Learn which Marketing Channels are Assisting in your Goal Conversions and Sales

Anne Garcia - April 21, 2011

Note: Google Analytics has let us know that the feature called Multi-Channel Funnels discussed in this blog post is in limited pilot. That means that Google Analytics is testing the feature and its usefulness to a small group of trusted testers, and have not made any plans or a timeline for a full launch.

Google Analytics has introduced “Multi-Channel Funnels” that is currently in limited pilot. This new feature allows you to see how your marketing channels work together in bringing in goal conversions and sales.

In the past, Google Analytics has always given credit to the last channel a visitor entered directly before a conversion or sale. For example, if a visitor clicked on a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ad, went to your site but did not complete a purchase, then returned to your site a few days later through an organic search and made a purchase, Google Analytics would credit organic search with the sale conversion, leaving you to wonder whether paid search efforts are working.

With Multi-Channel Funnels, you can see how paid and organic searches, affiliates, social networks, display ads, and email campaigns among others, are all working together to bring you leads and sales.

Google Analytics Multi-Channel Funnels has various reports that help you break down where your goal conversions are coming from:

• Overview: View the amount of conversions that had assistance from other marketing channels.
• Path Link Report: Shows the number of interactions a visitor had from a marketing funnel or if the last click was solely responsible for the conversion.
• Time Lag Report: The amount of time it takes visitors to convert from their first interaction with your site.
• Top Paths Report: Shows you different marketing funnels visitors take in order to make a conversion. You can go into more depth and find which campaigns, keywords and banners are assisting in the goal conversion process.

Multi-Channel Funnels shows you how all of your online marketing efforts align together to generate a lead or sale on your site, and further demonstrates that you can not put all of your marketing dollars into one channel alone.