Google announced a new set of five reports in Google Analytics today called Multi-Channel Funnels.
In Analytics, conversions and ecommerce transactions are credited to the last campaign, search, or ad that referred the visitor when he or she converted,” Google says in the help center. “But what role did prior website referrals, searches and ads play in that conversion? How much time passed between the visitor’s initial interest and his or her purchase?”
“The Multi-Channel Funnels reports answer these questions and others by showing how your marketing channels (i.e. sources of traffic to your website) work together to create sales and conversions,” it says.
The reports are generated from conversion paths and sequences of interactions (clicks/referrals) from the 30 days that led up to each conversion/transaction. Conversion path data looks at paid/organic search, referral sites, affiliates, social networks, email newsletters, display ads, custom campaigns, etc.
Here are a couple videos about Multi-channel funnels, including a walk-through:
Google Analytics users can use the reports by clicking on the My Conversions tab. AdWords customers are encouraged to link their accounts with their Analytics accounts.
Starting today, Google says, uses will see complete data in the reports for the past two months, but they’ll be expanding it to include data dating back to January over the coming days.