Last Updated: October 13, 2025
Tuesday afternoon. Budget allocation meeting with your co-founder.
"Which channels should we invest in next month?"
You pull up your dashboards. Meta says 4.2x ROAS (return on ad spend). Google says 5.1x. TikTok says 2.8x.
Obvious answer: Cut TikTok, scale Google.
Except last time you did that, your Google Search performance tanked three months later. Turns out TikTok was driving awareness that fed your branded search.
The problem: You're looking at channels in isolation. But customers don't buy in isolation—they take journeys.
Someone sees your TikTok ad, clicks a Meta retargeting ad, Googles your brand name, abandons cart, gets an email, and finally buys.
Question: Which channel gets credit?
Better question: Which channels were actually necessary for the sale?
That's what customer journey mapping tells you. And it changes everything about how you allocate budget.
Simple definition: Tracking every touchpoint a customer interacts with before buying, then analyzing patterns to understand what actually drives conversions.
Example journey:
Traditional attribution says: Direct traffic gets credit (last touchpoint)
Customer journey mapping reveals: TikTok started it, Meta nurtured it, Google validated it, Email closed it
Cut any of these channels and the journey breaks.
Here's what most brands miss:
Channel ROAS tells you: How much revenue each channel claims credit for
Journey mapping tells you: How channels work together to drive conversions
Real example:
Beauty brand was celebrating Google Search: 5.8x ROAS, "best channel."
Then they mapped customer journeys and discovered:
The insight: Google Search wasn't driving demand—it was collecting demand created by TikTok and Meta.
This is why you can't optimize channels in isolation.
Based on data from 50+ Shopify stores, here's what the average journey looks like:
Product TypeAverage TouchpointsAverage Days to PurchaseLow-ticket (€20-50)3-5 touchpoints2-7 daysMid-ticket (€50-150)5-9 touchpoints7-14 daysHigh-ticket (€150+)7-13 touchpoints14-30 days
Translation: If you're only using 7-day attribution windows (thanks, iOS 14), you're missing 40-60% of the journey.
Pattern 1: The Social Discovery Journey (35% of conversions)
Key insight: Social starts it, search finishes it. Cut social and your search performance dies.
Pattern 2: The Search-Led Journey (25% of conversions)
Key insight: Content drives discovery, email closes the sale. Without email, conversion rate and attribution accuracy drops 40-60%.
Pattern 3: The Retargeting Loop (20% of conversions)
Key insight: Multiple touches required. One retargeting ad isn't enough—you need 2-4 impressions.
Pattern 4: The Organic Journey (15% of conversions)
Key insight: No paid ads involved. This is why your incremental ROAS is lower than reported ROAS—some customers find you organically.
Pattern 5: The Impulse Journey (5% of conversions)
Key insight: Rare. Only happens with low-ticket impulse purchases or existing brand awareness.
What it shows: Multi-channel paths to conversion
How to access:
What you'll see:
Example output:
PathConversions% of TotalPaid Social → Organic Search → Direct14518%Paid Search → Direct11214%Paid Social → Paid Social → Direct9812%Organic Search → Email → Direct8711%
Limitations:
Meta Attribution:
Google Ads Attribution:
Limitation: Platform-centric view (Meta shows Meta-heavy journeys, Google shows Google-heavy journeys)
What it shows: Customer journey from first visit to purchase
How to access:
What you'll see:
Limitation: Only available on Shopify Plus (€2,000+/month)
Tools like: Causality Engine, Northbeam, Triple Whale, Rockerbox
What they show:
Cost: €300-2,000/month depending on ad spend (with accurate attribution)
Worth it if: Spending €50K+/month on ads and need granular insights
Remember this scenario?
Campaign A: TikTok prospecting, 2.1x ROAS
Campaign B: Google branded search, 5.2x ROAS
Traditional thinking: Cut A, scale B.
Journey mapping reveals:
Campaign A (TikTok):
Campaign B (Google Search):
The insight: TikTok creates demand, Google collects it. They're complementary, not competitive.
Cut TikTok and Google Search performance will drop 30-40% within 2-3 months as the pipeline dries up.
Pull your top 20 conversion paths from GA4 or attribution software.
