Chances are you know where most of your conversions happen, but knowing all the touchpoints that took place to actually make those conversions a reality is a different story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That sequence of touchpoints <\/strong>is called your conversion path<\/strong>. Now looking at that lot of data and getting insights is what you would call conversion path analysis<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most customers rarely convert instantaneously or within two touch points. Depending on your industry and the type of product or service you’re selling, your customer journeys can include anywhere between 3 to 20+ touchpoints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On top of that, while ad platforms can tell you the touchpoints and interactions that took place on their systems, they can’t see or show the ones that happened on other platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And to make things even more complex, most ad platforms favor last-touch attribution models, which completely overlooks the channels and campaigns which initiated the journey, and the ones that assisted to finally drive that customer to conversion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this article we explain why conversion path analysis is the modern performance marketer’s go-to tactic for campaign optimization. It helps you unravel how your customers interact with your marketing channels and materials so you can make the right decisions when it comes to budget allocation across the funnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A conversion path shows you exactly the steps a user or customer takes in their journey to purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One conversion path sequence might look like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meta Ad<\/strong> (mobile) \u2192 Organic search <\/strong>(desktop) \u2192 Blog visit <\/strong>(desktop) \u2192 Google Ad <\/strong>(desktop) \u2192 Email Click<\/strong> (mobile) \u2192 Purchase <\/strong>(mobile)<\/p>\n\n\n\n If this is a how a good number of your users interact, then you know users engage with multiple channels, and have multiple touchpoints with your brand and content, using several different devices before they buy, across many days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What conversion path analysis does, is it examines the types of paths users take (like the one above), so you can grasp behaviors and then make marketing decisions that align for better campaign performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The analysis involves looking at the various sequences and asking questions like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you have the answers to these questions, you begin to understand how your customers move through and respond to various marketing campaigns you have running across your traffic channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So you move way beyond<\/em>, last-click reporting, and on to conversion analysis where you can apply different attribution models to get deeper insights on which campaigns and channels work best at which stage of the funnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With all the privacy updates that have taken place in recent years, conversion path analysis and tracking has become more difficult because of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result, most businesses have been forced to make costly ad decisions based on incomplete data and attribution models<\/strong> that don’t<\/em> reflect the real customer journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And this is why many performance marketers are turning to third-party tools like RedTrack, which:<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you have clean and accurate data to work with, you can finally see which campaigns are genuinely:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before jumping into conversion path analysis, you need to grasp the five key components it’s made up of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we say touchpoint, we mean any and every direct interaction<\/strong> the user has with your brand or product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This can include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your conversion events are the actions<\/strong> you want users to take after viewing a particular ad or marketing content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The path length is the number of touchpoints<\/strong> that happen before a conversion takes place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your conversion path’s time lag measures the time span <\/strong>between the user’s first interaction and the final conversion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The time lag you see in your conversion path analysis depends greatly on the industry and product type you’re selling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The final thing you need to look at when doing conversion path analysis is which channels play key roles at which stage of the funnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some might only be generating awareness, some might be your nurtures (conversion assisters), and others will be demand capturers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So you can break them down into three core groups:<\/p>\n\n\n\n A standard conversion path report will normally includes five key metrics:<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you view these reports, what you should be focusing on are the patterns which seem to be prevalent<\/strong>, rather than individual<\/em> customer journeys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s the only way you’ll be able to understand how different touchpoints across multiple channels work together to influence and create conversions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And this is why conversion path analysis is only possible<\/strong> through a tool that can capture entire customer journeys<\/strong> across all<\/em><\/strong> your ad traffic channels<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because native ad platforms only see the touchpoints that occured within their ecosystem, they can’t actually give you the full report on your conversion paths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n RedTrack on the other hand, has a much broader view of user paths. It collects data across multiple channels, and then provides click, cost, conversion and revenue numbers for all your campaigns in one centralized dashboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Depending on the tool you’re using, you might have dozens of different metrics and charts. What you want to do is focus on are the key ones that provide the most valuable insights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Start with focusing on these four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conversion Path Length<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Time Lag<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Assisted Conversions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Audience segments<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When the time comes to finally analyze conversion path analysis, start by identifying:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, take these insights and combine them with funnel analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While conversion paths reveal<\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>how users arrive<\/em>, funnel analysis shows <\/strong>you what happens once they reach your site.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is where you’ll discover your points of friction (areas for improvement).<\/p>\n\n\n\n You might find:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The key to improving your revenue by using conversion path optimization insights is acting on the learnings<\/strong> you’ve discovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In most cases you’ll find three key actions you can take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you see something is delivering stellar results, you’ll want to maximize<\/strong> and reinforce<\/strong> it as much as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So if you see a particular sequence is driving consistent revenue, you’ll want to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the other hand, when you see a particular sequence is continuously underperforming, and users are dropping off, you’ll want to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’re using RedTrack, the tool’s near real-time reporting helps you monitor campaigns and conversion paths almost instantaneously (while campaigns are still running), so you can spot performance peaks and drop offs quickly and make changes if needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, you may have good content but you’re pushing it out to users at the wrong stage of the buying journey<\/strong>. So make sure you align your content and messaging to the right buying stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The idea is that you match your messaging to user intent at each stage. This will increase your changes of guiding the user through the entire customer journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For conversion path analysis to be worth your time, you need analysis-worthy reporting<\/strong>. There’s no point doing conversion path analysis when you only have part of the customer journey and questionable click and conversion accuracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So the absolute first, and foundational step you need to take care of before you incorporate conversion path analysis within your ad campaign reporting workflows is to get your hands on a tool that gathers, cleans and centralizes all your click and conversion data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n RedTrack<\/strong> does exactly that, and more<\/em>. With server-side tracking, 82% CAPI match rate <\/strong>and first-party click captures<\/strong> for every major ad platform and affiliate network, it guarantees reliable conversion path data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you have that, you’re team can get knee-deep in customer sequences and touchpoint analysis to draw conclusions that will drive better campaign performance<\/strong> and guide smarter budget allocations<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat is Conversion Path Analysis & Why Every Performance Marketer Should Use It<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Why Privacy Conrols Have Made Conversion Path Analysis More Difficult<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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5 Components of Conversion Path Analysis<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Touchpoints<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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2. Conversion Events<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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3. Path Length<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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4. Time Lag<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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5. Channel Roles<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Understanding Conversion Path Reports<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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And when you have this as a performance marketer, you can then anlalyze user behavior without being limited to individual platform data.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Conversion Path Metrics You Should Focus On<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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How to Analyze Conversion Paths<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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How to Improve Revenue Using Conversion Path Insights<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Improve High-Converting Journeys<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Fix Friction Points<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Align Your Messaging to Buying Stages<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Why RedTrack Needs To Be Your Foundation Step for Conversion Path Analysis<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n