If the application or data doesn’t do Path very well, it’s really the same thing as a Scenario / Funnel analysis, I guess. You could accomplish the same thing by making the Landing page the first “event” in the funnel, though you would probably lose some of the details.

For some biz models like Media, a strict path isn’t very useful but I find Path using “Content Groups” to provide insight.

I believe that Navigation (including Copy) is a primary source of non-conversion. If someone believes otherwise, Path probably is not as important to them…

Not sure how they could reach that position, though.

I understand that you are using Path here in a broad sense, as it applies to various types of channels.

As for Web sites, I have much difficulty seeing how path analysis, such as a response to the “I want to know how people navigate my web site” question, can be really useful based on how web analytics solutions report on them. Most of the time, we get lists of most used patterns, which end up representing very small portions of overall visits, especially with larger sites.

Because of this, I agree that pathing (here again in the context of a web site) without segmentation poses the question in too broad terms to generate any actionable information. However, I haven’t found web analytics application to be good at presenting pathing in correlation with segments.