CODEWITHSUNDEEP
google-analyticse-commerce
tomazzlender
tomazzlender

Reputation: 1123

Does direct session overwrite utm source from previous session in Google Analytics?

Let's say that a person clicks on an ad on Facebook and lands on a page

http://www.store.com/product-page?utm_source=ad-agency-name&utm_medium=facebook&utm_content=fruit&utm_campaign=company-name

Than it closes a browser.

Later that day a person visits same page again by writing url directly in browser and purchases a product.

Google Analytics eCommerce tracking code is implemented on thank you page of that store.

Will Google Analytics eCommerce show this transaction's source as '(direct)' or as 'facebook'?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 960

Answers (1)

Eike Pierstorff
Eike Pierstorff

Reputation: 32770

They will show this as "facebook". Google says that visits are attributed to the last marketing channel (for transaction attribution this is explicitely stated in the documentation but is also true just for visits).

Direct/Bookmarked visits are not a marketing channel according to Google. If there is already campaign info stored the visit will be attributed to the campaign (so a direct visit in GA is actually a direct visit by someone who has no prior campaign exposure or has deleted his GA cookie).

Btw. this means that campaign conversions will be overcounted at the expense of direct visits, if you need a more realistic picture you would have to look at the multichannel funnels which attribute to the "real" medium, not the marketing channel.

Upvotes: 1

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