Google Analytics Multi-Channel Conversion Funnel Reporting

Google recently released Multi-Channel Conversion Funnel Reporting for Google Analytics.

This new functionality will drastically change how businesses and organizations evaluate the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns.

Web marketers have historically tracked “conversions” such as e-commerce purchases or membership signups by the referral information.

While valuable, this information is incomplete.

A typical web purchase usually involves several interactions with a website prior to making the purchase.

Example usage

A person interested in traveling to Miami might take the following actions before purchasing a ticket:

1. They spot a promotional banner ad for a travel website, click the banner, and read the offer.  They are interested by the offer, but are busy and do not make the purchase. (Banner Ad visit)
2. Several days later, they search for “Miami tickets” within a search engine.  They click to the same travel website and search for tickets. They have found a time and price that is attractive.  They bookmark the page for a later time. (Organic  Search visit)
3. They return to the website by typing the name directly in the browser.  The person makes the purchase at that time. (Direct visit)

In the traditional referral method, the conversion is credited as the result of a “Direct visit”.

The Multi-Channel approach extends the referral infomation to include the chain of visits that occured within the last thirty days prior to the purchase.

In our example, the conversion is credited to the Direct visit, with “assists” from the Banner Ads and Organic Search visits.

Significance

The difference in recorded visit “paths” is significant to evaluating marketing effectiveness.

In the example above, the basic referral information would lead a Marketing Analyst to overestimate the importance of direct visits to sales conversions. They would mistakenly redirect marketing budget toward the promotion of the website “brand name”.

This would actually negatively impact sales as banner ads and search engine visits are important preliminary steps in the buyer’s decision to make the purchase.

Non-Profits

This tool has important applications in the non-profit world as well.  Donations and memberships would be analyzed using a similar method.   By looking at the entire marketing effort, patterns in membership behavior are revealed.

This helps to justify social media and email newsletters efforts that are important to the membership action, but were not previously credited under the old refferal analysis.

Conclusion

The new Multi-Channel Conversion Funnel Reporting gives website owners a holistic view of their marketing efforts.

It will enable better decisions when allocating resources between website development, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, email newsletters, and display(banner) advertising.

This helps maximize the impact and value of important marketing budgets.

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