Step Timings

Funnel step timings show you not just whether visitors move from one step to the next, but how long that transition takes. Time is a dimension of conversion health that drop-off rates alone cannot reveal.

What step timings show

For each consecutive pair of steps in your funnel, Statalog displays the average time between them:

Step 1: /pricing          1,240 visitors
  ⏱ avg 4m 30s to reach this step
Step 2: /register           680 visitors   (55% conversion)
  ⏱ avg 12m 18s to reach this step
Step 3: /dashboard          510 visitors   (75% conversion)

In this example, visitors who proceeded from the pricing page to the registration page took an average of 4 minutes and 30 seconds. Those who then continued to the dashboard took an average of 12 minutes and 18 seconds — indicating the signup form itself requires significant time to complete, or that visitors pause and return to it.

How time is displayed

Step timing durations are formatted to match their magnitude:

  • Under 60 seconds — shown in seconds (e.g. "38s")
  • 1 minute to 59 minutes — shown as minutes and seconds (e.g. "4m 30s")
  • 1 hour and above — shown as hours and minutes (e.g. "2h 14m")

When the average transition time between steps is measured in hours or days, this is usually a deliberate signal — the journey involves a break, a consideration period, or a return visit. When it is measured in seconds, the steps are probably part of a continuous, automated, or nearly immediate flow.

How step timings are computed

Step timings are computed using ClickHouse minIf queries that find the earliest timestamp at which each visitor reached each step within a qualifying session sequence.

For a two-step transition (step A → step B), the calculation is:

  1. For each session that visited both step A and step B in the correct order, find the earliest timestamp of step A (minIf(timestamp, step = 'A')) and the earliest timestamp of step B (minIf(timestamp, step = 'B')).
  2. Compute the difference: time_at_B - time_at_A.
  3. Average this difference across all qualifying sessions.

Sessions where the visitor reached step B before step A (i.e., visited the steps out of order) are excluded from the timing calculation. This ensures timings reflect intentional forward progression through the funnel, not coincidental page visits.

Edge cases and interpretation notes

Sessions that skip steps If a visitor reaches step 1 and step 3 but not step 2, they are not counted in the step 1→2 or step 2→3 timings. Step timings only include sessions that visited both the source and destination step of each transition, in order.

Very short timings (under 5 seconds) A near-instant transition between steps usually indicates a redirect, an automatic form submission, or a server-side action that sends the visitor from one page to another without user deliberation. This is expected for steps like a payment confirmation redirect.

Very long timings (hours or days) When a transition takes many hours or several days, the visitor did not complete that step in the same sitting. They came back later. This is common and expected for high-consideration purchases, enterprise software signups, or any journey where visitors need to gather information or obtain approval before proceeding.

Using step timings to identify friction

Step timings become diagnostic when they reveal something unexpected.

Example 1 — checkout hesitation Your funnel shows a 70% drop-off from the cart page to the checkout page. Step timing for cart → checkout is 18 minutes on average. This suggests visitors are not bouncing immediately — they are spending time on the cart page, possibly reviewing, possibly looking for a discount code, possibly tabbing away to compare prices. The fix might be adding a discount code field, clearer shipping cost information, or a time-limited offer.

Example 2 — pricing to purchase takes 3 days If the average time from your pricing page to a purchase confirmation is 72 hours, the decision cycle is long. This is typical for higher-priced products. Knowing this, you might add a "save for later" or email capture option to the pricing page, or trigger an email follow-up sequence for visitors who reached pricing but did not purchase within 24 hours.

Example 3 — signup form takes 12 minutes If the transition from "begin signup" to "account created" takes 12 minutes on average, your signup form may have too many fields, confusing validation, or a multi-step process that introduces too much friction. Reducing the number of required fields at signup and deferring optional details to onboarding is a common improvement.

Example 4 — instant transition revealing automation If a step timing shows 0–2 seconds between a payment page and an order confirmation page, this is likely a redirect, not a human decision. This is expected and healthy — it confirms the payment flow is working without unnecessary delays.

FAQ

Why is a step timing blank or showing no data? A step timing will not display if there is insufficient data — specifically, if fewer than a minimum threshold of sessions completed both steps in order during the selected date range. This prevents misleading averages based on very small sample sizes. Expanding your date range will typically resolve this.

Do step timings include time spent on the step page itself? The timing measures the gap between the first occurrence of the source step and the first occurrence of the destination step within the same session sequence. Time spent reading or interacting with the source page is therefore included in the measured duration — it is the full elapsed time from arriving at step A to arriving at step B.

Can step timings span multiple sessions? No. Step timings are calculated within sessions. If a visitor completes step 1 in one session and step 2 in a later session, those sessions are not connected for timing purposes. This is why very long transitions (multi-day journeys) should be interpreted as multi-session behaviour that happens to show long timing, not as a single session lasting many hours.