channels work together over time to drive sales and conversions.

During this lesson we will review: how conversions are credited in the Multi-Channel

Funnels reports, the difference between first, assist and last

interactions and how to navigate the reports in general

In order to see data within the Multi-Channel Funnels reports, you first need to set up

Goals, Ecommerce tracking or both.

Remember, in Google Analytics, conversions and ecommerce transactions are typically credited

to the last campaign, search, or ad that referred the visitor when he or she converted. This

is called last-click attribution and is how conversions are attributed in most Google

Analytics reports, like the Acquisition reports and the AdWords reports.

But it's likely that prior marketing activities, besides the last one, influence many of your

users' conversions, and that at least some conversions happen as a result of multiple

visits over a period of days, weeks, or even months.

The Multi-Channel Funnels reports allow you to answer questions about how your marketing

channels work together over time to drive sales and conversions, rather than giving

all the conversion credit to the last click.

The information in these reports is generated from conversion paths, which contain the sequences

of visits that lead up to each conversion and transaction. By default, only interactions

within the last 30 days are included in conversion paths, but you can adjust this time period

from 1 to 90 days using the "Lookback Window" selector at the top of each Multi-Channel

Funnels report.

Conversion path data includes interactions with virtually all digital channels. Google

Analytics will automatically create channel groups such as:

direct organic and paid search

referral sites social networks

display advertising email

It is highly recommended that you customize the default channels to better align with

your marketing activities. For more information on customizing channels in the Multi-Channel

Funnels reports, check out the resources in this lesson.

In the reports, channels are credited according to the roles they play in conversions -- how

often they assisted or completed sales and conversions.

A channel can play three roles in a conversion path:

"Last Interaction" is the referral that immediately precedes the conversion.

"Assist Interaction" is any referral that is on the conversion path, but is not the

last interaction. "First Interaction" is the first referral

on the conversion path; it's a subset of the assist interactions.

Now let's take a look at the Assisted Conversions report. The Assisted Conversions report summarizes

the roles and contributions of your channels. To calculate the metrics in this report, Google

Analytics looks across all the conversion paths for the conversions you're analyzing.

The Assist metrics summarize the number and monetary value of sales and conversions that

a channel assisted. The Last Click metrics show conversions and

revenue that the channel closed or completed. The First Click metrics show the number and

value of sales and conversions a channel initiated.

In the Assisted Conversions report, you'll see a ratio of assisted conversions to last

click or direct conversions for each channel. This ratio summarizes a channel's overall

role in the conversion process. A value close to 0 indicates that a channel

completed more sales and conversions than it assisted or initiated.

A value close to 1 indicates that the channel equally assisted and completed sales and conversions.

The more this value exceeds 1, the more the channel assisted sales and conversions.

The Top Conversion Paths report shows all of the unique sequences of channel interactions

that led to conversions, as well as the number of conversions from each path, and the value

of those conversions. This allows you to see how channels interact along your conversion

paths. As you look through the list of paths, you may find repeated patterns that give you

insights into how to most effectively market across channels.

The channels in the path are labeled according to the MCF Channel Grouping by default, but

you can change the labels by selecting a different primary dimension above the paths table.

For example, you can see your data broken out by source and medium to check how specific

sources of traffic work together.

The Time Lag report shows how many days pass between the first interaction and last interaction

for your users' conversion paths. This can give you insight into the length of your online

sales cycle.

The Path Length report breaks out your conversions by the number of channel interactions contained

in your users' conversion paths. This can tell you how many times a user typically returns

to your site before converting.

For more information on how to use the Multi-Channel Funnels reports, check out the Google Analytics

Help Center and the additional resources in this lesson.