If you’re an e-commerce or small brand owner, chances are you’ve built some kind of funnel. Maybe it’s a simple setup with ads driving traffic to your store, or a more layered approach with email sequences and retargeting campaigns. Either way, a funnel’s job is to guide potential customers from first discovering you all the way through to making a purchase.

But here’s the tricky part: how do you know if that funnel is actually working? 

Or is it quietly leaking sales?

The truth is, most funnels aren’t completely broken. Instead, they usually have a few weak spots where potential customers drop off. The challenge is figuring out where those weak spots are so you can patch them up. Let’s walk through how to diagnose your funnel step by step.

Start with Your Traffic

The very top of your funnel is all about traffic. If the wrong people are finding you, or if your ads and messaging are attracting curiosity instead of intent, your funnel is already at a disadvantage.

Look at where your traffic is coming from. Social media, Google, paid ads, referrals, etc. Ask yourself: are these really the right people for my product? If you’re seeing a lot of visitors but almost no conversions, it might mean your message is off, or you’re attracting an audience that was never going to buy in the first place.

Check How People Engage

Getting traffic is one thing, but keeping people engaged is another. A healthy funnel nurtures trust and builds interest at every step. If people bounce off your site within seconds, or your emails go unopened, that’s a sign your funnel isn’t doing its job.

Think about your own behavior online. You don’t buy the first time you see a brand. You click around, read reviews, and maybe sign up for a discount email. 

If at any of those stages the experience feels confusing, boring, or irrelevant, you’ll move on. 

That’s exactly what your customers are doing if your funnel is broken.

Follow the Customer Journey

Now, this is where it gets interesting. Take a look at your analytics and literally follow the path your customers take. Do they add items to their cart but never check out? Do they open your emails but ignore the links? Or maybe they click through from Instagram but disappear once they hit your homepage?

Wherever you see the biggest drop-off, that’s the leak in your funnel. And the good news is, once you know where people are bailing out, you can focus your attention on fixing that specific step instead of guessing blindly.

The real trick is to walk the exact path that your customer will. If you want them to do something, make sure you lead them to do it. 

Know Your Numbers

Here’s something a lot of small brand owners overlook: data. If you’re not tracking the basics—conversion rates, cost per lead, average order value—you’re flying blind. You might feel like your funnel is “off,” but without numbers to back it up, it’s almost impossible to know what to fix.

For example, if you’re paying $5 per click on ads but only converting 1% of visitors, that’s a traffic quality issue. If your email list is growing but no one is buying, that’s an engagement problem. Numbers give you the clarity to diagnose what’s really going wrong.

Small Fixes Make a Big Difference

Once you spot the leak, the solution isn’t always a massive overhaul. In fact, it’s usually the opposite. Sometimes all it takes is rewriting a landing page headline, simplifying your checkout process, or testing a new subject line in your emails.

The key is to make small, controlled changes and test one thing at a time. That way, you’ll know exactly what’s improving performance—and what’s not.

Once you do make a change, give it at least 2 weeks to a full 30 days to really see the full effect.

The Bottom Line

A broken funnel isn’t a failure. It’s just feedback. Every drop-off, every unopened email, every abandoned cart is your funnel’s way of telling you where the customer experience needs to improve.

When you take the time to diagnose and patch those weak spots, you’ll not only save money on wasted ads, but you’ll also see more conversions without needing more traffic. And perhaps most importantly, you’ll create a smoother, more enjoyable buying experience for your customers.

If you’d like expert eyes on your funnel, I offer Funnel Audits that pinpoint exactly where you’re losing sales—and how to fix it. Because sometimes the fastest way to grow isn’t by adding more traffic, but by making the most of the traffic you already have.