The Leak Diagnosis: Auditing a Real AIDA Funnel by Stage Metrics
Objective: Given stage-by-stage funnel metrics (reach, CTR, time-on-page, add-to-cart, conversion rate) for a live ad campaign, diagnose which AIDA stage is leaking and recommend the fix that matches that stage, not a generic budget increase.
You're a growth marketer at Instacart validating a new campaign for same-day grocery delivery in a new metro market. Leadership wants to know why sign-ups are flat despite a healthy ad budget.
Use the lesson's stage-to-metric mapping to find exactly which AIDA stage the campaign is leaking at, then recommend the fix that matches that stage.
Before you start
What you'll need
Free path (everything below is enough to finish)
Free, sortable, easy to share with leadership
Free, simple structure for a leadership-facing memo
The process
2 steps
Step 01 of 02
The lesson's stage-metric mapping: Attention pairs with CTR/reach, Interest with time-on-page, Desire with add-to-cart rate, Action with conversion rate.
Reach is 500,000, CTR is 3.8% (benchmark 2.0%), average time-on-page is 8 seconds (benchmark 45 seconds), add-to-cart rate is 1.1% (benchmark 3.5%), and final conversion rate is 0.9% (benchmark 2.5%). Which stage is leaking?
Procedure
- List each metric next to its AIDA stage
- Mark each metric healthy or unhealthy against its stated benchmark
- Identify the first stage in sequence where the metric goes unhealthy
STAGE | METRIC | VALUE | BENCHMARK | STATUS Attention | CTR | 3.8% | 2.0% | HEALTHY Interest | Time-on-page | 8 sec | 45 sec | UNHEALTHY <- leak starts here Desire | Add-to-cart | 1.1% | 3.5% | unhealthy (downstream) Action | Conversion | 0.9% | 2.5% | unhealthy (downstream)
Healthy
CTR beats benchmark, the ad creative itself is doing its job.
Unhealthy
Time-on-page collapses to 8 seconds against a 45-second benchmark right after a strong CTR.
What this means
The leak starts at Interest, not Attention or Action -- everything downstream of Interest is a symptom, not a separate problem.
So what do I do about it?
| Symptom | Action | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| High CTR but 8-second time-on-page | Rewrite the landing page's first screen to state relevance to this specific metro market in the first line, before scaling ad spend | half day |
Step 02 of 02
The lesson warns that 'just run more ads' rarely solves a conversion problem, since more spend just sends more people into the same leaky pipe.
Leadership's first instinct is to double the ad budget to hit the sign-up target. Using the Step 1 diagnosis, what should you recommend instead, and why would more spend fail?
Procedure
- State the diagnosed leak stage and the evidence behind it
- Explain why more ad spend does not fix an Interest-stage leak
- Recommend the specific fix and what to measure after shipping it
Memo: Sign-up funnel diagnosis Leak stage: Interest (time-on-page 8 sec vs 45 sec benchmark) Why more spend won't help: Attention is already healthy (3.8% CTR); doubling spend sends more visitors into the same page that loses them in 8 seconds. Recommendation: Rewrite the landing page hero line to name the specific metro market and delivery window before asking for anything. Measure next: time-on-page and scroll depth over 2 weeks before touching ad spend again.
Healthy
Recommendation targets the diagnosed stage specifically.
Unhealthy
Recommendation defaults to 'increase budget' or 'add a discount' without addressing Interest.
What this means
A correct diagnosis is wasted if the recommendation reverts to a generic budget increase.
So what do I do about it?
| Symptom | Action | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Leadership pressure to just spend more | Present the stage-metric table as evidence before any budget conversation | 30 min |
Final deliverable
A stage-metric diagnostic table plus a one-page memo recommending the correct fix for the diagnosed leak.
See a reference example
Rent the Runway campaign diagnosis (excerpt) STAGE | METRIC | VALUE | BENCHMARK | STATUS Attention | CTR | 4.2% | 2.0% | HEALTHY Interest | Time-on-page | 52 sec | 45 sec | HEALTHY Desire | Add-to-cart | 0.8% | 3.0% | UNHEALTHY <- leak starts here Action | Conversion | 0.7% | 2.5% | unhealthy (downstream) Recommendation: Add a first-order customer review carousel before the add-to-bag button; do not increase ad spend.
Success criteria
You're done when you can:
- Correctly identifies the first stage in sequence where the metric fails its benchmark
- Recommendation matches the diagnosed stage, not a generic budget increase
- Memo cites the specific evidence (metric plus benchmark) supporting the diagnosis