Foundation · 3 min
What you need to know
Where is my ecommerce traffic coming from?
Use consistently tagged campaign links, referrer data and platform integrations to classify traffic by source, medium, campaign and channel. Treat unattributed direct traffic as an unknown bucket, not a marketing channel conclusion.
What is a traffic source?
A traffic source identifies the specific origin associated with a visit or user, such as a search engine, referring site, newsletter or direct/unknown source. Its scope must be stated.
What is a marketing channel?
A marketing channel is a broader business grouping of similar acquisition activity, such as organic search, paid search, email or affiliates. Channel rules combine detailed source and medium values.
Source vs medium vs channel: what’s the difference?
Source names the specific origin, medium describes the traffic type, and channel groups source-medium combinations into a broader category. For example, a search engine may be the source, organic the medium and Organic Search the channel.
Which traffic sources generate the most sales?
Compare completed, non-test orders and net sales by consistently defined acquisition source. Include unattributed orders and cross-device limitations instead of forcing every sale into a channel.
Which traffic sources generate the most profitable customers?
Compare new-customer contribution, returns, service cost and repeat behavior by acquisition cohort. The source with the most initial sales may not create the most profitable customers.
Why is traffic increasing but sales aren’t?
Traffic can rise without sales when new visits have lower intent, land on weaker pages, encounter availability or checkout problems, or come from bots. Decompose the change by source, landing page, device and funnel step.
Why does one traffic source convert worse than another?
A source may bring different intent, geography, devices, products or promotion expectations. Compare its landing experience and customer mix before assuming the channel itself performs poorly.
Should traffic quality matter more than traffic volume?
Usually yes. Qualified visits that produce profitable customers matter more than raw visit count, although reach can still support awareness goals. Define quality using the intended outcome.
A quick store check
Compare sources using qualified visits, new customers, net sales, contribution and repeat behavior — not sessions alone.
Foundation · 2 min
Frequently asked questions
Is direct traffic really traffic with no marketing source?
It means the analytics tool lacks a clear referrer or campaign source; tagging, privacy and technical loss can also produce direct traffic.
Should brand search receive all credit for its sales?
Not automatically. Brand search may capture demand created earlier, so compare paths and incremental evidence.