Channels refers to inbound marketing channels which help quantify the marketing contribution to pipeline and revenue.

Standard Channel Logic

Below are the standard rules that are used to group traffic into channels and the standard channel names for these groupings.  

1. AI Search Engines

  • Channel Name: Organic Search – AI
  • Logic:
    • UTM source contains: chatgpt, openai, claude, anthropic, bard, gemini, copilot, perplexity, you.com, grok
    • OR referrer contains: chat.openai.com, claude.ai, bard.google.com, gemini.google.com, copilot.microsoft.com, perplexity.ai, you.com, poe.com, grok.com
  • Channel Name: Paid Search – Google
  • Logic:
    • URL contains gclid= parameter
    • OR (utm_source contains “google” AND utm_medium is “paid”/”cpc”/”ppc” or contains “paid”)
  • Channel Name: Paid Search – Other
  • Logic:
    • utm_source is bing/yahoo AND utm_medium is “paid”/”cpc”/”ppc” or contains “paid”

4. LinkedIn Paid Social

  • Channel Name: Paid Social – LinkedIn
  • Logic:
    • utm_source contains “linkedin” AND utm_medium is paid/cpc/social/sponsored/paidsocial or contains “paid”

5. Other Paid Social

  • Channel Name: Paid Social – Other
  • Logic:
    • utm_source is facebook/twitter/instagram/reddit/youtube AND utm_medium is paid/cpc/social/sponsored or contains “paid”

6. Google Display Ads

  • Channel Name: Display Ads – Google
  • Logic:
    • utm_source contains “google” AND utm_medium is display/banner/cpm

7. Other Display Ads

  • Channel Name: Display Ads – Other
  • Logic:
    • utm_medium is display/banner/cpm AND utm_source does NOT contain “google”

8. Email

  • Channel Name: Email
  • Logic:
    • utm_medium = “email”
    • OR utm_source contains “email”
    • OR URL contains mkt_tok= parameter
    • OR campaign_type contains “email” or “nurture”

9. Outbound Sales

  • Channel Name: Outbound Sales
  • Logic:
    • utm_source = “sales” OR utm_medium = “sales”
    • OR campaign_type contains “sales”

10. Direct Mail

  • Channel Name: Direct Mail
  • Logic:
    • campaign_type contains “direct mail”

11. Webinar/Virtual Event

  • Channel Name: Webinar/Virtual Event
  • Logic:
    • campaign_type contains “webinar” or “virtual event”

12. In-Person Event

  • Channel Name: In-Person Event
  • Logic:
    • campaign_type contains “event”, “tradeshow”, or “conference”
  • Channel Name: Organic Search – Google
  • Logic:
    • Referrer contains “google” AND no utm_source AND no gclid
  • Channel Name: Organic Search – Other
  • Logic:
    • Referrer is bing.com/yahoo.com/duckduckgo.com AND (no utm_source OR utm_medium is NOT paid/cpc/sponsored)

15. LinkedIn Organic Social

  • Channel Name: Organic Social – LinkedIn
  • Logic:
    • Referrer contains “linkedin.com” AND (utm_medium is NOT paid/cpc/sponsored OR no utm_medium)

16. Other Organic Social

  • Channel Name: Organic Social – Other
  • Logic:
    • Referrer is facebook/twitter/x/instagram/youtube/reddit AND (utm_medium is NOT paid/cpc/sponsored OR no utm_medium)

17. Direct

  • Channel Name: Direct
  • Logic:
    • (No referrer AND event_system = “AnalyticsJS”) OR referrer matches company domain
    • AND no utm_source AND no utm_medium

18. Fallback

  • Channel Name: Unknown
  • Logic:
    • Event data does not match any existing channel rules

Otherwise Statement

The Otherwise Statement in the Object Manager -> Channel Logic screen will essentially “cancel out” the hardcoded channel logic.

With Otherwise Statement in Config:

If your Object Manager Config includes an Otherwise rule:

  • Config rules are evaluated first
  • If a rule matches → that channel is used
  • If no rules match → Otherwise value is used
  • The hardcoded default_channel is NEVER used (it’s overridden by the Otherwise)

Without Otherwise Statement in Config:

If your Object Manager Config does NOT include an Otherwise rule:

  • Config rules are evaluated first
  • If a rule matches → that channel is used
  • If no rules match → raw_channel remains NULL

The coalesce function then falls back to default_channel (the hardcoded logic)

Change Channel Ranking Logic 

If you want to change the channel ranking logic, here’s a link to the article that will show you how to accomplish this task.