Analytics Cheatsheet

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Payment Funnel BreakdownCheat Sheetmore

PAYMENT FUNNEL METRICS (breakdown)

 

1. First User Medium

  • Definition: "First User Medium" in Google Analytics refers to the initial medium through which a user found your website or app. Mediums describe the general category of the source, such as "organic" (for unpaid search results), "cpc" (for paid search results), "referral" (from other websites), "email," "social," "none" (for direct traffic), etc.

  • Application for Increasing Sales:

    • Identify Effective Channels: Analyze which mediums bring in the highest quality traffic (users who convert or engage more). Focus your marketing spend on these mediums.
    • Optimize Campaigns: If "cpc" (cost-per-click) is a major source of traffic but conversions are low, you may need to adjust your keywords, ad creatives, or landing pages.
    • Remarketing Opportunities: Understand the initial touchpoint of your users and create targeted remarketing campaigns to nurture them down the funnel.

2. First User Primary Channel Group

  • Definition: The "First User Primary Channel Group" is a higher-level grouping that categorizes user acquisition channels (like "Direct," "Organic Search," "Paid Search," "Social," "Email," "Referral," etc.) based on a set of rules defined by Google Analytics. It provides a broader view compared to individual mediums.

  • Application for Increasing Sales:

    • Broad Insights: Use this data to get a broad understanding of which types of channels (e.g., social vs. organic search) drive the most sales or conversions.
    • Budget Allocation: Allocate budgets to the most successful channel groups. For instance, if "Paid Search" and "Organic Search" are top performers, consider optimizing for both paid and organic strategies.
    • Cross-Channel Strategies: Develop cohesive cross-channel marketing strategies. For example, use insights from high-performing organic channels to optimize your content strategy across other channels.

3. First User Source

  • Definition: "First User Source" refers to the specific website, search engine, or referrer that first directed a user to your website or app. This is the specific "source" of the traffic, such as "google," "facebook.com," "newsletter," etc.

  • Application for Increasing Sales:

    • Granular Optimization: Identify the specific sources (like a particular social media site, blog, or partner website) that drive the most valuable traffic. Tailor your messaging or targeting to these specific sources.
    • Influencer or Partner Marketing: If certain blogs or websites drive high-converting traffic, consider collaborations, guest posts, or sponsored content on those platforms.
    • SEO and Referral Traffic: Enhance SEO efforts if organic sources (like Google) are performing well. Similarly, encourage valuable referrals by forming partnerships with high-traffic sites.

Key Takeaways for Application to Increase Sales

  • Holistic View: Utilize all three metrics together for a more comprehensive understanding of user acquisition.
  • Targeted Campaigns: Use insights from the "First User Medium" and "First User Source" to create highly targeted marketing campaigns, especially for channels that drive high-quality traffic.
  • Channel Optimization: Apply findings from "First User Primary Channel Group" to improve overall channel performance, enabling better budget allocation and cross-channel integration strategies.
  • Data-Driven Decisions: Focus on data-driven decisions, such as doubling down on channels that drive first-time users who are more likely to convert, or adjusting messaging and creative based on the initial user acquisition path.

By combining these insights effectively, you can optimize your marketing strategy to focus on channels and sources that drive the most sales, ultimately maximizing ROI.

 

Session / Source / Channel Group / Medium (by usefulness to payment funnel)

Session Source / Medium**

  • Most Useful: This metric provides a detailed combination of both the source (e.g., google, facebook.com, newsletter) and the medium (e.g., cpc, organic, referral). Understanding both the source and medium together helps you identify the exact origin of your traffic and whether it is paid, organic, or referral.
  • Application: Use this metric to pinpoint which specific combinations of source and medium are driving the most conversions within the payment funnel. If you notice that "google / cpc" (Google Ads) or "facebook.com / referral" drives a significant number of completed transactions, you can allocate more budget to these channels or optimize the ads further to reduce drop-offs.

2. Session Campaign

  • Very Useful: This metric shows which specific campaign drove users into the funnel. Campaign-level analysis is critical for understanding the effectiveness of individual marketing efforts and promotions.
  • Application: By analyzing session campaigns, you can determine which marketing messages, offers, or creatives are resonating most with users who complete the payment process. This allows you to optimize your marketing spend on high-performing campaigns and refine or pause underperforming ones.

3. Session Default Channel Group / Session Primary Channel Group (Default Channel Group)

  • Useful: This metric provides a higher-level view of the performance of different types of channels (e.g., Direct, Organic Search, Paid Search, Social, Email, Referral, etc.) within your payment funnel.
  • Application: Use this for broader insights into how different channel types are performing. For instance, if "Paid Search" or "Email" is particularly effective at driving users to complete payments, you can consider increasing investment or creating more targeted campaigns within those channels.

