Funnel Telemetry: What to Track and Why

You can't optimize what you can't see. Yet most startups I work with have massive blind spots in their funnel — they know top-line metrics but can't tell you where they're losing people.

The Minimum Viable Dashboard

Before you invest in a data warehouse, start with these five metrics tracked weekly:

1. Traffic by intent — separate branded, high-intent, and discovery traffic
2. Activation rate — what percentage of visitors take the first meaningful action?
3. Conversion by channel — which acquisition channels produce users that stick?
4. Time to value — how long from first visit to "aha moment"?
5. Drop-off points — where in the funnel are you losing the most people?

Implementation

Use event tracking (Mixpanel, Amplitude, or even GA4 with proper setup) to capture micro-conversions. Build a dashboard that updates automatically. Review it weekly with the team.

The Payoff

When you can see your funnel in real-time, you stop guessing and start optimizing. Every experiment has clear before/after data. Every campaign can be attributed. This is how you move from "we think it's working" to "we know it's working."