Touchpoint Analysis in Google Analytics Attribution Modelling
Table of Contents
This article is related to attribution modelling in Google Analytics.
If you are brand new to attribution modelling then I would suggest reading this article first: Beginners Guide to Google Analytics Attribution Modeling.
Introduction to Interaction (Touchpoint)
Interaction is an exposure to a marketing channel.
Interaction is also known as ‘touch or touchpoint’.
For example in the chart below, a visitor is exposed to 6 different marketing channels before he made a purchase:
Each exposure is known by the name of ‘interaction’ in multi-channel funnel reports.
Note: Google Analytics can record up to 5000 interactions per conversion path.
Types of Interactions
There are several types of interactions.
For example:
#1 Interactions based on position – First interaction, middle interaction and last interaction.
These interactions are also known by the name: first touch, middle touch and last touch which are more commonly used in the web analytics world.
#2 Interactions based on type – click interactions (which is basically clicking on ads), impression interactions (which is basically viewing an ad), direct visit interactions, etc.
#3 Interactions based on campaign or traffic source type – keyword interactions, campaign interactions, facebook interactions, etc.
Any interaction other than the last interaction is called the assist interaction.
Any interaction other than the first and last interaction is called the middle interaction.
Get the Free E-Book (52 Pages)
Types of Interaction Analysis
In Google Analytics you can do two types of interaction analysis:
- Assisting Interaction Analysis
- First Interaction Analysis
As the name suggests, the ‘Assisting Interaction analysis’ is the analysis of assist interactions (any interaction other than the last one) and the ‘First Interaction Analysis’ is the analysis of the first interactions.
You can do such type of analysis in the ‘Assisted Conversions’ report (under Multi-Channel Funnels).
Interaction Types for GDN Ads
If you have enabled GDN impression reporting, not only you will see the ‘Interaction Type’ drop-down menu in your multi-channel funnel reports but you will also see a new set of interactions types in the ‘Top Conversion Paths’ report:
Following are the new interactions (touchpoints) for GDN (Google display network) ads:
#1 ‘Impression’ Interactions/Touch Points – it refers to unclicked non-text display ad impressions
#2 ‘Click’ Interactions/Touch Points – it refers to non-text display ad clicks
#3 ‘Direct’ Interactions/Touch Points – it refers to unclicked non-text display ad impressions which resulted in direct conversions on your website.
#4 ‘Rich media’ Interactions/Touch Points – it refers to the following types of interactions:
- Click on a video ad: play, pause, and resume button.
- Turning a video ad to full screen
- Expanding an ad
To learn more about these interactions types, read this article: View-through conversion tracking in Google Analytics
Not All Touch Points Are Equally Valuable
The exposure to a marketing channel during the path to conversion is known as interaction, touch or touchpoint.
So if you are exposed to one marketing channel in your path to conversion then your conversion path includes only one touchpoint.
Similarly, if you are exposed to 4 marketing channels in your path to conversion then your conversion path will include 4 touchpoints.
Now consider, I follow this conversion path:
Here I am exposed to 7 different acquisition channels before I made a purchase.
Since each of this exposure is considered as a touchpoint, there are 7 different touchpoints in my conversion path.
Now let us see how credit for the conversion is distributed to different touchpoints under different attribution models:
In the case of the first touch attribution model 100% credit for the conversion is attributed to the first touch.
So according to the first touch model, my reading of the blog post gets all the credit for the conversion.
But this is not true.
As you can see 6 other acquisition channels have also played an important role in my path to conversion.
In the case of last-touch attribution model 100% credit for the conversion is attributed to the last touch.
So according to the last touch model, direct traffic gets all the credit for conversions.
Again this is simply not the case as there are 6 more channels in play.
In the case of the Linear attribution model, all touchpoints get equal credit for the conversion.
So according to the linear model, all 7 touch points are equally important in my path to purchase.
But this is also not true.
I read product reviews and went to the product comparison website before making a purchase.
These two touches were more valuable to me than the exposure to the blog post, display ad, PPC ad and organic search listing as they played a very important role in my purchase decision.
Had I not been satisfied with the product review or pricing, I wouldn’t have made the purchase in the first place.
