Trace Funnels

Trace Funnels provides visibility into the step-by-step progression of requests (spans) through your distributed system. By defining sequential spans within the same trace, you can measure conversion rates between critical operations and identify performance bottlenecks at each transition.

Unlike traditional monitoring that shows only aggregate metrics, Trace Funnels correlates span data with your internal services and traces, helping you identify the root cause of issues faster by tracking how requests flow through your system.

When to Use & Key Benefits

Trace Funnels can deliver specific benefits in these common scenarios:

• During performance analysis: Quickly identify which steps in your request flow are causing bottlenecks through conversion rate analysis and transition timing.
• When investigating user journeys: Determine if users are dropping off at specific points in your application flow using step-by-step conversion tracking.
• For proactive monitoring: Keep an eye on critical business flows with comprehensive performance insights that track conversion rates and error patterns across your system.

Accessing Trace Funnels

To access the Trace Funnels feature:

1. In the navigation bar, click Traces
2. At the top of the Traces page, select Trace Funnels

The Trace Funnels button appears beside the main search bar.

Feature Walkthrough

Funnels Overview

The Trace Funnels landing page displays all existing funnels and provides a comprehensive view of your request flows.

The main table shows funnels with detailed metrics including:

• FUNNEL NAME: Name of the defined funnel
• STEPS: Number of steps defined in the funnel
• OVERALL CONVERSION: Percentage of requests that complete all steps
• LAST MODIFIED: When the funnel was last updated
• CREATED: When the funnel was initially created

You can:

• Sort by any column by clicking its header
• Click on any funnel to view its detailed step-by-step analysis
• Use the search bar at the top to find specific funnels
• Click "Create Funnel" to define a new funnel

Creating a New Funnel

To create a new funnel:

1. Click Create Funnel on the landing page
2. Enter a descriptive Name for your funnel
3. Define Funnel Steps (see next section)
4. Click Save to start monitoring

Defining Funnel Steps

Each funnel have sequential steps. For every step, you need to specify:

Service Name

Select the instrumented service that emits your span from the dropdown.

Span Name

Choose the specific span operation (e.g., HTTP GET /orders, ProcessOrder).

Where Clause (Optional)

Further filter spans by attributes (e.g., http.status_code = 200, error = false).

How It Works

Trace Funnels leverages OpenTelemetry semantic conventions to automatically detect and analyze sequential spans from your instrumented services. The feature works by using the span attributes mentioned below:

These attributes are used to automatically correlate spans within the same trace, identify sequential operations, and calculate conversion rates between steps.

Related Resources

• Setup Trace Funnels — Prerequisites, funnel analysis, transitions, and best practices
• Trace Explorer — Search and filter traces