Tutorials / Find what makes money

Find your best marketing channel

4 minute read

Every channel will happily tell you it works. Here is the pass over your dashboard that answers with money instead of opinions.

1. Open "Sales sources"

On your site's dashboard, this panel lists each channel with three plain counts: Orders (recorded orders it appeared in anywhere in the buyer's journey), First source (orders whose journey began with it) and Last source (orders that credited it as the last source). The separate What each platform claims panel compares the ad platform's report with recorded orders attributed to its paid channel. Journey counts describe observed visits, not proof that an ad caused a sale. The full rules are in how attribution works.

2. Read it like a skeptic

• A channel with high Orders but low Last source warms people up who buy later through something else. That is still worth money; it is just not the closer.
• A channel whose conversion claim is higher than its confirmed order count may use a different reporting basis. Check tracking gaps and conversion settings before changing spend. Platform-reported ROAS needs known USD ad records; a revenue gap also needs compatible processor-confirmed payments. Unknown, mixed and non-USD amounts are not combined or converted.
• Direct includes typed URLs and visits with no usable source. The standing-credit rule means a buyer who came from Meta on Tuesday and typed the URL on Thursday still credits Meta.

3. Cross-check with revenue per source

In "Traffic sources", switch the ranking to Most revenue. Now the same channels are ranked by the recorded USD order revenue attributed to their visitors. No currency conversion is applied; other currencies are excluded. If a channel is high on visitors and low on revenue, check payment coverage and excluded currencies before concluding that its visitors do not buy. If you have set a goal as Your #1 metric (Settings, General), the ranking offers that goal instead of Most revenue; set Rank breakdowns by back to Revenue (verified) to rank by money.

4. Save the view you check weekly

Filter to the channel you are deciding about (Add filter → Source) to narrow visitor analytics and attributed orders. Other panels follow the filter scope rules. Save it as a segment and next week the same question is one click.