In case of time decay model, the touchpoints which are closest in the time to conversions get more credit.
So according to the time decay model, my exposure to an organic search result and visiting the website directly should get more credit than to my exposure to product reviews and pricing.
Get my best selling books on Attribution Modelling
- Learn to implement attribution modelling in your organization
- Understand the customer purchase journey across devices
- Determine the most effective marketing channels for investment
Click book covers to find out more
Again such type of credit distribution is not accurate as had I not been satisfied with the product review or pricing, I wouldn’t have made the purchase in the first place.
The time decay model is the modified last touch attribution model.
Though it is crappy but less crappy than the last touch and other GA models.
One issue worth pointing out about giving more credit to last touches/interactions:
Last interactions act as a last point of contact prior to purchase.
By the time a customer experience last touches to marketing channel(s), a purchase decision has already been made.
So it doesn’t really matter which channel closed the sale when it comes to allocating budget.
In the case of the Last Non-Direct Click attribution model 100% credit for the conversion is attributed to the last non-direct click.
So according to this model, organic search gets all the credit for the conversion.
So this model also gives an incorrect picture of the conversion path.
In the case of Last Adwords Click attribution model 100% credit for the conversion is attributed to the last Adwords click.
So according to this model, paid search result gets all the credit for the conversion.
But this is also not a true representation of my buying behavior.
In the case of the Proportional Multi-touch attribution model the credit is distributed to touches in proportion to their contribution in the conversion.
The acquisition channel which assists the most gets the maximum credit for conversion and maximum resources are allocated to it regardless of it being the first touch, last touch or middle touch.
All other touches would get credit in proportion to their contribution to the conversion path.
So according to this model, exposure to product review and product comparison websites get more credit for conversion than all other touchpoints as they played a key role in the decision-making process and my purchase journey.
Note: The proportional multi-touch attribution model is my model and GA does not directly support it.
But it indirectly supports it through data driven attribution model (only available to GA premium customers at present).
The Concept of Missing Touchpoints in Conversion Paths
Google Analytics provides best attribution modelling capabilities in the world but it has its own drawbacks.
You need to be aware of following limitations before you interpret GA multi-channel funnel and attribution reports:
#1 Google Analytics and Adwords attribution modelling is based on only ‘known’ touchpoints
#2 Both Google Analytics and Google Adwords, record and report attribution for only online touchpoints.
#3 Both Google Analytics and Google Adwords, do not record and report attribution for ‘all’ digital marketing channels
#4 Both Google Analytics and Google Adwords, do not record and report attribution across devices and browsers
#5 Adwords conversion paths in Google Analytics do not include impression interactions (unless you use GA premium)
#6 Filtered views omit certain touchpoints in conversion paths
If you wish to minimize the number of missing touchpoints in your conversion path, you need to integrate as much data as possible from different data sources.
To learn more about the concept of missing touchpoints in a conversion path, read this article: Understanding Missing Touchpoints in Attribution Modelling
Other articles on Attribution Modelling in Google Analytics
- Touchpoint Analysis in Google Analytics Attribution Modelling
- 8 Google Analytics Conversions Segments You Must Use
- Default and Custom Attribution Models in Google Analytics
- Attribution Model Comparison Tool in Google Analytics
- Which Attribution Model to use in Google Analytics?
- How to create Custom Attribution Model in Google Analytics
- How to do ROI Analysis in Google Analytics
- Google Analytics Attribution Modelling – Complete Guide
- Guide to Data Driven Attribution Model in Google Analytics
- Conversion Credit distribution for Attribution Models in Google Analytics
- You are doing Google Analytics all wrong. Here is why
- Marketing Mix Modelling or Attribution Modelling. Which one is for you?
