What we are seeking to do is to compress our mental vision of the path taken from initial ad exposure to purchase completion. The clearest indications of website performance are achieved by working with these two ends of the process. By creating a compressed end-to-end view, Integrated Path Analysis aims to make this connection obvious and thus easier to work with.

Integrated Path Analysis only concerns itself with the metrics that reflect critical points in the visitor's journey through our online material. These critical points are ones in which the visitor must make a yes or no decision as to whether to proceed further down the path or terminate the path (by leaving). Integrated Path Analysis is largely financial.

Remember, the aim of this methodology is to ruthlessly expose the core processes that determine web success or failure. Other things may be going on within the visitor's path -- such as backing up and repeating page views -- but such considerations are irrelevant to Integrated Path Analysis.

The path marketers follow breaks down into three stages:
        • Getting people into the site
        • Holding them while they do whatever they need to prior to commitment
        • Then getting them to commit to the target action

If the aim of the site is to get contact information, then the target action is submitting the contact form.

If the aim of the site is to sell goods, then the target action is submitting the credit card form that completes the transaction.

The following diagram shows the path someone follows from ad to final target action. The numbers indicate our points of measurement in this path. These are where major decision points occur for the visitor.

Major decision points