Why this is important?
We know that especially when it comes to travel and hospitality sector, users refer multiple websites and use multiple channels (meta search, OTAs etc.) before actually zeroing down on a purchase.
On average, package bookers visit 38 different travel sites since 45 days before booking.
– Expedia Traveler Attribution Study
While you cannot track what customers do outside of your website, you can measure multiple visits to your site before a customer converts. The intent here is to not only identify the number of visits or days (purchase cycle) but also to determine whether the behavior is different for different segments of your visitors and how you can use that knowledge to make your website offerings more relevant.
Steps to get started with Purchase Cycle tracking in web analytics –
We are in lookout for two reports here –
Days to purchase – Number of days from first website interaction to Purchase. Most analytics tools have out the box reports for this metric.
Visits to Purchase – Number of Visits from first website interaction to purchase. Needs a bit of customization in your tool.
It is rarely required to track these metrics for individual visitors and most often an average value for all of your purchasers within a specific time period should suffice for any related trend indications.
DAA members, go here to view full recipe.
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Abhinav Sharma
Nordics
Lehi UT
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