- Introduction to Nonline Analytics – True Multi Channel Analytics
- How to set up Data driven attribution model in Google Analytics
- How to valuate Display Advertising through Attribution Modelling
- Understanding Shopping Carts for Analytics and Conversion Optimization
- View-through conversion tracking in Google Analytics
- Understanding Missing Touch Points in Attribution Modelling
- Guide to Offline Conversion Tracking in Google Analytics
- How to explain attribution modelling to your clients
- 6 Keys to Digital Success in Attribution Modelling
- How to use ZMOT to increase Conversions and Sales exponentially
- How to Measure and Improve the Quality of SEO Traffic through Google Analytics
- How to analyse and report the true value of your SEO Campaign
- How to allocate Budgets in Multi Channel Marketing
- What You Should Know about Historical Data in Web Analytics
- Google Analytics Not Provided Keywords and how to unlock and analyze them
- Selecting the Best Attribution Model for Inbound Marketing
- Introduction to TV attribution in Google Analytics Attribution 360
- Cross Device Reports in Google Analytics via Google Signals
- Data-Driven Attribution Model Explorer in Google Analytics
Do you know the difference between Web Analytics and Google Analytics?
99.99% of course creators themselves don’t know the difference between Web analytics, Google Analytics (GA) and Google Tag Manager (GTM).
So they are teaching GA and GTM in the name of teaching Web analytics.
They just copy each other. Monkey see, monkey do.
But Web analytics is not about GA, GTM.
It is about analyzing and interpreting data, setting up goals, strategies and KPIs.
It’s about creating strategic roadmap for your business.
Web Analytics is the core skill. Google Analytics is just a tool used to implement ‘Web Analytics’.
You can also implement ‘Web analytics’ via other tools like ‘adobe analytics’, ‘kissmetrics’ etc.
Using Google Analytics without the good understanding of ‘Web analytics’ is like driving around in a car, in a big city without understanding the traffic rules and road signs.
You are either likely to end up somewhere other than your destination or you get involved in an accident.
You learn data analysis and interpretation from Web analytics and not from Google Analytics.
The direction in which your analysis will move, will determine the direction in which your marketing campaigns and eventually your company will move to get the highest possible return on investment.
You get that direction from ‘Web analytics’ and not from ‘Google Analytics’.
You learn to set up KPIs, strategies and measurement framework for your business from ‘Web analytics’ and not from ‘Google Analytics’.
So if you are taking a course only on 'Google Analytics’, you are learning to use one of the tools of ‘Web analytics’. You are not learning the ‘Web analytics’ itself.
Since any person can learn to use Google Analytics in couple of weeks, you do no get any competitive advantage in the marketplace just by knowing GA.
You need to know lot more than GA in order to work in Web analytics and marketing field.
So what I have done, if you are interested, is I have put together a completely free training that will teach you exactly how I have been able to leverage web/digital analytics to generate floods of news sales and customers and how you can literally copy what I have done to get similar results.
Here what You'll Learn On This FREE Web Class!
1) The number 1 reason why most marketers and business owners are not able to scale their advertising and maximise sales.
2) Why you won’t get any competitive advantage in the marketplace just by knowing Google Analytics.
3) The number 1 reason why conversion optimization is not working for your business.
4) How to advertise on any marketing platform for FREE with an unlimited budget.
5) How to learn and master web/digital analytics and conversion optimization in record time.
My best selling books on Digital Analytics and Conversion Optimization
Maths and Stats for Web Analytics and Conversion Optimization
This expert guide will teach you how to leverage the knowledge of maths and statistics in order to accurately interpret data and take actions, which can quickly improve the bottom-line of your online business.
Master the Essentials of Email Marketing Analytics
This book focuses solely on the ‘analytics’ that power your email marketing optimization program and will help you dramatically reduce your cost per acquisition and increase marketing ROI by tracking the performance of the various KPIs and metrics used for email marketing.
Attribution Modelling in Google Analytics and Beyond
Attribution modelling is the process of determining the most effective marketing channels for investment. This book has been written to help you implement attribution modelling. It will teach you how to leverage the knowledge of attribution modelling in order to allocate marketing budget and understand buying behaviour.
Attribution Modelling in Google Ads and Facebook
This book has been written to help you implement attribution modelling in Google Ads (Google AdWords) and Facebook. It will teach you, how to leverage the knowledge of attribution modelling in order to understand the customer purchasing journey and determine the most effective marketing channels for investment.
