Instructional Queries
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      Path to Conversion

      Track how customers interact with multiple ad touchpoints before purchase using the Path to Conversion dashboard, and optimize spend for higher ROAS and NTB growth.

      Path to Conversion

      The Path to Conversion dashboard helps you understand how different ad touchpoints contribute to conversions. It highlights the journeys customers take before making a purchase, showing you which sequences of ads drive the most sales and efficiency.

      This dashboard provides a complete view of user paths, spend allocation, and conversion outcomes so you can refine your cross-channel strategy.  

      Dashboard Overview

      At the top, you’ll see key performance metrics:

      • Total Sales – Overall revenue generated.

      • NTB Sales – Revenue from new-to-brand customers.

      • Purchased Users – Unique users who made a purchase.

      • NTB Purchased Users – Unique new-to-brand customers acquired.

      • Spend – Total advertising spend across campaigns.

      • ROAS – Return on ad spend.

      • Avg Path Length – Average number of touchpoints before a conversion.

      • CAC – Customer acquisition cost.

      This overview gives you a quick read on efficiency and the role of multi-touch journeys.

      Top 5 Path Performance by Spend

      This section shows the ad paths with the highest spend, along with their purchase rates.

      For example:

      • DSP → SD drove $290K in spend but had a low purchase rate of 0.08%.

      • DSP → SD → SP → SPTV spent $148K with a purchase rate of 2.59%.

      You can use this view to evaluate whether your biggest investments are yielding efficient conversions or need optimization.

      Total Sales by Path Length

      This visualization groups sales by the number of ad touches:

      • 1 Touch – Single exposure before purchase.

      • 2 Touches – Two ad exposures before purchase.

      • 3 Touches & 4 Touches – Longer paths before conversion.

      For example, many sales occur after 2 touches, showing the importance of sequencing ads rather than relying on single impressions.

      First Touch – Last Touch Path Analysis

      This section isolates the beginning and end points of user journeys, helping you see which entry ads and final ads influence conversions most.

      For example:

      • SP → SD generated $1.43M in sales from 59K users at just $45K spend.

      • SD → SP drove $886K in sales with a $22K spend.

      • DSP → SP → SD produced $490K in sales across 16K users.

      This view helps you understand which ads are best for introducing customers to your brand versus closing the purchase.

      Performance by Path

      The Performance by Path table gives a detailed breakdown of each path, including:

      • Path occurrences

      • NTB Sales and NTB %

      • Total Sales

      • Purchased Users and NTB Purchased Users

      • Spend

      • CAC

      For example:

      • SPTV → SP generated $397K in sales, with 90% coming from NTB customers.

      • SD → SP → DSP produced $60K in sales at a CAC of $46.8.

      • SP → SD → DSP yielded $886K in sales with a strong NTB share of 88%.

      This table is ideal for pinpointing which sequences deliver high NTB efficiency and which may be overspending relative to return.

      How it works

      1. Navigate to Intentwise Explore

      2. Go to Queries > Query Library

      3. Search for and add "Path to Conversion" to your saved queries

      4. Fill in the required parameters and run the query (see this article for detailed settings)

      5. Once executed, access the results under the Insights section for product-level metrics and visualizations.

      For more information, refer to our data model.

      Key Use Cases

      • Measure sequencing effectiveness – See how exposure to different ad types (DSP, SP, SD, SPTV) impacts conversion probability.

      • Optimize budget allocation – Identify which paths generate the highest ROAS and lowest CAC.

      • Evaluate NTB acquisition efficiency – Understand how multi-touch journeys impact new-to-brand growth.

      • Inform creative strategy – Align creatives across channels based on where they appear in the path (upper funnel vs. last touch).

      Recommendations

      • Use first-touch vs. last-touch paths to separate prospecting strategies (DSP, SPTV) from conversion-focused ads (SP, SD).

      • Monitor CAC and NTB share closely — scale the paths that bring in new-to-brand customers most efficiently.

      • Reconsider paths with high spend but low purchase rates, as they may indicate wasted impressions.

      • Leverage 2–3 touch sequences as they often strike the best balance between conversion likelihood and cost.

      Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

      What are instructional queries?

      Amazon Marketing Cloud's (AMC) instructional queries provide pre-written SQL code that AMC users can use as is or modify for common measurement and analytics tasks.