Setting lookback windows in Path to Conversion reports
September 7th, 2012 | Published in Google DoubleClick
Have you ever changed your Floodlight lookback window and then waited a few days in order to see how conversion numbers would change? Have you ever misconfigured your lookback windows in the trafficking UI and wished you could regenerate your conversion numbers with the correct lookback windows?
The new Path to Conversion report (P2C) available in DFA Reporting offers greater flexibility around setting and managing lookback windows when you run a report.
Example 1: I’m interested in seeing the impact on conversions if I shorten the lookback window from its original 30-day Floodlight configuration.
Select “Custom” from the new Lookback Window drop-down under Report Properties.
The “From Floodlight” option simply uses the pre-calculated lookback window value that is already applied.
Unlike Floodlight lookback windows, which are based on calendar days, custom lookback windows use a simple 24-hour calculation. A 2-day value for clicks means that the clicks will need to be within 48 hours of the conversion to count. A 0 value will effectively remove clicks or impressions from attribution eligibility.
For this report, I want to allow a 7-day window for clicks and only a 3-day window for impressions.
Once I have changed the lookback window, to understand its effects I can add any of the following dimensions to my query:
Conversion Dimensions
- Floodlight Attribution Type indicates if the conversion is a click-through or a view-through conversion using the Floodlight lookback windows.
- Recalculated Attribution Type tells me if the conversion is a click-through or view-through conversion using the 7- and 3-day lookback windows I configured under Report Properties.
Per Interaction Dimensions
- Similarly, I can compare Floodlight Attributed Interaction to Recalculated Attributed Interaction to see how attribution changed using my new lookback windows.
- Within Floodlight lookback window indicates if the interaction was already in the Floodlight lookback window or if the new lookback window brought the interaction into this conversion path.
Example 2: I am seeing a number of conversion paths with large periods of inactivity for many users. I would like to evaluate the impact on conversions using only more recent activity without changing my original lookback window.
To do this, I can select the “Max gap between interactions” option under Report Properties.
Setting a limit on the number of days will end a conversion path if the distance between two elements in the path is greater than or equal to that number of days. This is good for tidying up longer paths to focus on more recent events.
This is just one simple demonstration of the power of the Path to Conversion report. The new lookback window tools in the Path to Conversion report provide a way to analyze your conversion data with greater flexibility.
Try it today and let us know how it helps you out!