Himanshu Sharma
Digital Marketing Consultant and Founder of Optimizesmart.com
Table of Contents
This article is related to attribution modelling in Google Analytics.
If you are brand new to attribution modelling then I would suggest reading this article first: Beginners Guide to Google Analytics Attribution Modeling.
Introduction to Interaction (Touchpoint)
Interaction is an exposure to a marketing channel.
Interaction is also known as ‘touch or touchpoint’.
For example in the chart below, a visitor is exposed to 6 different marketing channels before he made a purchase:
Each exposure is known by the name of ‘interaction’ in multi-channel funnel reports.
Note: Google Analytics can record up to 5000 interactions per conversion path.
Types of Interactions
There are several types of interactions.
For example:
#1 Interactions based on position – First interaction, middle interaction and last interaction.
These interactions are also known by the name: first touch, middle touch and last touch which are more commonly used in the web analytics world.
#2 Interactions based on type – click interactions (which is basically clicking on ads), impression interactions (which is basically viewing an ad), direct visit interactions, etc.
#3 Interactions based on campaign or traffic source type – keyword interactions, campaign interactions, facebook interactions, etc.
Any interaction other than the last interaction is called the assist interaction.
Any interaction other than the first and last interaction is called the middle interaction.
Get the Free E-Book (52 Pages)
Types of Interaction Analysis
In Google Analytics you can do two types of interaction analysis:
- Assisting Interaction Analysis
- First Interaction Analysis
As the name suggests, the ‘Assisting Interaction analysis’ is the analysis of assist interactions (any interaction other than the last one) and the ‘First Interaction Analysis’ is the analysis of the first interactions.
You can do such type of analysis in the ‘Assisted Conversions’ report (under Multi-Channel Funnels).
Interaction Types for GDN Ads
If you have enabled GDN impression reporting, not only you will see the ‘Interaction Type’ drop-down menu in your multi-channel funnel reports but you will also see a new set of interactions types in the ‘Top Conversion Paths’ report:
Following are the new interactions (touchpoints) for GDN (Google display network) ads:
#1 ‘Impression’ Interactions/Touch Points – it refers to unclicked non-text display ad impressions
#2 ‘Click’ Interactions/Touch Points – it refers to non-text display ad clicks
#3 ‘Direct’ Interactions/Touch Points – it refers to unclicked non-text display ad impressions which resulted in direct conversions on your website.
#4 ‘Rich media’ Interactions/Touch Points – it refers to the following types of interactions:
- Click on a video ad: play, pause, and resume button.
- Turning a video ad to full screen
- Expanding an ad
To learn more about these interactions types, read this article: View-through conversion tracking in Google Analytics
Not All Touch Points Are Equally Valuable
The exposure to a marketing channel during the path to conversion is known as interaction, touch or touchpoint.
So if you are exposed to one marketing channel in your path to conversion then your conversion path includes only one touchpoint.
Similarly, if you are exposed to 4 marketing channels in your path to conversion then your conversion path will include 4 touchpoints.
Now consider, I follow this conversion path:
Here I am exposed to 7 different acquisition channels before I made a purchase.
Since each of this exposure is considered as a touchpoint, there are 7 different touchpoints in my conversion path.
Now let us see how credit for the conversion is distributed to different touchpoints under different attribution models:
In the case of the first touch attribution model 100% credit for the conversion is attributed to the first touch.
So according to the first touch model, my reading of the blog post gets all the credit for the conversion.
But this is not true.
As you can see 6 other acquisition channels have also played an important role in my path to conversion.
In the case of last-touch attribution model 100% credit for the conversion is attributed to the last touch.
So according to the last touch model, direct traffic gets all the credit for conversions.
Again this is simply not the case as there are 6 more channels in play.
In the case of the Linear attribution model, all touchpoints get equal credit for the conversion.
So according to the linear model, all 7 touch points are equally important in my path to purchase.
But this is also not true.
I read product reviews and went to the product comparison website before making a purchase.
These two touches were more valuable to me than the exposure to the blog post, display ad, PPC ad and organic search listing as they played a very important role in my purchase decision.
Had I not been satisfied with the product review or pricing, I wouldn’t have made the purchase in the first place.
