When you look at a typical eCommerce funnel graphic, you might imagine a straightforward, linear path: customers move smoothly from awareness to consideration, then conversion, and finally, a post-purchase stage. In reality, though, the customer journey is rarely that neat or predictable.

In fact, many potential customers interact with your brand multiple times through a variety of touchpoints before they decide to make a purchase. Some might be exposed to five different ads over two weeks before visiting your website. Others might hear about your product through a friend and head straight to the checkout page to buy it without much hesitation.

With so many variables, tracking the eCommerce funnel can be tricky. Marketers have different ways of measuring performance, and many combine data from several platforms to get a fuller picture of how customers move through the buying process. Here are three common approaches to tracking the eCommerce funnel:

1. KPI-Based Measurement

In this approach, marketers define key performance indicators (KPIs) for each stage of the funnel. The goal is to track and optimize how well your marketing efforts move these key metrics, from initial awareness all the way to post-purchase loyalty.

Here’s how this might look:

• Awareness: Reach, impressions, new users, and product page views.
• Consideration: Returning visitors, time spent on product pages, customer reviews, and engagement with comparison landing pages.
• Conversion: Add-to-cart actions, conversion rates (from cart to purchase), and cart abandonment recovery (e.g., via email or SMS).
• Post-purchase: Repeat purchase rates, lifetime customer value, and revenue from customer referrals.

This method is popular because it’s straightforward. Total revenue is usually the “north star” KPI, reflecting how well your marketing activities as a whole contribute to the bottom line. The challenge, however, is that this model can sometimes make it hard to track the impact of individual campaigns or initiatives, especially if they are multi-channel.

2. Campaign-Based Measurement

Campaign-based measurement focuses on evaluating specific campaigns by the stage of the funnel they aim to impact. Each campaign—whether an ad, an email blast, or a promotional event—gets assigned to a specific stage of the funnel. Marketers then track the relevant metrics for that campaign, making it easier to assess the performance of each individual initiative.

For example, a campaign designed to build awareness might focus on reach, impressions, and click-through rates, while a campaign aimed at driving conversions would focus on metrics like add-to-cart actions and checkout completions.

• Awareness Campaigns: Reach, impressions, website traffic.
• Consideration Campaigns: Engagement metrics (likes, shares, time on page), email open rates.
• Conversion Campaigns: Clicks on ads, add-to-cart rates, completed purchases.

This method makes it easier to compare the effectiveness of different marketing initiatives. However, it can also make it difficult to establish clear metrics for each funnel stage, especially if a campaign serves multiple purposes. For example, a retargeting ad could influence both consideration and conversion, making it harder to measure its exact impact on each stage.

3. Attribution/Journey-Based Measurement

Attribution-based measurement takes a deeper dive into the customer journey and attributes revenue across all touchpoints a customer interacts with. Rather than measuring each campaign by a set of KPIs, this model focuses on a single, powerful metric: contribution to revenue.

For example, let’s look at how customer “Emma” journeys through the funnel:

1. Emma sees an Instagram ad about your new product.
2. She then visits your website, browses the product pages, and adds an item to her cart but doesn’t complete the purchase.
3. A few hours later, she receives an abandoned cart email and clicks through to the website again.
4. Finally, Emma completes her purchase.

Under the attribution model, Emma’s $70 purchase would be split between the two touchpoints that influenced her decision: Instagram and the abandoned cart email. A typical model might split the revenue 50/50, with $35 attributed to Instagram and $35 to the email campaign.

To track this, marketers use advanced eCommerce tools that pull data from multiple platforms—such as Shopify for purchase data, Instagram for ad interactions, and email marketing platforms like Klaviyo for abandoned cart emails. While this approach provides the most comprehensive view of how each touchpoint contributes to sales, it often requires technical expertise to integrate data from all sources and accurately assign value to each interaction.

Conclusion: Which Approach is Right for You?

Each method of measuring the ecommerce funnel has its strengths and trade-offs.

• KPI-based measurement is simple and effective for high-level tracking, but can miss the nuances of individual marketing initiatives.
• Campaign-based measurement allows you to drill down into specific campaigns, making it easier to compare their effectiveness, though it can lack a clear “north star” metric for each stage.
• Attribution-based measurement provides the most detailed and accurate insights, but it often requires technical setup and sophisticated tools to integrate data.

Ultimately, the right approach depends on your business goals, the complexity of your marketing efforts, and the resources you have to manage and analyze your data. Many marketers combine elements of all three models to get a complete view of their customer journeys and optimize their eCommerce funnels accordingly.