The digital marketing team at PushON have been using Data Studio for a while now. Not only is Data Studio a great way to build custom reports, but you can connect to numerous data sources and present data in a visually pleasing way. Additionally, clients have access to real-time reports and therefore, can view results over different periods.

Another reason PushON utilises Data Studio is due to its multi-channel reporting element. As mentioned previously, Data Studio connects to numerous data sources, which includes Google Analytics (the most used data source). However, because the data comes from the reports, multi-channel metrics are not included in the data source. In addition to this, multi-channel data reports also come from a different API, so for now, you must use a different method to get this information.

Multi-Channel Data

To include multi-channel data in your reports, you need to use Google Sheets (third party connectors are also available, but Google Sheets is a free method). It would also help if you had the Google Analytics add-on for Google Sheets.

Step One

Add-ons > Google Analytics > Create New Report. After you have done this, leave the “Metrics” and “Dimensions” fields blank and click the “Create Report” button.

Step Two

Head over to the “Report Configuration” tab to find all your queries. This is where you will type in the multi-channel Funnel dimensions and metrics that are formatted according to the API. To see the Google Analytics data that is available, go to the MCF API’s Dimensions and Metrics Reference. For example, a report of the Assisted Conversions, including sources and assisted value. From looking at the reference, you can find the correct dimension and metric you want and add it to the named rows. To sort, use the same metric with a minus sign (“-“) to pull the query in descending order by total conversions.

Please note: Expand rows 14 – 17 to reveal the row named “Report Type” – this is where you will tell Google Analytics that you are using the MCF API, not the Core Reporting API (the dimensions and metrics that begin with (“ga:”).

The report will then generate a new tab based on the report name, and you should have the information you want.

It’s also important to check your Google Analytics report in Google Sheets to see if the data is sampled. In this example, the data is unsampled. This means there are under 1 million conversions for this date range, which is the limit for the Multi-Channel Funnel Reports.

Step Three

You can now add this information to your Data Studio report. To start, add a new data source to the report. The connector you can use for the data is the native Google Sheets connector shown below:

In the following window, “All Items” will display all Google Sheets you have access to. It might be worth starring your spreadsheet to make it easier to find in the future. Then, find the specific tab, “Assisted Conversions” in our case, where the data is located.

Now it’s time to add a simple table with the new data source. When you have multiple queries and tabs in Google Sheets, it might be useful to have another tab with all the data in one place.

If you find the table headers distracting, field editing can help with formatting these to make them more readable. In the data tab for the table, select the pen next to the dimension and metric, and it will give you the option to rename them.

It’s important to remember there are certain limitations to this method. As mentioned previously, the multi-channel funnel data will only pull up to 1 million conversions. If you’re pulling a substantial amount of data, consider Google Sheets own limitations of the volume of information it can hold. Like the MCF reports in Google Analytics, the reports will have a default lookback window of 90 days. MCF dimensions cannot be combined with Google Analytics main dimensions and metrics. Lastly, if you use a small number of custom channel groupings frequently, consider creating separate views and amending the default channel grouping for each.

PushON understands multi-channel reporting is fundamental to understand how different marketing channels support one another. Assisted conversions or DCM paths, for example, is a great way to see how different channels are performing. Moreover, this type of data provides a more obstructed view of the customer journey, therefore, helping make more informed decisions in the future.

For more information on what multi-channel marketing is or to learn more about how it can work best for you, get in touch with PushON today on 0161 820 7268 or send us an email to sales@pushon.co.uk.