How do you attribute a sale to PPC if a visitor comes from PPC but then returns to buy through another medium?

Question

On an e-commerce site, how do you attribute a sale to PPC if a visitor comes from PPC but then returns to buy through another medium?

Can we use cookies and if so how do we install this? What software could track this kind of conversion scenario?

Answer 1

Google analytics (new interface) has a feature called multi channel funnels. You can see the metrics in that report.

Based on what keywords and sources people in this funnel came to your site with, you would need to assign a weight/value to each stage that lead to the sale.

i.e. First search: men's running shoes (ppc) Second search: Nike trainers (ppc) Third search: Nike Air Max 90 (organic)

If you didn't have the first search query then perhaps they wouldnt have come back to your site for the second and third time. Thus you have to assign a value to the first search term.. The values you need to assign will be bespoke to you, but this is essentially what you should be looking at..

Hope that helps. :-)