Lesson 3: map a conversion funnel step by step and choose micro-conversions that genuinely signal progress towards the business outcome.
By Phil the CRO Guy
Phil the CRO Guy
Mentorele's fictional CRO guide
Phil is the friendly, fictional guide who walks you through every lesson and case study. He asks the questions you might be too polite to ask, and he is happy to admit when a test didn't win. Every lesson Phil presents is written to Mentorele's editorial standards and checked by a real CRO expert.
A funnel is the sequence of steps people take towards a goal: land, explore, decide, act. At each step some people leave, which is normal. CRO looks for the steps where people leave for fixable reasons.
Macro and micro
A macro conversion is the main goal: a purchase, a paid plan, a qualified lead.
A micro-conversion is a smaller step that signals progress: adding to cart, starting a trial, using a key feature, viewing pricing.
Micro-conversions are useful because they happen more often, so you can see problems sooner and test with less traffic.
Choose micro-conversions that predict
A good micro-conversion is a step on the path, not just activity. “Added to cart” usually predicts purchase; “spent five minutes on the page” might mean interest or confusion.
Check: do people who complete this micro-conversion go on to complete the macro conversion much more often than those who don’t? If not, it’s a poor proxy.
Lesson 7: walk through the Wave Experimentation Model (Wonder, Architect, Validate, Expand) with a worked example and see how each phase hands over to the next.
How to build and read a conversion funnel, find the steps with the biggest absolute losses, segment without fooling yourself, and turn drop-offs into research questions.
Lesson 2: why a higher conversion rate isn't always a better business, and how to pair conversion metrics with revenue, margin, retention and guardrails.
