Utilize Google Analytics assisted conversions report to better understand your marketing efforts

Digital marketing can be evaluated using a variety of statistics and numbers, but, sometimes, we don't give enough credit to the first channels that lead to conversions.

Advertisers use attribution modeling to determine how different marketing channels contribute to their marketing efforts. It allows advertisers to identify which channels are most beneficial to their marketing campaigns by assigning value to a prearranged advertising interaction.??

Google analytics' attribution model is "Last click non-direct", which means it gives credit to the channel, campaigns, and ads that were involved in the last interaction that led to a click and then to a conversion, but not the rest of the channels.

Assisted conversions are interactions that a customer has with a website leading up to a conversion, but not the final conversion. Most Analytics reports show traffic and conversions from the immediate source ("last click non-direct").

How to use Assisted conversions report?!

First, go to Google Analytics, and click on Conversions ->Multi channel funnels -> Assisted Conversions

Once you have selected the relevant conversion you would like to analyze, click on it. In this case, I'm going to select "Purchase".

Select the primary dimension.

The first data column in this report shows the number of Assisted Conversions for each channel. A conversion path includes any source that appears at least once.

The third column displays the volume of Last Click Conversions or Direct Conversions. They are the sources that were at the end of the user's conversion path.?

However, we will focus on their ratio rather than their volumes, so that is where we will be focusing most of our attention.?

They can be divided into three categories:

Category 1 - Less than 1

Category 2 - Close to 1

Category 3 - More than 1

According to the first category (less than 1), the assisting channel is at the end of the conversion process.?

The second category includes the ratio that is almost 1. The channel serves both as an assisting channel and as the last channel of conversion.?

The third category includes the ratio which is significantly more than 1. As a result, the channel is primarily an assisting source for conversion and occurs early in the conversion process.?

Our classification can provide us with better insight into the effectiveness of our campaigns that lead to conversions.

Most awareness-oriented traffic sources will be in the first stages of the funnel, as discovery channels for new users, like YouTube, Facebook, and Tiktok, with a ratio of more than 1.

Conversely, campaigns such as Google search, email campaigns, SMS, organic, and direct should be at the end of the user interaction with a ratio of less than one.

To make the right decision, remember to use the Assisted conversions volume and value.

Conversions Overview report

After understanding the Assisted conversions report, we can use the overview report to identify overlaps between channels that led to conversions.

In order to access this report, go to Conversions -> Multi-channel funnels -> Overview

An overlap chart showing the overlap between selected media sources can be found in the bottom right corner.

Sum all overlapped areas together to get the total conversions that have been distorted by the last non-direct click. When the overlap is greater than 20%, I recommend switching the attribution model, since this does not provide the best overview of your campaign's performance.

To do so, go to Conversions -> Multi-channel funnels -> Model comparison tool

This report will show us other attribution alternatives:

Last interaction - With the last interaction model, the total value of a conversion is attributed to the last touchpoint of a customer’s conversion path.

Last non-direct interaction - With the last non-direct interaction model, the total value of a conversion is attributed to the last touchpoint of a customer’s conversion path, that isn't direct traffic.

Last Google Ads interaction - With the last Google Ads interaction model, the total value of a conversion is attributed to the last touchpoint of a customer with Google Ads campaign, which led to the conversion.

First interaction - A first interaction model is the exact opposite of the last interaction model. In this model, the total value of a conversion is assigned to the first touchpoint in a conversion path.

Linear - the linear model of attribution gives equal credit or value to each channel in a conversion path.

Time Decay - With the time decay attribution model, channel value varies according to where a channel occurs in a conversion path.

Position Based - As a hybrid/combination of the first and last interaction attribution models, position-based attribution is when the first and last interactions in a conversion path are attributed the most value.

Get a better understanding of the contribution of your traffic sources based on their stage in your marketing funnel by comparing the different attribution models.

Hope this one helped.

Best,

Jonathan