking a look at guests from town of New York, you might filter every step as proven right here:

On this case, the general conversion charge dropped from 14.2% to 14.1%. Once more, that is routine in most digital analytics platforms.

However one of many fascinating issues in regards to the earlier two conversion funnels is that the shopper might have carried out the required occasions for any variety of merchandise. For instance, a buyer might have considered merchandise particulars for merchandise A, B, and C however could have solely added merchandise A and B to the cart and solely bought product B. The previous conversion funnels rely distinctive guests that carried out every occasion a number of instances within the specified order, however it doesn’t specify if every step was carried out for a similar product. This distinction is necessary since a conversion funnel might have contained completely different merchandise at every step and inflated the numbers. For instance, a buyer might have considered merchandise 94, added merchandise 95 to the cart, and bought merchandise 96. The chart above would rely as a conversion, however it doesn’t present us the conversion charge when every step is for a similar product.

After all, if desired, you might filter the conversion funnel for one particular product. For instance, right here is the conversion funnel filtered for merchandise 96:

Now we are able to see that the conversion charge drops to 2.6% because the steps solely rely if they’re for product 96.

However in our authentic query, we wished to see the general conversion charge for all merchandise however solely see the circumstances wherein all three funnel steps have been for a similar product. Whereas this may increasingly sound straightforward, it isn’t. Most digital analytics platforms can’t do that. After all, you may construct a separate conversion funnel for every product just like the one for product 96 above, however that isn’t possible when you have many merchandise and it nonetheless doesn’t reply the query. The digital analytics platform should evaluation all conversion funnel steps and solely rely circumstances wherein the identical product is current in all three steps however carry out that conversion calculation for all merchandise concurrently. In Amplitude, you do that utilizing the holding fixed function.

To make use of the holding fixed function, you specify the property that you just wish to maintain fixed inside the report settings space. On this case, you’ll specify the Merchandise property as proven right here:

With that minor change, Amplitude will filter all conversion funnel occasions to make sure they’re all associated to the identical merchandise/product, and the conversion funnel would recalculate to indicate this:

Now you may see that the general conversion charge from View Merchandise Particulars to Full Buy when it’s the similar product is 2.42%. This important conversion drop signifies that guests view and add many alternative merchandise to the cart however are a lot much less prone to convey one product by all three conversion steps. Whereas performing this sort of evaluation in Amplitude is simple, I can guarantee you that it’s nearly inconceivable with different digital analytics platforms. I’m amazed that Amplitude can so simply do one thing so highly effective!

If you wish to take issues one step additional, add an extra holding fixed property. For instance, let’s say that I wish to see the conversion funnel for a similar product and solely present conversion when the steps happen in the identical session. This state of affairs is identical precept, besides we now wish to hold the Session ID fixed. To do that, we are able to add Session ID to the holding fixed settings space:

On this case, the general conversion charge fell from 2.42% to 2.21%, which tells us that the majority prospects convert inside one session.

Whereas it’s straightforward to say that every one digital analytics platforms are the identical, I’ve discovered that whenever you dive into the main points, you typically uncover what your chosen platform can and can’t do. I’ve been pleasantly shocked by what number of issues I assumed wouldn’t be potential primarily based upon my previous expertise end up to not solely be potential however comparatively straightforward in Amplitude!