Module 3
The tracking script and the funnel
One script, cookieless, and the four numbers everything hangs off.
After this module: You can explain what the script collects, why cookieless matters commercially, and what the four funnel numbers mean — including the one buyers most often misread.
What the script does
The tracking script is the spine. It is the only thing a customer genuinely has to install, and it takes a developer about two minutes. Everything else — connecting Stripe, Google Ads, their CRM — is optional and additive.
- Pageviews, including single-page apps where navigation does not reload the page.
- Goals — signups, purchases, downloads — either automatically or when the site calls them explicitly.
- Revenue, when a payment system is connected, so money can be traced back to the visit that started it.
- Identify events, which turn an anonymous visitor into a known person once they hand over an email.
**It is cookieless.** That has two commercial consequences worth stating on a call. It sidesteps much of the cookie-banner problem, because we are not setting the third-party cookies consent regimes are aimed at. And it keeps working as browsers finish removing third-party cookie support — a competitor built on them has a deadline that we do not.
Check yourself
Visitors, leads, conversions, revenue
Four numbers, in order. Every report in the product hangs off this shape, so if you understand the funnel you can navigate the whole dashboard.
| Stage | What it counts | Where sellers get it wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Visitors | Unique people in the period | Assuming it means sessions or pageviews |
| Leads | Distinct people who fired a lead-role goal | Assuming every form submit is a lead |
| Conversions | Sessions with revenue or a conversion-role goal | Assuming any goal counts |
| Revenue | Server-verified money, attributed back to the visit | Assuming it is self-reported by the site |
Visitors means unique people. One person visiting ten times is one visitor, not ten. This is worth being pedantic about for two reasons: it is how comparable tools count, and it is the meter we bill on. A prospect who quotes you a "traffic number" from a tool that counts sessions will land on the wrong tier.
Check yourself
Why the same event means different things
This is the concept AEs most often skate over, and it comes up in almost every serious evaluation.
Every tracked action carries one of three roles, and the customer controls which:
- 1Engagement — scrolled, clicked an outbound link, downloaded something. Tracked, visible, but never counted as a win.
- 2Lead — signed up, requested a demo, made contact. A real prospect has appeared.
- 3Conversion — bought, checked out, subscribed. This is what the headline conversion rate is measured on.
Get the roles wrong and the headline numbers become meaningless — a site that marks newsletter signups as conversions will show a wonderful conversion rate and no revenue. The product guesses sensible defaults from the goal name, and the customer can override any of them.
Check yourself
Worth remembering
- One script on the site is the only hard requirement. Everything else is optional connections.
- It is cookieless, so we do not force a cookie banner and it survives the death of third-party cookies.
- The funnel is Visitors → Leads → Conversions → Revenue, and every report hangs off that shape.
- Every tracked action has a role — engagement, lead or conversion — and the customer decides which is which.
- Visitors means unique PEOPLE per month, not sessions and not pageviews. It is also the billing meter, so getting it wrong is expensive.
Words that came up
- Cookieless
- Identifies returning visitors without third-party cookies. Fewer consent problems, and it keeps working as browsers remove cookie support.
- Goal
- A tracked action — a signup, a purchase, a download. Each goal carries a role that decides how it is counted.
- Session
- One visit. A person who comes back three times has three sessions but is still one visitor — the distinction the whole pricing conversation turns on.
- Identify
- The moment an anonymous visitor becomes a known person, usually by giving an email. Everything they did before is then attached to them.
Do this before moving on
Reading about a demo is not the same as having given one.
- 1Look at the install snippet on the Connections page and count the lines. It is short — that matters in a demo.
- 2On the Overview, switch to the Goals tab and find a goal with the "engagement" role. Ask yourself whether it should be one.
- 3Practise saying the difference between visitors, sessions and pageviews in one sentence each.