The Paths to Conversion report on Canvas (new experience) helps marketers visualize multi-touch journeys across campaigns, tactics, and ad types. The report reconstructs user paths using illumin’s cross-device identity graph and highlights the sequences that drive conversions.
Paths to conversion helps marketers understand how users are moving through their various campaigns. This includes users being exposed to multiple campaigns, ad-types or tactics and then converting. This flow is an important aspect of user journey advertising. It shows the links between the user journey and the new enhanced Canvas.
The Paths to Conversion report is a diagnostic tool on the Canvas (new experience) that maps the multi‑touch journey a user takes before converting. Instead of relying only on last‑click attribution, it reconstructs the actual sequence of exposures across campaigns, tactics, or ad types to show how impressions work together to drive conversions.
Key points:
Many DSPs provide this type of information, but it’s a frustrating report that requires time to understand. illumin's Paths to conversion report visualizes the users' journey whether it’s explicitly connected or not.
Data is accessible to the marketer when two conditions are met. The Canvas (new experience) has at least one campaign with two tactics, and at least one assigned conversion action. If these two conditions are met, and conversions have occurred, the paths to conversion report will collect data.
The Paths to Conversion report is only accessible on the Canvas (new experience).
Paths to Conversion will not produce any data.
Users can filter by campaign, tactic or ad-type path as well as by conversion type.
A user is defined by illumin’s cross-device identity graph. In regions where cross-device coverage is limited, data availability or depth may vary.
Campaign, tactic and ad type filters change your view of paths to conversion. Conversion type includes site engagement, cart value, purchase, lead, sign up, and contact. Marketers can use the Date Range filter to select variable end-dates through EOD yesterday. The start date is immovable at this time. Switching between these selectable views provides users different ways to evaluate and see how campaigns are connected and driving value through to conversion.
Paths to conversion works within the confines of the Canvas (new experience) you are in. This tool doesn't look at other exposures that are happening from other advertisers or campaigns within your licensee.
Rankings are based on the number of conversions that sequence has generated.
Yes, but currently, illumin shows the last six touchpoints in the beta version. We ignore touchpoints that happen outside of six for the time being, with plans to update if necessary based on internal and external feedback.
Data is refreshed daily.
Not all users are exposed to multiple campaigns or, one tactic or campaign might be driving the majority of conversions.
Users may move between campaigns, tactics or ad-types based on impression availability, delivery needs or identified value to the campaigns performance.
The Report Builder shows conversion values using simple last-touch attribution. This means credit is assigned to the final interaction before conversion. In contrast, Paths to Conversion breaks down the multiple touchpoints that led to the conversion, giving a fuller picture of the customer journey. Because the attribution models differ, the numbers may not match exactly.
Converted users and conversions are related but not identical. A single user can generate multiple conversions, or in some cases, conversions may not be credited due to the view-acceptance ratio set for your conversion actions. For example, if the ratio is set to 50%, more users may convert but only half of those conversions are assigned credit. This can result in scenarios such as a 2:1 ratio of converted users to conversions.
Understand the Paths to Conversion report
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