Been digging through our analytics trying to spot where users are dropping off in ways that aren’t obvious from basic funnels.
Seems like there are these weird patterns where people engage but then just disappear at random steps.
Wondering what specific metrics or tools others use to catch these hidden blockers.
Track micro interactions before your main conversions - scroll depth, button hovers, form field focus, all that stuff.
I had a subscription app where 80% of people filled out forms then disappeared. They’d hit the payment field, see the price again, and bail. The funnel looked perfect but that single moment destroyed conversions.
Break it down by device and browser too. Mobile users quit differently than desktop, and sometimes weird friction only happens on certain setups.
Check your page load times step by step. Slow loading kills engagement even when everything else works perfectly.
User feedback reveals issues analytics can’t show.
Use session recordings and heatmaps first. Raw numbers don’t show real user behavior. I check sessions in Hotjar or FullStory to see why users bounce unexpectedly. This often reveals broken buttons, confusing UI, or loading issues that standard analytics overlook. Additionally, analyze cohort retention by traffic source. Some channels attract engaged users who later show poor long-term value. This is a classic engage-then-disappear issue.
Time between actions beats the actions themselves every time.
I track how long users spend on each step and hunt for weird delays before they bail. When someone’s stuck on a simple screen way longer than usual, they’re probably confused.
Also check if different user groups act differently.