What is the difference between Days to key event and funnel elapsed time?

They start the clock in different places. Days to key event runs from an ad interaction to the purchase. A funnel exploration's elapsed time is the average gap between two steps you define, for users who reached the later step. Use the first for marketing paths and the second for friction on your site.

Can I measure time to purchase in hours?

In Google Ads, yes: Path metrics has a Measure in menu with Days or Hours, for Google ad interactions only. GA4's paths report counts days. For buying within one visit, a funnel exploration's elapsed time between steps is the finer tool.

How do I see time to purchase for one campaign in GA4?

Switch the paths table's dimension from Primary channel group to Campaign. Each row then reads as a sequence of campaigns with its own Days to key event. Filter path length to greater than 1 to see the paths where that campaign shared the work.

How to measure time to purchase in GA4, step by step

Open Attribution paths in GA4, keep only purchase and read Days to key event, then split one-touch from multi-touch paths. Export the table to weigh the days by revenue, and time the steps to purchase with a funnel exploration.

By Joris van Huët, Founder & CEOUpdated 2026-10-018 min read

Run the numbers for your store: the free attribution window calculator.

In GA4, open Advertising, then Attribution paths, keep only purchase and read Days to key event in the top row. Split one-touch paths from longer ones with the path length filter. Then time the steps between product view and purchase in a funnel exploration. If the two disagree, they usually start counting at different points.

Eight steps across two GA4 screens and one Google Ads report. The menu paths are the ones Google prints in its own help pages, checked on 1 October 2026. Google gives the main report two names, so both appear below.

Step by step

Open the paths report. In GA4, click Advertising in the left menu, then Attribution paths under Attribution. The report's own help page lists it as Key event attribution paths, under a Key events drop-down. Menu path: GA4 > Advertising > Attribution > Attribution paths.
Keep purchase and drop the rest. GA4 starts with every key event ticked and adds them together. Leave sign-ups or add-to-carts in, and their timing blends into your purchase figure. Menu path: the key events drop-down at the top left of the report.
Read the top row and write it down. It shows Key events, Purchase revenue, Days to key event and Touchpoints to key event. That covers every selected path at once. Google defines Days to key event as the days from an ad interaction until the key event. Note the figure with its date range beside it. Menu path: the first row of the data table.
Split by path length. Open Path length, choose equal to, enter 1 and click Apply. Note the days and revenue, then repeat with greater than 1. The report shows paths up to 20 touchpoints long. Menu path: Customize report > Path length.
Download the table. Click Share this report in the top right, then Download File and Download CSV. A CSV holds up to 100,000 rows, and you need the Viewer role to export. Menu path: Share this report > Download File > Download CSV.
Weigh the days by revenue. In Google Sheets, SUMPRODUCT multiplies two columns row by row and adds up the products. Divide SUMPRODUCT of the days and revenue columns by the sum of revenue. Put that revenue-weighted figure next to the plain average of the days column. Menu path: none; the formula is =SUMPRODUCT(days, revenue)/SUM(revenue).
Time the steps with a funnel exploration. In Explore, start a Funnel exploration with view_item, add_to_cart and purchase as steps. Set each step as indirectly followed by the one after it. Switch on Show elapsed time to see the average time between steps for users who reached each one. Leave Make open funnel off, so users must enter at the first step. Menu path: GA4 > Explore > Funnel exploration > Steps > Show elapsed time.
Put Google Ads' Path metrics beside it. Open Attribution in the Goals menu, then the Path metrics tab. Choose whether to measure from the first or the last ad interaction, in days or hours. It counts Google ad interactions only. Menu path: Google Ads > Goals > Attribution > Path metrics > Measure from.

A worked example

For illustration, here are five invented rows from a purchase-only CSV, with round revenue.

Path (invented)	Touches	Purchase revenue	Days to key event
Direct	1	€5,000	0.5
Organic Search	1	€3,000	0.5
Paid Social > Organic Search	2	€1,000	10
Paid Social > Email > Paid Search	3	€600	20
Organic Social > Paid Search > Email > Organic Search	4	€400	25

In this worked example, the plain average of the days column is 11.2 days. In the worked example, weighting by revenue gives 3.6 days, because 80% of the money sits in the two one-touch rows. For illustration, the three multi-touch rows alone come to 16 days, weighted the same way.

