Customer Journey Sankey Diagram: Editable Template
Follow customers from the channel that found them through engagement, trial, purchase and retention, with every drop-off drawn as its own ribbon. Replace the counts.
A customer journey Sankey shows how many people enter at each channel and what share reaches each later stage. The ones who drop out are ribbons too, so the biggest leaks are the widest things on the page.
Four acquisition channels feed an engagement step, then a trial, a purchase and a retention outcome. At every stage the people who do not continue go to their own node (Bounced, Left, Did not purchase, Churned), which keeps the numbers balanced and puts the loss where you can see it.
Use it to compare channels by what happens after the click rather than by volume alone. The counts are invented; replace them with figures from your analytics or CRM, and keep the stage definitions the same from one period to the next.
How to read this diagram
- 9,000 customers enter; 480 purchase, an overall conversion of about 5.3% in this example.
- Search brings the most people, but referral and email engage a much larger share of theirs (about 53% and 50%, against 40% for search and 28% for social).
- The widest loss is at the first step: 5,400 people bounce before engaging.
- Of 480 purchasers, 360 are still active, so retention is 75% here.
The data behind it
Invented customer counts for one cohort. Not data about any real business.
| From | To | Amount (customers) |
|---|---|---|
| Search | Engaged | 1600 |
| Search | Bounced | 2400 |
| Social | Engaged | 700 |
| Social | Bounced | 1800 |
| Referral | Engaged | 800 |
| Referral | Bounced | 700 |
| Engaged | 500 | |
| Bounced | 500 | |
| Engaged | Started trial | 1200 |
| Engaged | Left | 2400 |
| Started trial | Purchased | 480 |
| Started trial | Did not purchase | 720 |
| Purchased | Still active | 360 |
| Purchased | Churned | 120 |
The same data as CSV
source,target,value
Search,Engaged,1600
Search,Bounced,2400
Social,Engaged,700
Social,Bounced,1800
Referral,Engaged,800
Referral,Bounced,700
Email,Engaged,500
Email,Bounced,500
Engaged,Started trial,1200
Engaged,Left,2400
Started trial,Purchased,480
Started trial,Did not purchase,720
Purchased,Still active,360
Purchased,Churned,120How it works
Define the stages
Decide what counts as engaged, trial, purchase and retained, and write the definitions down so every period is measured the same way.
Enter the entry counts and the splits
Add each channel with its count, then for every stage the number that continues and the number that does not.
Compare channels by outcome
Look at which channels send the widest ribbons to purchase and retention, not only into the funnel.
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from a funnel chart?
A funnel shows how many remain at each step. A Sankey also keeps each channel attached to its result and draws every drop-off as a ribbon.
Can customers skip a stage?
Yes. Add a flow from a node straight to a later stage, for example from Engaged to Purchased.
Edit this customer journey Sankey
Open the template as your own chart and enter your channels, stages and counts.