Together with the specialists from the Digital People Group DPL, we analyze how associated conversions work and why it is important to track them — using the example of our collaboration with a well-known international cloud provider (we take into account the client's preferences and do not disclose the brand name).
In Analytics, we can see how the user’s interactions with the site were structured and which actions led to the conversion. Go to: “Reports” — “Conversions” — “Multi-Channel Funnels.”
The general “Overview” report contains information about the number of direct and associated conversions, as well as the percentage of total conversions that came from direct visits, organic search, paid search, and other channels.
In the “Associated Conversions” report, the system shows the number of associated conversions for each channel. In the far-right column of the report, you can see the ratio of associated conversions to last-click or direct interaction conversions. This ratio helps determine the role of each traffic source: if the coefficient is close to zero, the source plays a concluding role in the conversion; if the coefficient is close to one, it plays both a supporting and concluding role; if the coefficient is significantly greater than one, it plays a supporting role.
The “Top Conversion Paths” and “Time to Conversion” reports can also be useful. The first allows you to track the main paths through which users arrive at the site, and the second shows the average time until a conversion occurs.
Finally, in GA, there is a model comparison tool that helps you understand how different attribution models affect the assessment of marketing channels’ value.
Here, we specify the attribution model (e.g., “Last Interaction”), and the table displays the number of conversions for each channel based on that model. You can select two or three attribution models at once and compare the results.
When evaluating channel effectiveness, it’s important to choose attribution models that align with the marketing goals of the advertising campaign and the business’s characteristics.
The tool helps build hypotheses about optimizing advertising budgets. To test a hypothesis, we run an experiment — increasing or decreasing the budget based on the report, then assess the results.
In Google Analytics version GA4, the same basic features for analyzing multi-channel funnels are available as in Universal Analytics. These include the standard “Conversion Paths” reports and the attribution model comparison tool.
However, GA4 also provides advanced visualization options for a more detailed traffic analysis. The visualization is divided into three segments:
- Early touchpoints
- Mid touchpoints
- Late touchpoints
With the help of this visualization, we can quickly determine which sources, channels, campaigns, or groupings of channels initiated user paths, which are most common in the middle of the interaction points, and which ones directly lead to conversion.
The tools for analyzing multi-channel funnels and associated conversions in GA4 are located in the “Advertising” section.
Tips for work
Tips for working with associated conversions in B2B topics
Accept as a given that your IT product will have delayed demand. Analyze not only the leads but the entire customer journey.
For conversion path analysis, the capabilities of Yandex.Metrica are insufficient. Conduct a full analysis using Google’s “Multi-Channel Funnels” reports.
Connect end-to-end analytics in Metrica; this integration with the CRM system will help analyze promotion costs.
Reevaluate how you assess the effectiveness of advertising sources, channels, and campaigns:
When evaluating the contribution of a channel, source, or specific campaign, it makes sense to look at performance across different attribution models and track which model demonstrates the best results.
When analyzing conversion chains, it is important to find patterns showing which channel/source combinations occur most frequently. This will help avoid drops in other channels/sources if the budget is redistributed or inefficient (based on last-click) activities are turned off.
It is crucial to clearly understand at which stage of the funnel the channel, source, or campaign works and evaluate them according to the appropriate attribution model. For example, if we launch a new product and set the goal of introducing it to as many people as possible, we should not evaluate the ads based on last-click attribution — especially in B2B and complex IT products, last-touch evaluation will not be effective.