Investigating the customer journey across channels via Google analytics

Abstract

As mobile-commerce tremendously rises and channels get diversified and complicated, the need to understand the online customer journey by channel is emerging. In this paper, the effect on conversion by channels is examined in a home-shopping context with the individual-level application log data collected by Google Analytics. Empirical studies suggest that the customer-initiated channel (CIC) is more effective on conversion while the number of visits is smaller than that of the firm-initiated channel (FIC). The effect of clicking interest stage page is higher in the CICs than it is in the FICs and the effect of clicking search stage page is higher in the FICs than it is in the CICs. For both channels, a customer is more likely to purchase if he or she visits initially and the longer the page was viewed, the higher the purchase rate was. As a customer revisits, the difference between the channels gradually dilutes. We provide important managerial insights for marketing managers on how consumers could be induced to purchase across channels.