Unfortunately custom channel groupings that are configured in Google Analytics aren’t available in Google Data Studio. To have the value of custom channel groupings in Data Studio we can use CASE Statements. This is done by editing the data source and using the ‘add field’ option.
We then create a custom formula that will categorise or group our data in the way we need.
Use case
If someone in your team has sent out a facebook post with the source medium ‘facebook / paid-post’ or with the medium ‘edm’ this will likely fall under the default channel grouping of ‘(other)’. By using the following CASE Statement we can regroup this into a channel named ‘Social - Paid’ or ‘Email’ respectively. See additional examples in text format at the end of this post.
These formulas can get quite complex so what we recommend doing is starting simple, one line at a time adding in a condition of how certain traffic should be grouped. We use the following template to help validate how our conditions have worked. Each table has an interactive filter so by selecting the (other) group you can see which Source / Mediums or campaigns are grouped under it. And then select your new grouping Social - Paid to see if your new condition has picked up something you weren’t expecting.
DRD Channel Grouping Monitoring Template - https://datastudio.google.com/s/vijyUqsbhQk
If it is going to be fixing an ongoing requirement, eg our email platform source can't be changed and it's being grouped under other, then it would also be worth updating the default grouping in Google Analytics to reflect it.
Channel Grouping an ongoing process as no campaign tracking process is without its flaws. Utilise the monitoring dashboard to check regularly on how things are being grouped and make required changes to keep it up to date. It goes without saying that a strong campaign process should be implemented to limit the need for too many updates of the custom channel grouping. Enjoy!
Text Examples
CASE
WHEN Default Channel Grouping = "(Other)" AND REGEXP_MATCH( Source/Medium, "facebook / paid-post" ) THEN "Social - Paid"
WHEN Default Channel Grouping = "(Other)" AND REGEXP_CONTAINS(Medium, "edm|newsletter" ) THEN "Email"
ELSE Default Channel Grouping
END
CASE
WHEN REGEXP_MATCH( Medium, "cpc" ) THEN "Paid - Search"
WHEN REGEXP_CONTAINS(Medium, "edm|newsletter" ) THEN "Email"
WHEN REGEXP_CONTAINS(Source / Medium, "display|smr" ) THEN "Display"
ELSE Default Channel Grouping
END
