Quick answer
Path analysis aggregates the sequences of pages, screens or events in users' sessions and shows the most common next (or previous) steps from a chosen point.
What it shows
A funnel answers "of the people who did A, how many did B?" — but only for the B you thought of. Path analysis answers "after A, what did people actually do?" The result is a flow diagram: from the starting point, the most common next steps, then the steps after those, with the thickness of each line showing how many people took it.
It is useful for questions like: what do people do right after landing from search? What did people who churned do in their last session? Where do people go when they leave the checkout?
Forward and backward paths
- Forward from a start — what happens after an event or page. Good for onboarding: after sign-up, where do people go?
- Backward from an end — what led up to it. Good for conversions and problems: what did people do before buying, or before contacting support?
Two settings keep the picture readable: limit the number of steps and show only the top few branches per step; and collapse repeats, so someone refreshing a page does not create a chain of identical steps.
Path analysis in TapCub
TapCub paths can use pages and screens, events, or both mixed. You choose the direction (forward from a start or backward from an end), the number of steps, the top N branches per step and whether to count sessions or users, and you can collapse repeats. Without an anchor, forward paths start at the first step of each session.
Cleaning rules make real-world URLs usable: exclude paths or events (with * wildcards) and rewrite URLs with a regular expression, for example to fold /product/123 and /product/456 into /product/:id.
Common mistakes
- Raw URLs. Without grouping IDs and query strings, every product page is its own node and nothing stands out.
- Too many steps. After four or five steps the branches get thin and the flow is mostly noise.
- Reading paths as causes. A path shows sequence, not why. Follow up with a funnel or a test.
Related guides: Behavioral Analytics. See also purchase path and conversion paths.
See also: Analyze user paths, User flow.
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Product Analyst
Focuses on event analysis, conversion funnels, and retention, using clear metric definitions and structured analysis to explain product performance.