4. Session Source

  • Moderately Useful: This metric provides the specific source (e.g., google, facebook.com) that referred users to your site. While it is useful, it lacks the context of the medium (e.g., cpc, organic), which is critical for understanding the type of traffic.
  • Application: Use "Session Source" for more granular analysis if you want to see which specific domains are driving traffic. However, combining it with "medium" provides a more complete picture.

5. Session Medium

  • Moderately Useful: This metric provides insight into the general category of traffic (e.g., cpc, organic, referral). It is useful for understanding the type of traffic that converts but is less specific than "Source / Medium."
  • Application: This can help you understand overall performance by medium. However, in a payment funnel context, you usually want the combined view (source/medium) for deeper insights.

6. Session Campaign ID

  • Less Useful: This is a more granular identifier used for specific campaigns. While it can be used for very detailed campaign tracking, the campaign name (Session Campaign) is usually more actionable for most analyses.
  • Application: Use this if you need to drill down into very specific details of campaigns, but typically, "Session Campaign" will provide more actionable insights.

7. Session Source Platform

  • Less Useful: This metric might refer to the platform (e.g., Facebook, Google Ads) that delivered the session. While it can be informative, it often overlaps with "Source / Medium" and does not provide as much actionable detail.
  • Application: This metric can provide additional context, but it's generally not as useful as the combined "Session Source / Medium."

Key Takeaway: Most Useful Metrics in a Payment Funnel

  1. Session Source / Medium: Provides the most actionable insights by combining both source and medium, enabling you to optimize specific traffic-driving strategies.
  2. Session Campaign: Useful for understanding the impact of specific campaigns on conversions within the payment funnel.
  3. Session Default Channel Group / Session Primary Channel Group: Offers a broader understanding of which types of channels are driving successful payments, helping with strategic allocation of marketing budgets.

By focusing on these metrics, you can gain deeper insights into the effectiveness of your marketing efforts, identify where users drop off in the payment process, and refine your strategies to increase conversion rates.

 

Purchase By Tour:

TOURS BY CODE: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RXKmUodFyaR7DSJ6R53MNivtMIyKlVQbRZ9wshGXTd8/edit?usp=sharing



Analytics Channel Groups

  1. Referral:

    • Definition: Traffic that comes to your site from another website. This includes users clicking on links from other websites to yours.
    • Example: A user clicks on a link from a news article or blog post that directs them to your website.

  2. Direct:

    • Definition: Traffic that comes directly to your site without a referring source. This usually happens when users type your URL directly into their browser or use a bookmark.
    • Example: A user types www.yourwebsite.com into their browser's address bar.

  3. Organic Search:

    • Definition: Traffic that comes to your site from unpaid search results on search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo.
    • Example: A user searches for "best running shoes" on Google and clicks on a link to your website from the search results.

  4. Email:

    • Definition: Traffic that comes to your site from email campaigns. This includes users clicking on links in promotional emails, newsletters, etc.
    • Example: A user receives your monthly newsletter and clicks on a link to a new product on your website.

  5. Organic Social:

    • Definition: Traffic that comes to your site from unpaid social media posts. This includes users clicking on links in your social media posts on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
    • Example: A user sees your post on Instagram about a new product and clicks the link to visit your website.

  6. Paid Search:

    • Definition: Traffic that comes to your site from paid search advertisements. This includes users clicking on ads you’ve placed on search engines.
    • Example: A user searches for "buy running shoes" and clicks on your Google AdWords ad.

Key Events Report Selector

  1. Default Channel Group:

    • Definition: This categorizes your traffic based on predefined channels (like those listed above).
    • Impact: Viewing the key events report by default channel group allows you to see which broad traffic sources are driving key events (e.g., purchases) on your site.

  2. Source:

    • Definition: The specific origin of your traffic, such as a particular website or search engine.
    • Impact: Viewing by source gives you a more detailed look at where your traffic is coming from within each channel. For instance, within the "Referral" channel, you could see specific websites referring traffic to your site.

  3. Medium:

    • Definition: The general category of the source, such as organic, cpc (cost-per-click), or email.
    • Impact: This helps you understand the method through which users found your site. For example, seeing the breakdown of traffic from organic search versus paid search.

  4. Campaign:

    • Definition: The name of your marketing campaigns.
    • Impact: This lets you evaluate the performance of specific marketing campaigns in driving key events on your site. For example, you can see which email campaign resulted in the most purchases.

  5. Overtime:

    • Definition: Traffic and key events are viewed over a period of time.
    • Impact: This allows you to analyze trends and patterns in your data over time, helping you understand how key events are changing and identify any seasonal or time-based trends.

Summary

Changing the selector in the key events report will provide you with different perspectives on how users are interacting with your site and which sources or campaigns are driving key events, such as purchases. Here's a quick recap:

  • Default Channel Group: Broad categories of traffic sources.
  • Source: Specific origins of traffic.
  • Medium: General categories of traffic methods.
  • Campaign: Performance of specific marketing campaigns.
  • Overtime: Trends and patterns over time.

This helps you make informed decisions about where to focus your marketing efforts and optimize for better performance.

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