Do you know how your customers are converting on web and app properties? According to the recent FiveStones Digital Marketing Maturity Report, after “Development of first-party data” and “Digital Automation”, “Advanced/Custom reporting & Attribution” was selected as the number one priority for marketers over the next 12 months (14.8%). The multi-channel funnel reports in Google Analytics provide advanced capabilities to analyse and generate insights on how conversions are taking place on a marketers web and app properties.
In this article, we take a look at multi-channel funnels in Google Analytics, the different reports available and when you should use each report.
What is Multi-channel funnels reporting in Google Analytics?
Multi-channel funnels is a group of reports in Google Analytics that allows marketers to break down how your different marketing channels contributed to conversions and how those conversions take place,including the types of interactions they would complete before converting.
What are the 5 different Multi-channel funnel reports in Google Analytics?
The reports within the Multi-channel funnel feature of Google Analytics provide a number of reports that allow marketers to analyse the different ways that users convert online. The reports include:
Assisted Conversions Report
What is it?
The assisted conversions report provides marketers with a summary of the contribution that each marketing channel has made to the number of conversions.
When to use it?
This report should be used when you want to determine which channels are influencing and assisting on conversions.
Why should you use it?
This report can be used to determine which channels provide the best support for conversions and how often they influence through last click or a direct conversion.
Top Conversion Paths Report
What is it?
Arguably the most important report within Google Analytics’ Multi-channel funnels, the Top Conversion Path provides the most common paths of touchpoints or exposures to your marketing channels that result in a conversion.
When to use it?
This report can be used at all stages of the sales funnel to identify how customers are converting and the different touch points they are interacting with prior to conversion.
Why should you use it?
By understanding the most common channel paths that customers are using to convert gives marketers the insight they need to influence those channels by managing the frequency cap. For example, if the most common conversion path is display > organic search > paid search, then the marketer can invest more in display as an upper funnel channel and use paid search remarketing to close conversions towards the bottom of the sales funnel.
Time Lag Report
What is it?
The Time Lag report allows marketers to view how long it took for users to convert by number of days. The bar chart report is broken into a different bar for days 0-11 and a single bar for 12-30 days which can be broken down by day as well.
When to use it?
The Time Lag report can be used to answer questions such as:
- How long is it typically taking my users to convert?
- How long does it typically take for a user to click an ad before converting?
The time lag report is a good indicator of when you should leverage your remarketing and email efforts. For example, if you typically see users convert within three days then at around day 15 you could set up a remarketing and email automation campaign to target users within the first three days and around day 14, 15 and 16 to drive higher conversions. Understanding the typical time to conversion can also be a useful tool for your sales team, allowing salespeople to directly contact prospects when they would typically convert to also drive offline conversions. Finally, the Time Lag report also provides an idea of the timeframe of consideration in the sales funnel.
Why should you use it?
With this in mind, by adjusting your campaigns (paid media and email automation) you can potentially impact the number of conversions that are directly coming through by more closely linking your campaigns to the behaviour of your customers.
Path Length Report
The Path Length report provides marketers with a breakdown of the average number of touchpoints or exposure to marketing channels that have been interacted with prior to conversion.
When to use it?
The Path Length report can be used when assessing the consideration stage of the sales funnel.
Why should you use it?
The Path Length report provides marketers with an idea of the process involved for consideration within the sales funnel. Do conversions require many channels to influence a conversion? This report can be used in partnership with the Top Conversion Paths to identify which channels should be more or less used to drive conversions more efficiently.
Model Comparison Tool
What is it?
The Google Analytics Model Comparison Tool allows marketers to compare data from up to three different Attribution models within the one interface (see screenshot below).
When to use it?
The model comparison tool should be used anytime your organisation is analysing the different conversion and attribution of your marketing channels, it provides an ‘apples vs apples’ look at where each different Attribution model credits each marketing channel as well as a summary of the changes from your primary model (see screenshot above).
Why should you use it?
By using and comparing different Attribution models, using the Model Comparison Tool, marketers can gather greater perspective and insight from their data by looking at it from different angles. While there may be a specific model that your organisation chooses to use as its primary model, looking at the data from different perspectives provides greater context to make informed, data-driven decisions.
Multi-channel funnels and predictive analytics
Importantly, with the predictive metrics and audiences that were launched in Google Analytics last year, the insights from the Multi-channel funnels reports can be combined to create actionable insights that can provide genuine predictive analytics. By using the different Multi-channel funnels reports you can again apply different perspective and insight to the predictive analytics that Google Analytics now provides.
Conclusion
Multi-channel funnels within Google Analytics provide a range of different reports available for marketers to deep dive into how their users are converting online. Detailed breakdowns of the length and method of conversion can be combined to generate powerful insights that marketers can use to drive greater efficiency from their campaigns by identifying key engagement and interaction points that they can focus on with their marketing activities.
For consultation or support on the different reports available within Google Analytics or analytics strategy, please contact your local FiveStones.