Attribution at Coveo

Coveo for Commerce Advanced Reports and the Coveo Merchandising Hub (CMH) rely on attribution to provide insight into the key metrics that affect the performance of your Coveo-powered commerce implementation:

  • Transactions

    The user’s journey is analyzed to determine which solutions should be credited for the purchase.

  • Revenue

    The user’s journey is analyzed to determine which solutions should be credited for the revenue that’s generated by the purchase.

Coveo’s attribution model

A transaction is typically the result of a series of touchpoints that map the customer’s journey. It’s important to consider the entirety of that journey when analyzing the performance of your Coveo-powered commerce implementation.

Coveo’s attribution model is multi-touchpoint, per-product, and last-touch:

  • Multi-touchpoint

    Transactions and revenue are attributed to specific solutions rather than to Coveo as a whole. When a touchpoint leads to a purchase, Coveo uses it to determine which solution should be credited for the purchase.

    Transactions can be attributed to multiple solutions because each product in a transaction is attributed individually based on the touchpoint involved.

    Note

    Each transaction is only counted once on the total transactions chart in Coveo for Commerce Advanced Reports, even if it’s attributed to multiple solutions.

  • Per-product

    Each product in a transaction is attributed to a particular solution. The transaction as a whole is attributed to a particular solution if at least one product in the transaction can be attributed to that solution.

    Tip
    Transactions vs. revenue

    Each transaction can only be attributed to a solution once, even when multiple products in the transaction are attributed to the same solution.

    However, the revenue for all of the products in a transaction that are attributed to a particular solution is added up and attributed to that solution collectively.

  • Last-touch

    Each product in a transaction is attributed to a solution based on the last touchpoint involving that product before the purchase was completed.

    Example

    A user clicks a product on the Coveo-powered search results page but doesn’t add it to their cart. Later, they revisit the site and add that same product to their cart from a recommendation interface before completing the purchase. This product is attributed to the recommendation solution.

Attribution example

A customer wants to purchase a laptop with a 12.4" display, a 4k monitor, and a printer, so they visit the store site for Acme Electronics.

  • They first type laptop with 12.4 display in the search bar. From the search results, they see a laptop priced at $500 and add it to their cart.

  • Next, the customer views the products listed on the Monitors listing page until they find a 4k monitor priced at $250 and add it their cart.

  • The customer then views the products listed on the Printers listing page and adds a printer priced at $200 to their cart.

  • Finally, when the customer is reviewing their cart, they notice a product recommendation for a laptop bag priced at $50. They add the bag to their cart, then proceed to the payment and complete the transaction.

For this customer journey, the transaction is attributed once to each of the Coveo solutions, and once to Coveo:

  • It’s attributed once to the search solution because of the event that occurred when the customer searched for the laptop.

  • It’s attributed once to the listing solution because of the events that occurred when the monitor and printer product listings were loaded. Even though two products in the transaction are attributed to the listing solution, a transaction can only be attributed to each solution once.

  • It’s attributed once to the recommendation solution because of the event that occurred when the recommendation interface in which the customer found the laptop bag loaded.

  • It’s attributed once to Coveo because it includes at least one item that’s attributed to a Coveo solution.

While the transaction is attributed equally to each solution that was involved, the revenue is attributed based on the price of each product in the transaction. The total of this transaction is $1,000, which is attributed as follows:

  • $500 is attributed to the search solution.

  • $450 ($250 + $200) is attributed to the listing solution.

  • $50 is attributed to the recommendation solution.

For a more complex example involving multiple orders and items not attributed to Coveo, see Contribution to AOV.

About search attribution

Coveo attributes a product in a transaction to the search solution if a visitor's last registered click action before the purchase of that product was selecting it from the search results that were returned after performing a query in the search box.

A search in a search bar | Coveo for Commerce

In this case, the visitor’s search query generates a unique ID called searchUid.

After the query is sent, a search page loads that provides search results related to the query. A search event is logged in the background. This search event contains a searchQueryUid property in its payload. This property is filled with the value of the searchUid returned by the visitor’s search query.

When the visitor clicks a product, the click event sent to Coveo UA includes the searchQueryUid property. This property is filled with the value of the searchUid generated by the search query.

By tracking the unique ID value used throughout the actions leading up to the purchase, Coveo can determine that the Coveo Search service was responsible for the purchase.

About product listing attribution

Coveo attributes a product in a transaction to the listing solution if a visitor's last registered click action before the purchase of that product was selecting it on a product listing page.

A click action on a product category | Coveo for Commerce

In this case, selecting a product category sends a request to the Search API. This request generates a unique ID called searchUid.

Sending this request causes the product listing page to load and display products that are relevant to the selected category. A search event is logged in the background.

This search event contains in its payload a searchQueryUid property which is filled with the value of the searchUid returned by the request to the Search API.

When the visitor clicks a product, the click event sent to Coveo UA includes the searchQueryUid property. This property is filled with the value of the searchUid generated by the search query.

By tracking the unique ID value used throughout the actions leading up to the purchase, Coveo can determine that the Coveo Listings service was responsible for the purchase.

About recommendation attribution

Coveo attributes a product in a transaction to the recommendation solution if a visitor's last registered click action before the purchase of that product was selecting it from a recommendation interface.

A click action on a recommended product | Coveo for Commerce

Recommendation interfaces can appear in different places on a Coveo-powered website. For example, they can appear on home pages, cart pages, or product detail pages.

When a page containing a recommendation interface loads, a request is sent to the Search API to query products that will fill the recommendation component. The request generates a unique ID called searchUid.

Sending this request causes the recommendation interface to load and display the products returned by the request to the Search API. A search event is logged in the background.

This search event contains in its payload a searchQueryUid property which is filled with the value of the searchUid returned by the request to the Search API.

When the visitor clicks a product from the recommendation interface, the click event sent to Coveo UA includes the searchQueryUid property. This property is filled with the value of the searchUid generated by the search query.

By tracking the unique ID value used throughout the actions leading up to the purchase, Coveo can determine that the Coveo Recommendations service was responsible for the purchase.