Google Analytics using Acquisition Sources

What are Channels?

Creating custom segments to see how different traffic performs and observe trends is one of the most powerful uses for Google Analytics. One class of segments that exist by default in Google Analytics are Channels. Channels are a grouping of common ways that people come to your site. Google Analytics automatically sorts the many ways that you acquire a user - whether it is social media, pay-per-click, email, or referral links - and bundles them into a bucket, or Channel.

Why do not I see my channels in Commerce Intelligence?

Channels are simple, aggregate buckets of data. To sort your acquisitions into Channel buckets, Google sets distinct rules and definitions using specific parameters: a combination of acquisition Source (the origin of your traffic) and acquisition Medium (the general category of the source).

While having these buckets can help you make sense of where your traffic is coming from, this data is not tagged by channel but by a combination of Source and Medium. Because Google sends channel information as two separate data points, channel groupings do not automatically show up in Commerce Intelligence.

What are the default channel groupings? How are they created?

By default, Google sets up eight different channels. The rules that determine how channels are created are below.

Channel What is it? How is it created?
Direct Anyone who comes directly into your site. Source = Direct
AND Medium = (not set); OR Medium = (none)
Organic Search Traffic that has been organically ranked in unpaid search engines. Medium = organic
Referral Traffic that comes in from an external link that is not Organic Search or from websites that are not social networks. Medium = referral
Paid Search Traffic that has a UTM Tracking code where the medium is either “cpc”, “ppc”, or “paidsearch” AND is an ad distribution network that does not match “Content.” Medium = `^(cpc
Social Referral traffic that comes from any of approximately 400 social networks and are not tagged as ads. Social Source referral = Yes
OR Medium = `^(social
Email Traffic from sessions that are tagged with a medium of “email.” UTM Tracking code of Medium = email
Display Traffic that has a UTM Tracking code where the medium is either display or cpm. Also includes AdWords interaction where the ad distribution network matches “Content” Medium = `^(display
Other Sessions from other advertising channels (not including Paid Search) that are tagged with a medium of “cpc”, “ppc”, "cpm, “cpv”, “cpa”, “cpp”, “affiliate”. Medium = `^(cpv

How can I recreate these channel groupings in my Data Warehouse?

Now that you know channels are just combinations of sources and mediums, it is an easy 3-step process to recreate these groupings in your Data Warehouse.

  1. Enable yourGoogle ECommerceintegration

    When enabled, make sure to sync the medium and source fields in your Data Warehouse. After this is completed, medium and source acquisition data will be brought into your Data Warehouse.

  2. Upload a mapping of Google’s channel groupings

    Adobe Commerce creates a table with the default groupings mapped as a file that you can download.

    If you are a Google Analytics pro and created your own channels, you want to add your specific rules to the mapping table before uploading the file into Commerce Intelligence.

    Bring it into your Data Warehouse as a File Upload.

  3. Establish a relationship betweenGoogle ECommerceand Mappings File Upload

    To establish a relationship between theGoogle ECommerce and the mapping table, submit a support request to your Data Analyst team and reference this topic. The analyst creates a new calculated column called Channel in the ECommerce table. After a full update cycle, this column will be ready to use in a Filter or Group by.

You now have Google Analytics Channel groupings in your Data Warehouse, which means you can analyze your data from a new perspective:

Segmenting the Number of Orders metric by Channel

In this example, you started simple with segmenting the Number of Orders metric by Channel. Test out your new column and see what trends you can identify in your Google Analytics Channel data!

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