Look for:
Awareness channels (start journeys):
Consideration channels (mid-journey):
Conversion channels (close journeys):
Formula:
Assisted Conversion Value = (# of conversions where channel appeared) × (Average order value)
Example:
TikTok:
This is why cutting "low ROAS" channels based on last-click data is dangerous.
Balanced funnel allocation:
Journey StageBudget %ChannelsAwareness (start journeys)40-50%TikTok, Meta prospecting, YouTubeConsideration (nurture)25-35%Meta retargeting, Google Shopping, ContentConversion (close)15-25%Google branded, Email, Direct
What most brands do wrong: Over-invest in conversion channels (60-70% of budget) because they show highest ROAS, under-invest in awareness (20-30%) because ROAS looks lower.
Result: Short-term optimization, long-term pipeline death.
The trap: Optimizing for channels that get last-click credit
The reality: Last-click channels are often just collecting demand created by earlier touchpoints
Fix: Look at assisted conversions, not just last-click
The trap: Expecting immediate results from awareness channels
The reality: TikTok ad today might convert in 14 days via Google Search
Fix: Use 30-90 day attribution windows for awareness channels
The trap: Linear attribution (equal credit to all touchpoints)
The reality: Some touchpoints matter more than others
Fix: Use position-based or data-driven attribution
The trap: Assuming all conversions came from paid ads
The reality: 15-30% of customers would have found you organically
Fix: Run incrementality tests to measure true impact
Problem: Cutting TikTok budget (2.4x ROAS) to scale Google Search (5.8x ROAS). Three months later, Google Search conversions dropped 38%.
Journey mapping revealed:
Action:
Result:
Problem: Email showing "low ROAS" (1.8x) in last-click attribution. Considering cutting email marketing budget.
Journey mapping revealed:
Action:
Result:
Once you've mapped basic journeys, go deeper with cohort analysis.
What it is: Comparing journey patterns across customer segments
Useful cohorts:
1. By acquisition channel:
2. By product type:
3. By customer value:
Most brands optimize for last-click ROAS and wonder why their pipeline dries up three months later.
The brands that win? They optimize for the full journey.
Your choice.
Customer journey mapping tracks every touchpoint a customer interacts with before buying (ads, emails, site visits, searches). It shows how channels work together to drive conversions, not just which channel gets last-click credit. Average e-commerce journey: 5-9 touchpoints over 7-14 days.
Average: 5-9 touchpoints. Low-ticket products (€20-50): 3-5 touchpoints. Mid-ticket (€50-150): 5-9 touchpoints. High-ticket (€150+): 7-13 touchpoints. Time to purchase: 2-30 days depending on price point and product category.
GA4 → Reports → Advertising → Conversion paths. View top conversion paths showing channel sequences leading to purchase. Shows up to 9 touchpoints per journey. Also check "Assisted conversions" report to see which channels appear mid-journey.
Assisted conversion value = total revenue from conversions where a channel appeared in the journey (even if it didn't get last-click credit). Example: TikTok gets last-click credit for €24K, but appears in journeys worth €114K total. True influence is 4.75x higher than last-click shows.
Because Google Search (especially branded) usually closes journeys started by other channels (TikTok, Meta). When you cut awareness channels, you stop filling the pipeline. 2-3 months later, branded search has no one to convert. This is why you can't optimize channels in isolation.
Depends on their role in the journey. High-ROAS channels (branded search, retargeting) usually close journeys started by others. Low-ROAS channels (TikTok, prospecting) start journeys. You need both. Balanced allocation: 40-50% awareness, 25-35% consideration, 15-25% conversion.
First-touch = channel that started the journey (awareness). Last-touch = channel that closed the sale (conversion). Most journeys have 5-9 touchpoints between first and last. Optimizing only for last-touch kills your pipeline. Optimizing only for first-touch wastes budget on channels that don't convert.
2-4 weeks minimum. Average journey length: 7-14 days. Add 1-2 weeks for data to stabilize. If you launch TikTok today, expect conversions to show up in Google Search and retargeting 2-3 weeks later. Use 30-90 day attribution windows for awareness channels.
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Ready to see your complete customer journeys? Causality Engine maps every touchpoint from first impression to final purchase—showing you which channels work together to drive revenue.
