It is rare to find a few announcements per year that can change the Internet marketing industry. Google Analytics Multi-Channel Funnel Reports are certainly worthy of being one of these titles. I was able to research and test this amazing idea on my own, so the next step was to get my jaw off the ground.

This report shows you the entire journey that users took to reach a goal or convert to your site. It does not show the last referrer. Let’s start by looking at some of the features. After signing into Google Analytics, click on “Multi-Channel Funnels”, under the “My Conversions” tab. This will open an overview screen that displays data like the number of conversions achieved and the channels that “assisted” them.

The conversion was historically attributed to the search results or advertisements that were before conversion. Internet marketing is changing. Do you give credit to the wide receiver or the quarterback when your favorite football team scores touchdowns?

Or the quarterback who threw it? Or the offensive lineman that made the block? I’d sure hope not.

Each member of the team contributes to the success of the whole squad. These “assisted converts” are similar in the sense that we now have a better understanding of all aspects that contribute to a particular conversion. You will find below a Venn Diagram provided by Google that shows the distribution of the various conversion paths as found in the overview section.

This information is important because it provides a lot of insight into how many interactions went into one conversion. You can also drill down to find information about which channels and campaigns are helping the conversions. Let’s look at the “Assisted/Last Interaction Conversions” metric.

Close to zero indicates that the channel closes more sales than it assists. However, a channel that closes close to one assists more sales than it closes. These numbers allow you to assign roles to each medium.

You can view the “Time Lag” section to see how long it takes for users to experience their first interaction and then convert to them. It would surprise you to see how many users have a time lag greater than ten days.

Google also offers a section called “Path Length”, which closely matches the section “Time Lag”.

The “Path Length”, which provides insight into total user interactions per channel, is where the difference lies. This allows you to determine if the search click or advertisement was the result of many interactions. (Maybe the large receiver should be given all the credit). The “Top Conversion Paths” segment is my favorite part of the Analytics data tool.

This section will show you the various routes people took to reach a goal or convert. Perhaps they searched for a domain name three weeks ago, clicked on an advertisement four days later, and then converted by typing it in today. You have all of this information, and more!

To get more precise, click the “Keyword (Or source/Medium] Path” button as follows:

Are you still with me? I’m almost done. Now comes the best part!

To better understand your visitors’ conversion paths, you can create custom segments. Perhaps people are searching for top warranties for similar products to those you offer and then they come to your website. This keyword may have initiated the process in the past.