Some call it multi-touch attribution, others call it engagement mapping. Google calls it Multi-Channel Funnels and it has to be one of the biggest talking points in online marketing measurement circles today.
Whatever you want to call it, it is now live in limited pilot for some lucky Google Analytics customers.
A quick note: Google has let us know that the feature called Multi-Channel Funnels discussed in this blog post is in limited pilot. That means that Google is testing the feature and its usefulness to a small group of trusted testers, and has not made any plans or a timeline for a full launch.
To be clear, what we’re talking about here is the end of last-click-only attribution in probably the most widely used web analytics platform in the world (if launched to everyone). This is a feature which until now has been available only to those with big annual web analytics budgets.
It will allow the committed digital marketer to answer those burning questions they’ve been trying to get their heads around for a long time now:
“Should I be advertising on the head or focussing on the tail?”
“How does search and display interact?”
“Has anything good ever come of Tweeting?”
etc.
Anyone familiar with the Google AdWords platform will know that Google launched AdWords Search Funnels back in March 2010. This launch will take things a huge leap further and allow analysis of all online marketing channels through to conversion. Below I am presenting the four aspects that I find most useful in ascending order of usefulness.
A final note of caution before we commence: I am using highly sensitive data from our own GA account so any competitors should look away now.
Understanding how many interactions lead to conversion
The first question I asked myself was similar to the above. Essentially; is the analysis worthwhile at all? The Path Length Report helped me to decide that.
Using our data we can see that 28% of all conversions involved more than one interaction prior to conversion. This seemed substantial enough to warrant further investigation.
Read the full article here.