If you’re reading this, you probably have a conversion rate that isn’t where you want it to be. Maybe you’re tired of vague advice about “unlocking insights” and just want to see what’s actually happening on your site—or in your product—and how to fix it. This guide is for you. We’ll get hands-on with tools like People to dig into your numbers, find what’s working (and what’s not), and actually move that conversion rate needle.
Let’s cut through the noise and get into the steps that matter.
Step 1: Define “conversion”—and get specific
Before you start tracking, make sure everyone’s talking about the same thing. “Conversion” means different things to different teams.
- For a SaaS product: Is it signups? Paid upgrades? Feature adoption?
- For e-commerce: Checkout completion? Adding to cart? Email signups?
Pro tip: Pick one conversion goal to focus on at a time. Trying to “optimize everything” usually means optimizing nothing.
What to ignore: Vanity metrics. Pageviews, likes, or time on site might look good, but they rarely pay the bills.
Step 2: Set up your data—cleanly
No analytics tool can save you from garbage data. Before you start analyzing, double-check that your events and properties are being tracked correctly in People or whatever tool you use.
Checklist: - Are your conversion events firing exactly when you want them to? - Are you capturing enough context? (User IDs, plans, traffic sources, device info) - Is your data consistent? If “signup_completed” means different things in different places, you’ll get nowhere.
What works: - Spend an hour testing your event tracking. Trigger each conversion yourself and see what actually gets logged. - Document your event names and what they mean. It’s boring, but it saves headaches later.
What doesn’t: - Relying on “out of the box” setups. Prebuilt event tracking almost always misses key details.
Step 3: Map your user journey
Don’t just look at the end result—figure out what steps people are taking (or not taking) before they convert. People analytics tools are great for this, but only if you know what to look for.
How to do it: - Build a funnel in People: Lay out each major step, from landing to conversion. - Look for drop-off points: Where are people bailing? Is it during signup, onboarding, checkout, or somewhere else? - Segment by user type: First-time visitors vs. returning users often behave very differently.
Pro tip: Don’t overcomplicate funnels. Three to five steps is usually enough to spot trends. More than that and you’ll drown in the details.
Step 4: Segment, segment, segment
Averages lie. If you only look at your overall conversion rate, you’re probably missing the real story.
Ways to segment: - By traffic source (organic, paid, referrals) - By device (mobile vs. desktop) - By geography, plan type, or user cohort (e.g., users who signed up last month)
What works: - Compare the best- and worst-performing segments. If mobile users convert at half the rate of desktop, you know where to dig. - Use People’s filtering and cohort features to track specific groups over time.
What doesn’t: - Segmenting just for the sake of it. If the split doesn’t lead to a possible action, skip it.
Step 5: Look for patterns, not just numbers
Numbers alone don’t tell you why people aren’t converting. Use your analytics to generate real questions, not just dashboards.
How to do it: - Review session replays or heatmaps (if your analytics tool supports them) to see where people get stuck. - Check support tickets or user feedback alongside your analytics. Sometimes the answer is hiding in plain sight (“I never got the confirmation email!”). - Look at time to conversion. Are people converting right away, or coming back days later?
Pro tip: If you find a sharp drop at a particular step, dig into why—not just how many. Sometimes the fix is as simple as changing a button label, sometimes it’s a deeper UX issue.
Step 6: Form a hypothesis—and test it
You’ve found a bottleneck. Now what? Don’t just guess what will work. Based on your data, come up with a specific, testable hypothesis.
Example: - “Mobile users drop off at the payment screen. I think the form is too long on small screens. If we simplify it, conversions will go up.”
What works: - Make small, targeted changes. Test one thing at a time so you know what actually moved the needle. - Use People to set up a goal or conversion event for your test. Measure before and after.
What doesn’t: - Making ten changes at once and hoping something works. - Running tests with too little traffic—you’ll just end up guessing.
Step 7: Measure, learn, and repeat
After your change goes live, keep tracking the same funnel and segments. Give it enough time to see real results (a week or two, not just 24 hours).
Questions to ask: - Did the conversion rate actually improve? By how much? - Did the change help one segment but hurt another? - Did you accidentally break something else? (Watch for weird side effects.)
What works: - Document what you tried, what happened, and what you learned. Even failed tests teach you something. - Share findings with your team—real numbers beat opinions.
What doesn’t: - Cherry-picking data to prove your test “worked.” - Declaring victory (or defeat) too soon. Seasonality, marketing pushes, and random chance all play a role.
Tools: What People is good at—and what to watch out for
People lets you build funnels, segment users, and track events pretty flexibly. Its real strength is tying conversion data to actual user profiles, so you can see the whole journey for a given person or cohort. It’s also pretty good at letting you slice and dice data without needing a data team.
What’s less great: - Like any analytics tool, People is only as good as your tracking setup. If your events are a mess, your insights will be too. - It’s not a magic bullet. Don’t expect to “unlock hidden insights” just by signing up—plan to spend time poking around and asking real questions.
If you’re considering other tools: Mixpanel, Amplitude, and Heap all have similar core features. The best tool is the one you’ll actually use—and keep clean.
Keep it simple, and keep going
Improving your conversion rate isn’t about fancy dashboards or chasing the latest analytics trend. It’s about getting the basics right: know what you’re measuring, track it cleanly, and use your data to make small, real-world changes—then see what happens. Don’t overthink it. Tweak, test, repeat. That’s how the best teams win.
And remember: your conversion rate is never “done.” It’s just better than it was yesterday.