user-journey-tracking

name	user-journey-tracking
description	Track user journeys with intent context and friction signals. Use when instrumenting onboarding, checkout, or any multi-step flow where you need to understand WHY users fail.
triggers	["checkout funnel","conversion tracking","drop-off tracking","onboarding flow","track user funnels","user journey"]
priority	2

User Journey Tracking

Track not just WHAT users do, but WHETHER they accomplished their goal.

Core Principle

Every journey event should help answer: "Why did users fail to complete their intended task?"

Key Context to Attach

Field	Example	Purpose
job_name	"checkout"	User's intended task
job_step	"payment"	Current step in journey
job_progress	"3/4"	How far they got
outcome	"success" / "friction" / "abandon"	Did they succeed?

Friction Signals to Track

Detect user struggle before they contact support:

Signal	Detection
Rage taps	3+ taps same element in 1s
Retry exhaustion	3+ retries of same action
Quick abandonment	Exit within 5s of error
Navigation loops	3+ back navigations without progress

Outcome Quality

Not just success/failure:

• Completed smoothly — no friction
• Completed with friction — retries, errors, slow
• Abandoned after friction — struggled, then quit
• Abandoned immediately — no engagement

"Completed with friction" is often the most actionable signal.

When to Use This Skill

• Onboarding flows
• Checkout/payment funnels
• Signup/registration
• Any multi-step process
• Feature adoption tracking

Implementation References

Topic	Reference
Full methodology	references/user-focused-observability.md
Job-based patterns	references/jtbd.md
Friction detection code	references/user-journeys.md
Journey correlation	references/user-journeys.md

Decision Tree

Before adding journey instrumentation:

1. Does this help identify what the user was trying to do? → Add intent context
2. Does this help determine if they succeeded? → Track outcomes
3. Does this help explain why they failed? → Add friction signals

If no to all three → probably don't need it.

Related Skills

• See skills/instrumentation-planning for prioritization framework
• Combine with skills/interaction-latency for friction detection on key actions
• Combine with skills/navigation-latency for screen transition context