In case of time decay model, the touchpoints which are closest in the time to conversions get more credit.
So according to the time decay model, my exposure to an organic search result and visiting the website directly should get more credit than to my exposure to product reviews and pricing.
Get my best selling books on Attribution Modelling
- Learn to implement attribution modelling in your organization
- Understand the customer purchase journey across devices
- Determine the most effective marketing channels for investment
Click book covers to find out more
Again such type of credit distribution is not accurate as had I not been satisfied with the product review or pricing, I wouldn’t have made the purchase in the first place.
The time decay model is the modified last touch attribution model.
Though it is crappy but less crappy than the last touch and other GA models.
One issue worth pointing out about giving more credit to last touches/interactions:
Last interactions act as a last point of contact prior to purchase.
By the time a customer experience last touches to marketing channel(s), a purchase decision has already been made.
So it doesn’t really matter which channel closed the sale when it comes to allocating budget.
In the case of the Last Non-Direct Click attribution model 100% credit for the conversion is attributed to the last non-direct click.
So according to this model, organic search gets all the credit for the conversion.
So this model also gives an incorrect picture of the conversion path.
In the case of Last Adwords Click attribution model 100% credit for the conversion is attributed to the last Adwords click.
So according to this model, paid search result gets all the credit for the conversion.
But this is also not a true representation of my buying behavior.
In the case of the Proportional Multi-touch attribution model the credit is distributed to touches in proportion to their contribution in the conversion.
The acquisition channel which assists the most gets the maximum credit for conversion and maximum resources are allocated to it regardless of it being the first touch, last touch or middle touch.
All other touches would get credit in proportion to their contribution to the conversion path.
So according to this model, exposure to product review and product comparison websites get more credit for conversion than all other touchpoints as they played a key role in the decision-making process and my purchase journey.
Note: The proportional multi-touch attribution model is my model and GA does not directly support it.
But it indirectly supports it through data driven attribution model (only available to GA premium customers at present).
The Concept of Missing Touchpoints in Conversion Paths
Google Analytics provides best attribution modelling capabilities in the world but it has its own drawbacks.
You need to be aware of following limitations before you interpret GA multi-channel funnel and attribution reports:
#1 Google Analytics and Adwords attribution modelling is based on only ‘known’ touchpoints
#2 Both Google Analytics and Google Adwords, record and report attribution for only online touchpoints.
#3 Both Google Analytics and Google Adwords, do not record and report attribution for ‘all’ digital marketing channels
#4 Both Google Analytics and Google Adwords, do not record and report attribution across devices and browsers
#5 Adwords conversion paths in Google Analytics do not include impression interactions (unless you use GA premium)
#6 Filtered views omit certain touchpoints in conversion paths
If you wish to minimize the number of missing touchpoints in your conversion path, you need to integrate as much data as possible from different data sources.
To learn more about the concept of missing touchpoints in a conversion path, read this article: Understanding Missing Touchpoints in Attribution Modelling
Other articles on Attribution Modelling in Google Analytics
- Touchpoint Analysis in Google Analytics Attribution Modelling
- 8 Google Analytics Conversions Segments You Must Use
- Default and Custom Attribution Models in Google Analytics
- Attribution Model Comparison Tool in Google Analytics
- Which Attribution Model to use in Google Analytics?
- How to create Custom Attribution Model in Google Analytics
- How to do ROI Analysis in Google Analytics
- Google Analytics Attribution Modelling – Complete Guide
- Guide to Data Driven Attribution Model in Google Analytics
- Conversion Credit distribution for Attribution Models in Google Analytics
- You are doing Google Analytics all wrong. Here is why
- Marketing Mix Modelling or Attribution Modelling. Which one is for you?
