How do you view direct sales and acquiring new customers in Shopify? The only form of marketing is Facebook ads and the occasional email (new customers are obtained through opt-in ads). Can we attribute anything to direct sales from Facebook ads?
…a client asked.
The answer lies in data, particularly in Google Analytics. In Universal Analytics, there used to be a report called “Touchpoints to Conversion” which displayed all the various sources that led to conversions. While most conversions occurred with one to three touchpoints, some had as many as 20, with customers switching between organic search, paid search, direct, email, etc.
Discover the Road Your Customers Travel to Conversion with Google Analytics 4’s Conversion Paths Report.
In Google Analytics 4 (GA4), the equivalent of the “Touchpoints to Conversion” section in Universal Analytics is the “Conversion Paths” report. This report provides insights into the different touchpoints that users interact with on their journey to conversion and how these touchpoints contribute to the overall conversion rate.
To access the “Conversion Paths” report in your Google Analytics, follow these steps:
- Go to Attribution > Conversion Paths.
- Select the Conversion event you want to analyse.
- Analyse the data presented in the report.
The report offers the following information about touchpoints:
- Touchpoint Category: The type of touchpoint, such as organic search, paid search, social, email, referral, or direct.
- Touchpoint Interactions: The number of times users interacted with a touchpoint of that category.
- Conversion Credit: The percentage of conversion credit that each touchpoint category receives.
- Average Days to Conversion: The average number of days it takes for users to convert after interacting with a touchpoint of that category.
Apart from providing overall data, the report also allows you to delve deeper into specific touchpoints to see more detailed information like the specific channels and campaigns that contributed to conversions.
So the answer to the question is – you need to look at the prevalence of direct traffic in your conversion path for paid social and decide if it is reasonable to attribute a portion of the direct traffic to your ads. Most likely a decent chunk can be reasonably attributed. This is where data needs to be blended with common sense.
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