# Top Paths Explained

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The *Top Paths* in your program refer to the most popular customer conversion paths, or the most common series of touchpoints with which customers interact before making a purchase. Knowing your top paths helps you understand how to best [credit](https://help.impact.com/brand/what-would-you-like-to-learn-about/platform-features/actions-and-payouts/credit-groups-explained) your partners and online marketing channels so that you can make marketing decisions that maximize your revenue.

#### Using the Top Paths Report

The [Top Paths Report](https://help.impact.com/brand/what-would-you-like-to-learn-about/platform-features/cross-channel-performance-insights/optimize-reports/top-paths-report) shows you your program's most popular conversion paths in chronological sequence.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Example:** `Paid Search → "Partner A" → Direct` means that a customer clicked your paid search channel link, then made their way to Partner A's site, then was referred to your landing page where they completed their purchase.
{% endhint %}

This report is best used to investigate trends you've found in other reports, like the [Contribution report](https://help.impact.com/brand/what-would-you-like-to-learn-about/platform-features/cross-channel-performance-insights/optimize-reports/contribution-report). For instance, you may notice that one partner consistently shows up as an *Introducer* to a conversion path, but is rarely credited with conversions. The Top Paths Report will show you other partners who appear on that conversion path so that you can determine if the *Introducer* partner is being swindled of credit by other partners.

The Top Paths Report only shows conversion paths of 9 steps or less (*steps* include both clicks and impressions, if impressions are tracked). Since all conversion path steps aren't captured, use this report to investigate trends you've found on other reports rather than for gross revenue analysis.

<div data-with-frame="true"><figure><img src="https://4048883401-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FwMLlMoFBtKJa8ptd3zaw%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-43cae61ce36dedc9d0f8f4e31c75534fe20491b6%2F51b55da1f0c3fa82b7b2e5cce8b7bfea5c19798aed4491c962e2c393475e9c94.png?alt=media" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>

#### Assigning credit groups

By default, partners on impact.com are assigned the Preferred credit group so that they can be credited to earn a payout when they are in the last-click position of a customer journey. A channel should only be assigned the Preferred credit group if you wish to suppress payout to the partner when that channel is in the last-click position. Brands commonly assign paid media channels like search, display, and paid social to the Preferred credit group, and unpaid media channels like organic search and organic social to the Non-Preferred credit group.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** If you have advanced crediting configured for partners, your partners may not fall into the default Preferred credit group. If this is the case, contact your CSM to discuss the optimal credit group configuration for your channels.
{% endhint %}

In short, to use Optimize strictly as a reporting feature, leave all non-partner channels as Non-preferred. This way, your channels won't take credit from partners but will still show up in reporting so you can see which ones are most useful to your program. To use Optimize for deduplicating paid channels, use all 3 credit groups to set the crediting priority you want.

<div data-with-frame="true"><figure><img src="https://4048883401-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FwMLlMoFBtKJa8ptd3zaw%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-f3dc9667ab15dd458976bcb9c169b1bbba401e27%2F6ce509a47692504e720842253a52f738c0ac30bfd6762b51c778e8b32674438e.png?alt=media" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>

#### How first-click crediting affects credit groups

[First-click crediting](https://help.impact.com/brand/what-would-you-like-to-learn-about/platform-features/tracking/credit-policies/first-click-credit-policy-explained) rewards the partner who drives the first click in the conversion path instead of the partner who drives the last click. If you configure first-click crediting for an event type, only *partners* can be credited — no channel in the customer journey will win credit even if it's in the *Preferred* credit group. This is because non-impact.com-managed online channels are always considered under a last-click attribution method.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** [Last-click crediting](https://help.impact.com/brand/what-would-you-like-to-learn-about/platform-features/tracking/credit-policies/last-click-credit-policy-explained) is impact.com's default and recommended crediting policy. First-click crediting doesn't allow deduplication with non-partner channels and is generally not recommended.
{% endhint %}

#### Learn more

* [Create an Optimize Channel](https://help.impact.com/brand/what-would-you-like-to-learn-about/platform-features/cross-channel-performance-insights/optimize-channels/create-an-optimize-channel)
* [Set Up Rules to Identify Channel Traffic](https://help.impact.com/brand/what-would-you-like-to-learn-about/platform-features/cross-channel-performance-insights/set-up-rules-to-identify-channel-traffic)


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