How to track where a sale originates from online?

12 replies
Hi All,
I have an ecommerce website which sells clothing and set up Google Analytics to track conversion of sales so I can see where my sales are coming from. I have been running an SEO campaign and obviously sales have increased as my rankings have increased but the sales have actually increased from facebook referrals and direct sales.

My assumption is that the search engine rankings are driving traffic to the website but the customer is not buying during that particular sale. They then possible join our facebook page or bookmark our website for a later date and then make the sale through either one of these avenues.

My question is - is there anything out there that can track exactly where that buyer came from originally before buying through the other medium?

This would help massively to see which keywords are bringing in the main potential buyers.

Thanks in advance and I really hope there is something out there.
#online #originates #sale #sales tracking #track
  • Profile picture of the author vjboc
    Originally Posted by Shout Out Digital View Post

    Hi All,
    I have an ecommerce website which sells clothing and set up Google Analytics to track conversion of sales so I can see where my sales are coming from. I have been running an SEO campaign and obviously sales have increased as my rankings have increased but the sales have actually increased from facebook referrals and direct sales.

    My assumption is that the search engine rankings are driving traffic to the website but the customer is not buying during that particular sale. They then possible join our facebook page or bookmark our website for a later date and then make the sale through either one of these avenues.

    My question is - is there anything out there that can track exactly where that buyer came from originally before buying through the other medium?

    This would help massively to see which keywords are bringing in the main potential buyers.

    Thanks in advance and I really hope there is something out there.
    You should be able to track all that through your Google Analytics in the traffic sources section. Also in the content section as well.
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    • Profile picture of the author Shout Out Digital
      Originally Posted by vjboc View Post

      You should be able to track all that through your Google Analytics in the traffic sources section. Also in the content section as well.
      I'm not sure you quite understood the question.

      Yeah I can track where the sale came from for that particular session using Analytics but what I mean is, if a user found my website firstly through a keyword, lets say womens clothes, then browsed my website but DID NOT buy anything during that session, however they remembered the URL and lets say 2 days later they come back and purchase a product via typing in directy the URL, then that sale is counted as a Direct Sale. What I want to know though is how that particular buyer first found my website.
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      • Profile picture of the author Lloyd Buchinski
        Originally Posted by Shout Out Digital View Post

        if a user found my website firstly through a keyword, lets say womens clothes, then browsed my website but DID NOT buy anything during that session, however they remembered the URL and lets say 2 days later they come back and purchase a product via typing in directy the URL, then that sale is counted as a Direct Sale. What I want to know though is how that particular buyer first found my website.
        I don't believe you can find that out with Analytics. I've hardly used any other tracking software, but I don't know of any that would give you that kind of information.
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      • Profile picture of the author vjboc
        Originally Posted by Shout Out Digital View Post

        I'm not sure you quite understood the question.

        Yeah I can track where the sale came from for that particular session using Analytics but what I mean is, if a user found my website firstly through a keyword, lets say womens clothes, then browsed my website but DID NOT buy anything during that session, however they remembered the URL and lets say 2 days later they come back and purchase a product via typing in directy the URL, then that sale is counted as a Direct Sale. What I want to know though is how that particular buyer first found my website.
        I have never tried this, but you can connect webmaster tools to your Analytics. Maybe there is a way with both of those combined could do what you are trying to achieve.
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    • Profile picture of the author Shout Out Digital
      Originally Posted by Michael Nguyen View Post

      Michael thank you so much for being the only one who gives a proper answer in this thread. To all you others out, I advise not answering if you don't actually have a worthy answer or you are unsure - #pointless.

      Cheers again Michael
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  • Profile picture of the author vijay5
    I think it can be from Search Engines by typing some keywords related.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dan Grossman
    Improvely will show you first-click attribution of your sales (plus all the other clicks between first visit and conversion).

    Google Analytics won't unless you have $100,000 a year for the premium version that lets you customize the attribution model.
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  • Profile picture of the author ronrule
    If you're running AdWords this will be tracked, but I don't think it's tracked for organic searches. Do you really get a lot of direct type-ins later? I can't even remember what sites I was on 5 minutes ago much less earlier in the day... lol.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dan Grossman
      Originally Posted by ronrule View Post

      If you're running AdWords this will be tracked, but I don't think it's tracked for organic searches. Do you really get a lot of direct type-ins later? I can't even remember what sites I was on 5 minutes ago much less earlier in the day... lol.
      That's what bookmarks are for, which are identical to a type-in as far as analytics go.
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      • Profile picture of the author ronrule
        Originally Posted by Dan Grossman View Post

        That's what bookmarks are for, which are identical to a type-in as far as analytics go.
        I suspect he's probably getting searches from SSL users who are signed in to their Google accounts, giving the "illusion" of being a direct type-in since referrer data isn't getting passed.
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  • Profile picture of the author MartinPlatt
    Originally Posted by Shout Out Digital View Post

    Hi All,
    I have an ecommerce website which sells clothing and set up Google Analytics to track conversion of sales so I can see where my sales are coming from. I have been running an SEO campaign and obviously sales have increased as my rankings have increased but the sales have actually increased from facebook referrals and direct sales.

    My assumption is that the search engine rankings are driving traffic to the website but the customer is not buying during that particular sale. They then possible join our facebook page or bookmark our website for a later date and then make the sale through either one of these avenues.

    My question is - is there anything out there that can track exactly where that buyer came from originally before buying through the other medium?

    This would help massively to see which keywords are bringing in the main potential buyers.

    Thanks in advance and I really hope there is something out there.
    This is called assisted conversions, and is part of a multi-channel funnel (MCF).

    You're better off reading this, than me trying to paraphrase it for you...

    Google Analytics Multi-Channel Funnels ? Google Analytics

    Is that what you wanted?
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    Martin Platt
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