All fine and good, except... recently I've been running a new script that runs backward from each identified conversion to identify clicktracks, referer, query term, etc. And I have begun to see some interesting anomalies. For instance on one site there is a previously unknown conversion clicktrack from a particular page that is totally outside any and all my carefully designed conversion funnels.
The initial landing page is long, over 4000 words with 20-some images/graphics, and of the particular conversion traffic being investigated:
* the referer search terms or anchor and surrounding text include several hundred main terms;
* distinct referers number close to a hundred;
* direct traffic is minimal;
In other words this new to me (although it has existed hidden in logfiles for years) conversion clicktrack is likely nearly all new visitors coming for a variety of reasons associated with onpage information.
And then they (~60%) follow a specific 9-page clicktrack except for some (~40%) who take an additional 2-page detour at a particular pint in the trip. Some points points really stood out for me:
* the clicktrack is on the long side for the site.
* it cuts across subject matter;
* it ignores deliberate conversion funnels ignoring ~20 explicit and ~30 implicit onpage calls to action (plus ignoring third party ads as well).
* it is a significant absolute and percentage of that landing page's converting traffic.
And perhaps the real kicker, to me, is that while it obviously works I can't figure out the logic (yes, I do know the links used
) behind how they get from beginning to end.And it looks like there are other previously unknown but significant (>10% of a landing page's conversion traffic) clicktracks to investigate. And what happens if I lower the significance threshold to 5%?
The more I learn the less I know...
