Mismatch in the order number of the marketing channel when mapping data between flow and freeform visualization

[amanmishra]

When comparing data between two visualizations for the same date range, I am seeing mismatch among order numbers placed for a direct marketing channel.Limit to first/last occurrence is the setting I selected for the flow representation; I've given the screenshot for the flow visualization  setting i have used.For the direct marketing channel, I can observe the total order number disparity between the flow and freeform representation.
What could be the reason for it?

[Jennifer_Dungan · Accepted solution]

Honestly, I've always had some issues with the pathing reports.. I think it has to do with it using the special "Path Views" metric...  I replicated your table and flow, and nothing lines up for me... not my total orders, not any of my Marketing Channels....

Personally I don't use the flow diagrams much... While I appreciate the ability to see the pathing through multiple channels like you are trying to do... Since the numbers don't align it causes confusion... 

I almost suspect there is an issue with these diagrams (but it's hard to prove).. but in my case, our "orders" are subscriptions... users can only purchase a single subscription at a time... so there should be no way to have multiple orders in a visit that could cause calculation issues with a flow diagram, and yet, the orders are way off for us...  leaving me even more convinced there's a bug in that visualization......