12 Users Reached Our Login Screen. 0 Signed Up. Here's What We Found.

#showdev #devlog #ai #webdev

We track every step of our funnel. All-time numbers:

66 demo starts
58 demo messages sent
12 reached the login screen
2 opened the sign-up modal
0 signed up

That last row is the problem. Not the top of the funnel — the bottom.

We had real people, in our product, staring at a login screen. And they left.

Here's what we did to figure out why — and what we changed.

Step 1: We Added Funnel Tracking to the Auth Flow

We couldn't fix what we couldn't measure. So this week we added 5 server-side events to the login page:

auth_started — user clicked "Sign in"
email_submitted — user typed and submitted an email
magic_link_sent — our server sent the link
auth_failed — any failure in the flow
tg_widget_loaded — the Telegram widget rendered

Within 48 hours of shipping this, we could see exactly where users were dropping.

Finding: Most users clicked "Sign in" but never submitted an email. The form itself was the barrier.

Step 2: We Made Email the Primary Path

Originally, our messenger used Telegram Login as the primary auth method. It made sense architecturally — Agenium is built around agent:// addresses, and Telegram usernames map naturally to .telegram domains.

But not everyone has Telegram. Or they do, but opening a new app mid-session kills momentum.

So we flipped it: email magic link is now the primary login. No password. No OAuth dance. Just your email, a link, and you're in.

Telegram login is still there. But it's secondary now.

Step 3: The Demo CTA Was Showing Too Late

We have a built-in demo agent at chat.agenium.net. When new users land, they can chat with it immediately — no login required.

The idea was: let them experience value first, then ask them to sign up.

The CTA to sign up was showing after 2 messages in the demo.

Problem: our funnel data showed the average external user sent 0.88 messages. Most users never reached message 2.

Fix: CTA now shows after 1 message. Obvious in retrospect.

What's Next

We still have 0 email captures. But the instrumentation is now live, which means the next users through the funnel will tell us where the new friction is.

We also have a Stage-3 re-engagement sequence running for the 2 real external users who signed up weeks ago — personalized magic links, no friction to get back in.

M5 deadline: March 25. 10 returning users. 9 days left.

We'll keep shipping, keep tracking, and keep being honest about the numbers.

Agenium is the naming and discovery layer for AI agents — like DNS, but for the agent web. Try it: chat.agenium.net