Goals & Funnels: Subdomains and Multiple Paths

question about goals and funnels with subdomains and multiple order paths

[Ron McKernan]

We have an online printing website with a semi-complicated order process, involving subdomains and multiple paths/options. We have a couple steep dropoffs in our funnel, and I'm trying to verify if these are real abandonments, or if Analytics is possibly losing track of visitors.

As part of the order process, many of our users are redirected to a subdomain, and then returned to the main domain. Like so:
- Funnel Step 1: User starts his order/design on www.mysite.com/startorder
- Next: (Not part of Analytics funnel) To customize his design, he is sent to design.mysite.com for several pages
- Funnel Step 2: Once it's finished, he is returned to www.mysite.com/finishorder (the first URL back on www., and all users have to go through it)
We have tracking code on all www. pages, but not on design.

From step 1 to 2 we see a 75% abandonment rate. Now, it's entirely possible that the design process is frustrating 75% of the users and they are leaving. But, is it also possible that Analytics sees people going to design.mysite.com and decides that they have exited the funnel altogether?

On a general level, I've never found a clear explanation of whether funnels reporting stays intact even if users go through sub-steps not included in the funnel definition. For example (this time without a side-trip to design.mysite.com):
- Step 1: www.mysite.com/startorder
- Next: (not part of funnel) variable paths through www.mysite.com/productoptions1 or www.mysite.com/productoptions2 etc.
- Step 2: www.mysite/finishorder

[vincevincevince]

I believe that subdomains will be seen as separate sites... perhaps you should be putting Analytics on the subdomain as well

[cgrantski]

If GA acts like all the other analytics programs out there, it doesn't matter if people leave your site for awhile as long as the time absent doesn't exceed a certain number of minutes. For most analytics programs, the default is 30 minutes.

So, if GA works like this, either your visitors are spending 31 minutes (or whatever) on the design site and then finishing the purchase, or they really are abandoning the process.