Ecommerce Funnel Tracking Best Practice

Typical Ecommerce Journey

In ecommerce environments, user behaviour is usually more transactional and session-driven than in SaaS.

A simplified journey may include:

• Visitor lands on storefront
• Visitor browses products or categories
• Visitor evaluates product details
• Visitor adds items to cart
• Visitor completes checkout

Tracking should capture both engagement signals and purchase intent signals.

Recommended Shopping Events

A practical ecommerce tracking structure may include:

Exploration stage

• category_viewed
• product_list_viewed
• search_performed

Evaluation stage

• product_viewed
• product_variant_selected
• product_review_opened

Intent stage

• add_to_cart
• cart_viewed
• checkout_started

Revenue stage

• purchase_completed
• order_refunded
• repeat_purchase

These events help measure how efficiently visitors move from discovery to transaction.

Defining Conversion Signals

In ecommerce attribution models, conversions are typically revenue-centric.

Examples of primary conversion signals:

• Completed purchase
• Subscription order placed
• Bundle purchase above defined value

Examples of supporting conversion signals:

• Checkout initiation
• Cart value threshold reached
• Newsletter signup with purchase intent

Supporting signals are useful because they:

• provide faster optimisation feedback
• indicate purchase probability
• help evaluate campaign quality beyond last-click sales

Implementation Example (Browser Tracking)

Example of sending behavioural and conversion events:

<script>
  // Product engagement
  Mark.track('product_viewed', {
    product_id: 'sku_123',
    category: 'running_shoes',
    price: 8900
  });

  // Purchase intent
  Mark.track('checkout_started', {
    cart_value: 12900,
    item_count: 2
  });

  // Revenue conversion
  Mark.conversion('purchase_completed', {
    order_id: 'ord_90871',
    value: 12900,
    currency: 'usd'
  });
</script>

This structure enables:

• attribution of revenue to acquisition channels
• optimisation of checkout experience
• identification of high-intent traffic sources

Measurement Insights Enabled

With structured ecommerce tracking, teams can analyse:

• which campaigns drive high-value carts
• product categories with strongest conversion rates
• checkout drop-off points
• repeat purchase behaviour

These insights support:

• merchandising optimisation
• pricing experimentation
• lifecycle remarketing strategies