Hey Marc,
We just integrated Unity Analytics and excited about where it looks like the product cold go.
Can we set a time span for a funnel? I set up a basic funnel, but I cant figure out how to specify a time parameter for the funnel. It won’t let me edit the time, and seems to automatically set it to be the last 24 hours. For example, in the screenshot on the Unity Analytics landing page has time stamp of [11/21/2014 - 01/07/2015].
Solving this issue would be a big help.
Cheers,
Jefferson
Thanks very much for posting! 
So, first thing, there is no way at present to change the dates of a funnel. There are several reasons for this. Importantly, the data is based on running totals. Breaking the data collection chain midway (as you’d do if you set the date to some point in the middle) would lead to weird anomalies. For example, imagine in your example that some users were at beatLevel_2 on the date you’d selected. They’ve entered the funnel, but not finished it yet. Based on the running totals, you’d potentially see more people exiting the funnel than entering it. We’ve kept things simple to avoid handing users broken/anomalous data.
Now, obviously it’s possible to provide the kind of subset data you’re after, but it would requires us to handle data rather differently. There are plans to do this on the roadmap. Obviously I can’t provide specific dates as to when this sort of functionality would be available.
For now, the best way to handle different funnel dates is simply to create a new funnel.
Finally, I want to mention that your screenshot is waaay out of date. If this is what funnels look like to you then there might be a caching problem (honestly, this would be our error, since we should be cache-busting for you). Try clearing your browser cache and re-loading. We did a big overhaul to the look of funnels and they should look a lot more elegant than that.
Hey Marc,
I am confused on how setting a new funnel helps me. Won’t having data running make seeing how different tests perform confusing?
An example of how we have used funnels thus far is judging First Time User flow, with the below example events:
We had a lot of drop-off with users not pressing play. In this example lets say it was 50% success rate. After now darkening the screen and making the play button bigger the success rate went to 90%.
Regarding the image, it is from the Unity Analytic landing page: Unity - Manual: Unity Analytics
Ah, oh yeah…that’s about to be updated. Sorry, thought you were handing me a screenshot.
So the idea is that you construct a funnel to identify a problem, then construct a new funnel to test whether the solution solves the problem. The new funnel will span from the day of its creation, so you’ll be able to see whether the change heralds an improvement by comparing the two funnels.
Bear in mind that (a) we’re still in beta and (b) nothing is set in stone. We’re working through what makes the best experience, so if this approach doesn’t fit your needs, telling us so is the best way to get us to a better solution.
There are few problems with having only a start date, which is set by creation date, with no end date.
Setting comparative time periods, week to week, and month to month can be very helpful. We run different sales all the time and understanding how different creative / price points perform can be done pretty well with funnels.
When my team asks me a question, how did this [example] flow perform last week, so I need to look up what data looked like from last week. Having funnels run they way described makes this answer impossible. I would have to starte the funnel then and tell them: “I’ll tell you next week”.
Even if I do make a new funnel and compare it to the old one, since the old funnel is ongoing it will approach the mean, so the clarity of the question is muddled.
Having a way to bracket how users perform over a specified amount of time is crucial.
You make some really valid points, so valid that we just had a conversation about what we can do to expose this better. Just to make sure…have you looked at the “Funnel detail”, under “Drilldown Type” at the bottom of the page? That chart shows individual step conversion by day. This should allow you to see when changes you’ve made are improving conversions, even without creating a new funnel.
Beyond what currently exists, though, we’re talking about what more we can do with the data that we already have. There may be better ways to show you the contents of the funnel. We’ll see what we can put in the pipeline to get more of the info (particularly time-based info) in front of you.
Thanks Marc. Really excited by where you are taking the product. Having a good tool would be really helpful. We currently use Upsight and GameAnalytics, and they both kinda work, but have serious misgivings and the space is ripe to fix.
