Google Analytics track to Initial Referrer

Question

A user clicks on a referring link to visit our eCommerce website, but does not yet place an order. Then the user goes back directly to our website at a later point and places an order. How can we set up in google analytics / tag manager that the initial referrer should stay the referrer for this user?

Example: A customer visited example.com and clicked on a link to our website. Then the customer bookmarked our website url. Then at a later point, the customer visits our website through the bookmark or through a Google search. How do we track that example.com was the original referrer for this customer?

Thank you for your help.

Answer 1

If the user returns with the bookmark, the previous source will automatically result as a consequence of the standard Google Analytics attribution model. While if accessed from organic search this will overwrite the previous source.

What you can do to save the first source is to install a cookie on the user's browser so that the first time it saves the source in a custom dimension, while if the cookie already exists it does not save it.