- Introduction to Nonline Analytics – True Multi Channel Analytics
- How to set up Data driven attribution model in Google Analytics
- How to valuate Display Advertising through Attribution Modelling
- Understanding Shopping Carts for Analytics and Conversion Optimization
- View-through conversion tracking in Google Analytics
- Understanding Missing Touch Points in Attribution Modelling
- Guide to Offline Conversion Tracking in Google Analytics
- How to explain attribution modelling to your clients
- 6 Keys to Digital Success in Attribution Modelling
- How to use ZMOT to increase Conversions and Sales exponentially
- How to Measure and Improve the Quality of SEO Traffic through Google Analytics
- How to analyse and report the true value of your SEO Campaign
- How to allocate Budgets in Multi Channel Marketing
- What You Should Know about Historical Data in Web Analytics
- Google Analytics Not Provided Keywords and how to unlock and analyze them
- Selecting the Best Attribution Model for Inbound Marketing
- Introduction to TV attribution in Google Analytics Attribution 360
- Cross Device Reports in Google Analytics via Google Signals
- Data-Driven Attribution Model Explorer in Google Analytics
Do you know the difference between Web Analytics and Google Analytics?
99.99% of course creators themselves don’t know the difference between Web analytics, Google Analytics (GA) and Google Tag Manager (GTM).So they are teaching GA and GTM in the name of teaching Web analytics.
They just copy each other. Monkey see, monkey do.
But Web analytics is not about GA, GTM.
It is about analyzing and interpreting data, setting up goals, strategies and KPIs.
It’s about creating strategic roadmap for your business.
Web Analytics is the core skill. Google Analytics is just a tool used to implement ‘Web Analytics’.You can also implement ‘Web analytics’ via other tools like ‘adobe analytics’, ‘kissmetrics’ etc.
Using Google Analytics without the good understanding of ‘Web analytics’ is like driving around in a car, in a big city without understanding the traffic rules and road signs.
You are either likely to end up somewhere other than your destination or you get involved in an accident.
You learn data analysis and interpretation from Web analytics and not from Google Analytics.The direction in which your analysis will move, will determine the direction in which your marketing campaigns and eventually your company will move to get the highest possible return on investment.
You get that direction from ‘Web analytics’ and not from ‘Google Analytics’.
You learn to set up KPIs, strategies and measurement framework for your business from ‘Web analytics’ and not from ‘Google Analytics’.So if you are taking a course only on 'Google Analytics’, you are learning to use one of the tools of ‘Web analytics’. You are not learning the ‘Web analytics’ itself.
Since any person can learn to use Google Analytics in couple of weeks, you do no get any competitive advantage in the marketplace just by knowing GA.
You need to know lot more than GA in order to work in Web analytics and marketing field.
So what I have done, if you are interested, is I have put together a completely free training that will teach you exactly how I have been able to leverage web/digital analytics to generate floods of news sales and customers and how you can literally copy what I have done to get similar results.
Here what You'll Learn On This FREE Web Class!
1) The number 1 reason why most marketers and business owners are not able to scale their advertising and maximise sales.
2) Why you won’t get any competitive advantage in the marketplace just by knowing Google Analytics.
3) The number 1 reason why conversion optimization is not working for your business.
4) How to advertise on any marketing platform for FREE with an unlimited budget.
5) How to learn and master web/digital analytics and conversion optimization in record time.
My best selling books on Digital Analytics and Conversion Optimization
Maths and Stats for Web Analytics and Conversion Optimization
This expert guide will teach you how to leverage the knowledge of maths and statistics in order to accurately interpret data and take actions, which can quickly improve the bottom-line of your online business.
Master the Essentials of Email Marketing Analytics
This book focuses solely on the ‘analytics’ that power your email marketing optimization program and will help you dramatically reduce your cost per acquisition and increase marketing ROI by tracking the performance of the various KPIs and metrics used for email marketing.
Attribution Modelling in Google Analytics and Beyond
Attribution modelling is the process of determining the most effective marketing channels for investment. This book has been written to help you implement attribution modelling. It will teach you how to leverage the knowledge of attribution modelling in order to allocate marketing budget and understand buying behaviour.
Attribution Modelling in Google Ads and Facebook
This book has been written to help you implement attribution modelling in Google Ads (Google AdWords) and Facebook. It will teach you, how to leverage the knowledge of attribution modelling in order to understand the customer purchasing journey and determine the most effective marketing channels for investment.
Himanshu Sharma
Digital Marketing Consultant and Founder of Optimizesmart.com