At a glance
Event Source vs Ecom Revenue Attribution is a cross-channel table that lines up each traffic source PostHog records against the ecommerce revenue attributed to it. It answers the question every owner asks: which channels actually drive sales, not just sessions. Crucially, it surfaces unattributed revenue, the orders that arrive with no clear source, which is where budget gets misallocated and where a tracking gap hides spend you cannot justify.
| What it counts | Each event source (traffic source) with the ecommerce revenue attributed to it, including an unattributed bucket. |
| Sample type | Backend API data from PostHog source data joined with revenue from the connected ecommerce platform, on the standard data refresh. |
| Why it matters | Knowing which sources convert into revenue, and how much revenue has no source, is the foundation of efficient spend. A large unattributed share means you are flying partly blind. |
| Reading the value | Read each row as a source and its revenue. When more than 25% of revenue is unattributed, attribution needs attention. |
| Currency | currency |
| Time window | 30D |
| Alert trigger | >25% revenue unattributed |
| Sentiment key | ph_xc_traffic_source_vs_revenue |
| Roles | owner, marketing |
Calculation
Calculated automatically from your PostHog data joined with revenue from your connected ecommerce platform. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.Worked example
A representative reading of Event Source vs Ecom Revenue Attribution for a typical merchant on PostHog. Suppose the table shows paid search at the top with the most attributed revenue, then organic, then email, with a “direct / none” bucket holding 18% of revenue. After a UTM change on 09 May 26 breaks tagging, the unattributed bucket jumps to 31%, crossing the 25% alert. Real revenue did not move, but a third of it can no longer be credited to a channel, which would distort every spend decision. Cross-reference Top Traffic Sources for the source list and the funnel-vs-ecom card for the conversion side. For deeper investigation, use Vortex Mind to trace upstream causes; for natural-language exploration, ask Ask Viq.Sibling cards merchants should reference together
| Card | Why merchants reach for it |
|---|---|
pos_top_sources | Engagement sibling: the source list. |
ph_xc_funnel_vs_ecom_conversion | Cross-channel sibling: funnel vs platform conversion. |
ph_xc_landing_page_perf_vs_bounce | Cross-channel sibling: landing performance vs bounce. |
pos_sessions | Audience sibling: sessions by source. |
ph_paths_top_route | Funnels sibling: routes from source to purchase. |
Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard
Where to look in PostHog’s own dashboard: In PostHog, break a revenue or purchase trend down by the source property to see revenue per channel. For the revenue figures themselves, your ecommerce platform’s own reports are the source of truth. Differences here are almost always about attribution model, not raw revenue. Why the Vortex IQ value may legitimately differ:| Reason | Direction | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Attribution model. First-touch, last-touch, and platform-native models split revenue differently. | Variable | Confirm the attribution model. |
| UTM coverage. Missing or broken UTM tags inflate the unattributed bucket. | Unattributed higher | Audit your campaign tagging. |
| Currency and time zone. Revenue totals shift with currency conversion and period boundaries. | Variable | Align currency and time zone. |