
The source of traffic can be utilized as an indicator to establish whether or not certain promotions and marketing activities worked. Statistics are interpreted in order to plan and build on the success of previous marketing campaigns.
Web statistics will indicate whether the visitor clicked through from a forum, chat room, club, search engine etc. Analysis of the statistics will serve as an indication of the most successful source. For example - if most of a customer's traffic originate from a forum where they post, it will pay them to advertise within that specific forum.
The advertising inception date should be noted and statistics tracked to determine the amount of click-throughs from the forum. Affiliate marketing programs work on a similar basis. Success of marketing or advertising campaigns could be measured this way.
It is also possible to track visitor behavior with a custom made solution in order to measure the success of a campaign.