Any analyst or business practitioner would have asked to explain what is Direct in the Marketing Channel or Typed/Bookmarked in Source Of Traffic. Most of us would have made it clear that traffic was received from a visitor who typed the URL directly in the browser tab or clicked the bookmark in the browser. Honestly, yes, it’s for people who just wanted to grasp the same thing more generally. But that’s not the ideal world situation and is not only to Adobe Analytics, but to all Digital Analytics Tools.
So, what is Direct or Typed/Bookmarked in an ideal world? I will describe Typed/Bookmarked in Source Of Traffic as traffic with ‘No Referrer’. My description will be slightly different for the Direct in Marketing Channel since it is based on processing rules, but more or less the same.
If so, let us list the ideal world scenarios considering Marketing Channel is based on Query String Parameter ‘ecp’. It isn’t an exhaustive list, but it is based on my experience and validation on Digital Platform.
Scenario 1: Visitors type the URL directly in the browser tab.
Visitors typing the URL directly in the browser tab will not have a referrer value and will therefore be bucketed under Typed/Bookmarked in Source Of Traffic. Same for Direct in Marketing Channel, but typed URL should not contain the query string parameter ‘ecp’ in the URL.
Scenario 2: Visitors click the Bookmark button in the browser.
Visitors clicking the Bookmark button in the browser will not have a referrer value and will therefore be bucketed under Typed/Bookmarked in Source Of Traffic. Same for Direct in Marketing Channel, but Bookmarked URL should not contain the query string parameter ‘ecp’ in the URL.
Scenario 3: Visitors come through a Non-Internet platform.
Consider that you have sent a mobile message with your URL link to your customers or customers/visitors having your URL link in their Note Pad or Word. Customers/Visitors clicking the link and landing your website will not have a referrer value and will therefore be bucketed under Typed/Bookmarked in Source Of Traffic. Same for Direct in Marketing Channel, but the message link should not contain the query string parameter ‘ecp’. Now you can understand that URL shorteners such as Bitly, ShortURL etc., will not only be used to shorten landing URLs, but will also be used to attribute our traffic to the correct referring domains.
Scenario 4: Visitors come to your Website using Mobile Application.
Consider that you have a Facebook page and that you have multiple posts with your campaign information. If the visitor uses Facebook Web Page to land your website, the referrer value will be forwarded. But if the visitor uses Facebook Application to open the link in their mobile browser (Not the Facebook default browser), traffic will not have a referrer value and will therefore be bucketed under Typed/Bookmarked in Source Of Traffic. Same for Direct in Marketing Channel, but the post link should not contain the query string parameter ‘ecp’. Even if you have a Mobile Application that can direct visitors to the website, the above scenario is true provided that the session does not persist from Mobile Application to Website by any way.
Scenario 5: Visitors through incognito browser window (Usually for Chrome & Firefox).
Consider that visitor is already in your domain and trying to open a link in your website URL using incognito window (Open link in incognito window). Since because no information is forwarded to incognito window, the landing page traffic will be considered as new visit which will not have a referrer value and will therefore be bucketed under Typed/Bookmarked in Source Of Traffic. Same for Direct in Marketing Channel, but the opened link should not have query string parameter ‘ecp’.
Scenario 6: Visitors through private browser tabs (Safari).
Incognito isn’t private, so it’s a different scenario, tricky right? Let me explain. Incognito window tabs aren’t private, i.e. Incognito window tabs in Chrome and Firefox will forward the information from one tab to another within the incognito window. But the Safari(Recent Versions) private tabs are completely private, i.e. If the visitor uses safari in private mode, individual tabs in private mode will not pass information from one tab to another. So if the website has links those open in another tab, then the landing page traffic will be considered as new visit which will not have a referrer value and will therefore be bucketed under Typed/Bookmarked in Source Of Traffic. Same for Direct in Marketing Channel, but the opened link should not have query string parameter ‘ecp’.
Important Note: It is always important that links in an URL or domain should open in the same tab. If your website has more links those open in another tab or window, then the channel attribution will not be perfect and will be bucketed under Typed/Bookmarked considering the landing URL traffic as new visit in Safari private tabs.
It is also important to understand the effect of Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) on Safari Browser. So, go ahead and read more on Intelligent Tracking Prevention. And don’t ask about secured browsers like Brave, Chromium, Epic etc., those won’t even track your websites by default! Ha ha.
