Publishing an experience is step one. The real question is: did users do the thing you wanted them to do afterward? Goals measure whether users who saw a Flow, Checklist, or other experience completed a key action — upgrading, activating a feature, finishing onboarding. Funnels go further, showing you the full sequence from experience seen → action taken → outcome achieved, and exactly where users drop off along the way.

Instead of clicking through individual experience analytics screens and cross-referencing data, you can ask an MCP-compatible AI assistant to pull goal completion data across experiences, identify who converted (and who didn't), and build event funnels — all in one conversation.

Where to run these prompts

These prompts work in two places:

• Captain AI — Appcues' built-in AI assistant, available directly in Studio. No setup required. Captain AI has built-in funnel analysis that supports 2–10 event sequences including page views, custom events, experience events, and goal completions. Best for quick goal checks and simple funnels while you're already in Studio.
• External MCP clients (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, or another MCP-compatible tool) connected to the Appcues MCP. See Connect the Appcues MCP for setup. Better for visualizing funnel data as charts, building conversion dashboards, and combining Appcues goal data with metrics from other tools (your CRM, product analytics, etc.) in a single conversation.

Both options access the same underlying data. Captain AI is faster for in-Studio lookups; external clients are stronger for visualization and cross-tool analysis.

Prerequisites

• Captain AI access in Studio, or an external MCP client connected to the Appcues MCP.
• At least one Goal created in Appcues Studio and attached to an experience.
• For funnels: at least two events you want to track in sequence (custom events, experience events, page views, or screen views).

Audit goal usage across your account

Before diving into specific goal data, it's worth knowing what Goals exist, which experiences use them, and whether they're tracking correctly.

Example prompts:

• "List all my Goals. For each one, show me which experiences use it and its current completion rate."
• "Which of my Goals have a 0% completion rate? Are they misconfigured or just attached to low-traffic experiences?"
• "Do I have any published Flows or Embeds without a Goal attached? List them — those are experiences I can't measure."

What you can learn:

• Goals with zero completions — Either the goal event name doesn't match what your app sends, the conversion window is too short, or no users have qualified. The MCP can help you investigate each case.
• Experiences without Goals — These are blind spots. You're publishing content but not measuring whether it works. Attaching Goals to high-volume experiences should be a priority.
• Duplicate or overlapping Goals — If multiple Goals track similar outcomes, your data may be fragmented. A single prompt can surface this.

Check goal completion for specific experiences

Drill into the core question: are users completing the goal after seeing the experience?

Example prompts:

• "What's the goal completion rate for the Flow 'Onboarding Tour' over the last 30 days?"
• "Compare goal completion rates for my top 5 Flows. Which one drives the most conversions?"
• "Show me goal completion data for all Embeds. Are users who finish the Embeds actually achieving the goal?"

What to look for:

• Completion rate in context — A 50% rate on 10 users is meaningless; 50% on 10,000 is significant. Always check absolute numbers alongside percentages.
• Rate differences across experience types — If your onboarding Flow has a 20% goal rate but your onboarding Embed has 40%, the Embed format may be more effective for that goal.

Identify who converted and who didn't

Goal data becomes actionable when you can see which users completed the goal and which didn't.

Example prompts:

• "List users who completed the goal for 'Onboarding Tour' in the last 14 days."
• "Show me users who saw 'Feature Walkthrough' but did NOT complete the goal. Include their plan type."
• "For the goal 'Activated Reports', how many users converted this week compared to last week?"

What to look for:

• Patterns in non-converters — If users who didn't complete the goal share common properties (free plan, specific role, low session count), your experience may be targeting the right audience but not addressing their specific blockers.
• Conversion timing — "What's the median time between seeing the experience and completing the goal?" If most conversions happen within minutes, the experience is directly driving action. If they take days, the experience may be planting a seed but other factors drive the conversion.
• Re-targeting opportunities — Users who saw the experience but didn't convert are candidates for a follow-up. Export their User IDs and upload them as a segment for a second-touch experience.

Build event funnels

Funnels let you string together a sequence of events — experience seen, custom event, goal completed, page visited — and see how many users make it through each step. You can include events from any experience type.

Example prompts:

• "Build a funnel: users who saw the 'Onboarding Tour' Flow → triggered 'Created First Project' → completed the goal 'Activated Account'. Show me the conversion rate at each step."
• "Create a funnel from Checklist shown → Checklist item 'Set up team' completed → custom event 'invited_teammate'. Where's the biggest drop-off?"
• "Create a funnel to visualize how many users go from seeing my Embed “Activated Customers - Insights Page - Learn About Insights” to visiting the /insights-feed page within 7 days"

What you can learn:

• Where the journey breaks — A funnel with 1,000 users at step 1 and 50 at step 3 tells you something is wrong, but the shape of the drop-off tells you what. A sharp drop at step 2 means the transition from your experience to the real action isn't working. A gradual decline may be normal friction.
• Cross-experience funnels — You can mix event types: Flow started → Checklist item completed → custom event → page view. This shows the full journey across multiple Appcues experience types and your own product events.
• Conversion windows — Analyze conversions within different time windows: "Of users who saw the Flow, how many completed the goal within 1 day? 7 days? 30 days?" This helps you set realistic conversion windows for your Goals.

Tips for better results

• Audit Goals quarterly — Ask: "List all my Goals, their completion rates, and which experiences they're attached to." Remove unused Goals and attach them to experiences that are currently unmeasured.
• Pair Goals with Funnels — A Goal tells you whether users converted. A funnel tells you where they dropped off on the way there. Use both for a complete picture.
• Check goal definitions first — Before concluding an experience isn't driving results, verify the Goal is tracking the right event. A mismatch between the Goal's event name and your Appcues.track() call is the most common cause of zero completions.
• Track week-over-week — "Compare goal completion for 'Activated Reports' this week versus last week. Are we improving?" Trends matter more than snapshots.
• Use non-converters for iteration — The list of users who saw the experience but didn't convert isn't just a report — it's a segment you can re-target with a different approach.

Limitations

• Conversion window — Goals measure completion within a configurable time window (default 7 days). Users who complete the action after the window closes aren't counted.
• Last-touch attribution — If a user sees multiple experiences with the same Goal, only the last experience seen gets credit.
• One completion per user per Goal — A user can only complete a Goal once per experience. Repeat completions aren't tracked. Use event analytics for measuring repeated actions.
• Read-only — The MCP can pull goal and funnel data but can't create or modify Goals. Set up Goals in Appcues Studio.