Flows

User flow analysis (the Sankey diagram) identifies the most frequent paths taken by users to or from any event. You can learn the following from paths:

• What did users do immediately after signing up?
• Where are users getting confused or stuck?
• Which parts of your app are people actually using?
• Why aren’t users discovering new features?
• Where are new users landing on your website?

Understand how your users sequentially perform events in your product and analyze drop-offs or unsuccessful behavior.

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How to analyze user paths

User flows show you the actual paths users take through your app, not just the paths you designed. This guide walks you through creating and analyzing flow charts.

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What is a Sankey diagram?

A Sankey diagram visualizes user journeys as flowing paths. The width of each path represents the number of users taking that route. Wider paths = more common behavior. Unlike funnels (which track a specific sequence), flows reveal all paths users take, including unexpected ones.

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Step 1: Create a Flow chart

Flows are a chart type you add to a dashboard (board), not a separate nav page.

1. Go to the Formo Dashboard
2. Select your project
3. Open Dashboards in the left navigation, then open or create a board
4. Click Add Chart and choose the Flow chart type

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Step 2: Choose your starting point

Flows can start from any event. Select what you want to analyze:

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Step 3: Configure the flow

Flows are configured as a positional step list rather than a direction toggle. Each row’s role is determined by its position:

• Start: The first row is your starting event (e.g., connect)
• Anchor: Middle rows are the events users pass through next
• End: The last row is where the flow ends

1. Add rows for each step you want to trace, in order
2. Set Steps count (2 to 5; default 3), the number of steps shown between each pair of anchor events
3. Set Nodes per step (2 to 8; default 5), the number of distinct events shown per step before the rest are grouped into “Others”
4. Optionally set a Conversion window (value + unit), the time allowed for the next steps to happen after the starting event
5. Optionally add Exclude events to drop specific events from the path so transitions collapse around them
6. Click Save Chart

Flows always trace forward from the starting event; there is no backward-tracing option.

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Step 4: Read the flow chart

The Sankey diagram shows:

• Nodes: Events (pages, actions, conversions)
• Paths: User journeys between events
• Width: Number of users (wider = more common)
• Drop-off: Users who left the flow

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Step 5: Identify patterns

Look for these insights: Common paths:

• Wide paths show your most frequent user journeys
• Do they match your intended UX flow?

Unexpected paths:

• Narrow paths to unexpected destinations
• Users skipping steps or taking detours

Dead ends:

• Where do users leave the flow?
• High drop-off at certain pages = friction points

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Example: Post-connect analysis

Analyze what users do after connecting their wallet: | Starting event | connect | | Steps | 4 | Typical findings:

• 60% go to /swap (expected)
• 20% go to /portfolio (checking balances)
• 10% disconnect immediately (issue with UX?)
• 10% navigate to /docs (need help?)

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Example: Path to conversion

See what users do leading up to a conversion event by setting your conversion event as the last (End) step in the list, with earlier steps left open to discover common precursor actions: | Starting event | A page view or wallet event that typically precedes conversion | | End event | Your conversion event (e.g., Swap) | | Steps | 3 | Questions to answer:

• What pages do converters visit first?
• Do they explore multiple features before converting?
• Is there a common path to conversion?

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Use flows with funnels

Flows and funnels complement each other: Workflow:

1. Use Flows to discover common paths
2. Create Funnels to measure conversion on those paths
3. Use Flows again to investigate drop-off points