Exclusion Step

An exclusion step is a condition in a funnel that removes users who performed a specified action between two steps, so the effect of an interfering behavior can be isolated from the conversion rate.

Unlike an ordinary step, an exclusion step counts nothing — it removes someone; a user who performed that action is dropped from the funnel even if they also complete the next step. Its use is when you want the “clean” conversion of one path without those who took an alternative route: the purchase rate of people who did not contact support, say, or the conversion of those who did not install the app midway. The main trap is that exclusion shrinks the denominator and, used carelessly, lifts the conversion rate artificially so it looks like real improvement when only the population changed. This is why any report with an exclusion step must be read beside the one without it; exclusion is a tool to answer a precise question, not a way to prettify the number. It is one of the heaviest funnel settings, and two funnels are comparable only when their exclusion steps match too.