How to See Website Dropoff in Google Analytics 4

Wondering where potential customers are leaving your website? In Universal Analytics, the "Exit Pages" report provided a quick, straightforward answer. With Google Analytics 4, finding this same information requires a few more clicks, as the platform is built around events rather than sessions. This article will show you exactly how to build reports in GA4 to identify drop-off points so you can patch the leaks in your conversion funnel.

Why Finding Drop-off Points in GA4 Feels Different

If you're feeling a bit lost looking for drop-off data in GA4, you're not alone. The fundamental shift from a session-based model (Universal Analytics) to an event-based model changes how everything is reported. In UA, an "Exit Page" was a standard, pre-built report that showed you the last page a user visited in their session. It was simple and clear.

GA4, on the other hand, is designed for flexibility. It gives you the building blocks - metrics like 'Exits' and dimensions like 'Page path' - and expects you to assemble them in a way that answers your specific questions. There isn't a dedicated "Exit Pages" report right out of the box. You have to create it yourself or customize an existing report.

Another key change is the replacement of "Bounce Rate" with "Engagement Rate." While not directly related to exit pages, it's part of the same philosophical shift. GA4 is less concerned about users who leave from a single page (a "bounce") and more focused on whether users are actively engaging with your content. Understanding this helps explain why some familiar reports are no longer where you expect them to be.

The good news is that once you know where to look, you can build much more powerful and specific reports to understand user behavior than you could in the old system.

Method 1: Customizing the 'Pages and Screens' Report

The simplest way to replicate the classic "Exit Pages" report is to customize the standard 'Pages and screens' report in GA4. This gives you a quick overview of which pages are most frequently the last stop in a user's session.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Follow these quick steps to add the 'Exits' metric to your page report:

1. Navigate to the Report: In the left-hand navigation menu of GA4, go to Reports > Engagement > Pages and screens.
2. Enter Customization Mode: In the top right corner of the report, click the pencil icon that says "Customize report."
3. Add the 'Exits' Metric: A new panel will slide out from the right. Under the "Report Data" section, click on Metrics. This shows you all the metrics currently in your report (like Views, Users, etc.). At the bottom of this list, click "Add metric."
4. Find and Select 'Exits': Start typing "Exits" in the search bar. When it appears, click on it to add it to your report's metric list.
5. Apply the Changes: Click the blue "Apply" button in the bottom right corner of the panel. You will now see the "Exits" column added to your report view.
6. Save Your New Report: To make this view permanent, click the "Save" button in the top right. You'll have two options:

You now have a sortable table that shows you every page on your site, along with the total number of exits. Click the "Exits" column header to sort the list from highest to lowest and immediately see which pages have the most user drop-offs.

Method 2: Creating a Funnel Exploration for Deeper Insights

While the customized Pages report shows you where users leave, a Funnel Exploration report shows you where they drop off during a specific, critical journey. This is incredibly powerful for analyzing a checkout process, a signup flow, or any multi-step conversion path.

Building Your Checkout Funnel

Let's pretend you run an e-commerce store and want to see where users abandon the checkout process. A funnel report is the perfect tool for this job.

1. Go to Explore: Click on "Explore" in the left-hand navigation.
2. Start a Funnel Exploration: In the template gallery, choose the "Funnel exploration" template.
3. Define Your Steps: The main part of the report builder is the "Steps" section. This is where you'll define the ideal path you want users to take. Let's build a typical e-commerce funnel:
4. Observe the Visualization: As you add these steps, GA4 will instantly build a visualization on the right-hand side. It shows a bar for each step, the number of users who completed it, and - most importantly - the percentage of users who dropped off between each step.

Analyzing the Drop-off Data

Now you can see exactly where the biggest leak is. For example, you might find that:

• 90% of users who view a product move on to add it to their cart.
• Only 50% of users who add to cart actually begin the checkout.
• 80% of users who begin checkout complete the purchase.

In this scenario, that massive 50% drop-off between adding an item to the cart and starting the checkout process is your red flag. It tells you to investigate the cart experience itself. Is a button broken? Are shipping costs unexpectedly high? Is the next step unclear? This level of insight is far more actionable than just knowing that "the cart page has a high exit rate." It shows you the drop-off in the context of your most valuable user journey.

What to Look For: Identifying 'Good' vs. 'Bad' Drop-offs

Not every exit is a bad thing. Context is everything. When you're analyzing your drop-off reports, it's important to distinguish between an expected user exit and a problematic one.

Expected (and Good) Drop-offs

Some pages are designed to be the end of a journey. A high exit rate here is not only normal but is often a sign of success. Look out for:

• Confirmation Pages: Think "/thank-you" pages after a form submission or "/order-confirmed" pages after a purchase. The user has completed their goal, so leaving is the natural next step.
• Contact Pages: Many users visit a contact page simply to find a phone number, address, or email. Once they have it, they leave the site to make the call or open their email client.
• Blog Posts / Documentation: If a user lands on a blog post from a Google search, finds the answer to their specific question, and leaves, they've had a successful interaction. The goal was information retrieval, and it was met.

Concerning (and Bad) Drop-offs

These are the exits you need to investigate urgently. A high drop-off rate on these pages usually signals friction, frustration, or a mismatch in expectations.

• Checkout & Form Pages: Any page within your core conversion funnel (cart, shipping details, payment info) should have a very low exit rate. If users are dropping off here, it's costing you direct revenue or leads.
• Landing Pages: If you're running ad campaigns directed to a specific landing page and a high percentage of users leave without navigating further, there's likely a disconnect between your ad creative and the on-page experience.
• Product Category Pages: These pages are meant to encourage exploration. If users are leaving from here, it could indicate poor navigation, confusing filters, or an overwhelming number of choices.

By analyzing the type of page with the high drop-off rate, you can move from simply identifying a problem to understanding why it's happening.

Final Thoughts

While GA4 requires you to be more hands-on to find drop-off data, the payoff is more control and deeper insights. Customizing the 'Pages and screens' report gives you a quick overview, while building a Funnel Exploration provides a specific, step-by-step analysis of where your conversion process is breaking down.

Setting up funnels in GA4 can feel tedious, especially when you need different reports for paid traffic, organic users, or specific campaigns. It's often necessary work, but it's not fast. At Graphed , we designed our platform to eliminate this exact kind of manual report building. Instead of digging through menus and setting up conditions, you can just ask a question like, "Show me a funnel of our Shopify checkout process for users who came from Facebook Ads last month," and we build the visualization for you instantly. That gives you more time to focus on fixing the drop-offs, not just finding them.