All three numbers are honest. They answer three questions: how long a path takes, how long a euro takes, and how long a researched purchase takes. Quote the one that matches the decision in front of you.

One store's export shows the same split. On one store's Journeys sheet, journeys with 1 touch hold 79.5% of revenue at 0.5 days to buy. Journeys with 2 to 3 touches took 12.5 days on the same Journeys sheet. So that store could say most of its revenue arrived within a day, or that its researched buyers took about two weeks. It would be right both times.

Use the revenue-weighted figure for cash planning, when the money arrives. Use the multi-touch figure for test lengths and attribution windows, where the slow buyers decide the answer.

The funnel from step 7 adds the where. Say the elapsed time shows minutes between product view and cart, but days between cart and purchase. Then the wait sits after the cart, and the questions move there: delivery costs, payment options, the reminder email. No attribution report would have told you that.

What should I check when the report looks wrong?

Days to key event is tiny. Most revenue probably sits in one-touch paths, which barely wait at all. Filter path length to greater than 1 before you judge.
The figure mixes events. Every key event starts selected, so sign-ups and carts can sit inside your purchase number. Untick all but purchase.
The funnel shows fewer users than you expect. A closed funnel only counts users who entered at the first step. A user also enters once per date range: GA4 reports only their first sequence of steps.
Funnel time and Days to key event disagree. They start the clock in different places. The funnel times one step to the next, while the paths report counts from an ad interaction to the purchase.
Older months are empty in an exploration. Explorations follow your data retention setting: 2 or 14 months of user-level data on a standard property. Standard reports are not cut.
Paths look short after customers switch devices. Check Reporting identity under Admin, then Data display. Device based ignores user IDs; Blended and Observed use one when you collect it.
Paths seem cut off at the start. For purchases, the lookback window is 90 days unless someone changed it, and changes apply going forward. A touch older than the window never enters the path.
Google Ads shows a different number. Its Path metrics count Google ad interactions only. Campaign tables can also be segmented by Days to conversion, and Google suggests a date range that ends at least 30 days ago.

What to do this week

Write down two numbers, not one. Export last quarter's purchase paths and work out the plain average and the revenue-weighted days. Pass: both sit in your report with their date range. Fail: one unlabelled number gets quoted as how long customers take.
Build a three-step funnel. In Explore, start a Funnel exploration with view_item, add_to_cart and purchase, and switch on Show elapsed time. Pass: you can say whether the waiting happens before the cart or after it. Fail: the funnel stays empty, so a step condition matches no events.
Size your next test to the slow paths. Take the multi-touch figure as the shortest length for any holdout test or campaign review. Pass: your next test runs at least that long. Fail: a one-week test judges buyers who need two.

Check the homework. Your GA4 Attribution paths export already holds the evidence. Causality Engine reads that one file and shows what each channel caused next to what last-click gave it, in 1 to 2 minutes, for €99 once (excluding VAT), refundable within 30 days. Check the homework

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Days to key event and funnel elapsed time?
They start the clock in different places. Days to key event runs from an ad interaction to the purchase. A funnel exploration's elapsed time is the average gap between two steps you define, for users who reached the later step. Use the first for marketing paths and the second for friction on your site.
Can I measure time to purchase in hours?
In Google Ads, yes: Path metrics has a Measure in menu with Days or Hours, for Google ad interactions only. GA4's paths report counts days. For buying within one visit, a funnel exploration's elapsed time between steps is the finer tool.
How do I see time to purchase for one campaign in GA4?
Switch the paths table's dimension from Primary channel group to Campaign. Each row then reads as a sequence of campaigns with its own Days to key event. Filter path length to greater than 1 to see the paths where that campaign shared the work.

Go deeper: Causal attribution, explained.

Sixty-second versions of these ideas: Causality Engine on YouTube Shorts.

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