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Shopify Analytics

We have gathered all the information you need on Shopify Analytics, starting from Shopify Native Analytics Dashboard, diving deep into Google Analytics, detecting & resolving data discrepancy problems, and many others.

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Table of Contents

Shopify Analytics Dashboard

Shopify GTM

Shopify offers the Shopify Analytics feature for all merchants. It is a built-in feature so you don’t have to perform any custom coding or settings to have access to the rich, functional dashboards and reports. Report types and depth vary according to your Shopify plan. However, there are amazing reports even in the most basic plan. You can see a comparison of plans based on the reports on this page.

Shopify’s native Analytics feature is often confused with Google Analytics, which is a completely different tool.

Shopify-Analytics-Dashboard-Overview

Dashboard Overview

The Shopify Analytics Dashboard is designed for Shopify merchants, not for professionals. That’s why it is easy-to-view and effective.

The metrics and dimensions are quite clear. As seen in the graph, the core metrics are displayed in a card view. The percentage (#1) shows a comparison of the chosen time period to the previous one.

The inline table (#2) shows the results broken down into different dimensions. For example, it’s possible to see the sales channels such as Online Store and MBC Bundles & Product PACK app, as observed in the graph. Returning Customer Rate, Online Store Conversion Rate, Total Orders are some other core metrics that you’d want to check quite often.

Apart from the main Dashboard, there is also a Reports section in case you want to dig deeper.

Actionable, Key Reports

Oftentimes, founders are lost in reports. There’s a great deal of data and tables available, and they all make sense when you look at each and every one of them. However, a report is not just for "looking at", it is for making the right decisions and taking action. Besides, It is not enough to take action, you also need to follow up on your action’s results and act accordingly. Sometimes optimization attempts do more harm than good. That’s to say, you’ll never know without following up on the results diligently.

All that being said, you need to have a reliable data source and data set that you follow regularly. These are the Shopify Analytics reports that will help you understand what’s going on behind the scenes. A kind note before we start; Shopify Analytics provides you with a great set of metrics - but nowhere close to being as efficient as Google Analytics. Make sure you check the following sections of this post in order to make sure you have the correct setup for Google Analytics and to get a better understanding of it.

Conversion Rate

Conversion Rate

Most marketers and Shopify merchants are obsessed with Conversion Rate (aka CVR) metrics. Unfortunately, they evaluate it completely the wrong way most of the time.

It sounds like a simple metric: Sessions that resulted in orders / Total number of sessions.

However, it can be misleading because there are too many factors affecting this. Let’s say your CVR went 30% lower compared to last week. It sounds negative, right?

This information itself won’t help you take action because there can be too many reasons to it - and they are not necessarily negative. Some sample scenarios are:

  • One of your informative blog posts started to get a lot of traffic - and your number of total sessions increased by 20%. However, it wasn’t a type of blog post that would affect the sales. It was just an informative post and it didn’t attract buyers - at least in the short term. This made your CVR to be lower than last week. Is that really something bad? Definitely not! So, you should also be checking CVR by landing page to avoid these external factors.

  • You started to run 3 new Facebook Ads campaigns with 10 ad groups in total. Most likely, all the ad groups won’t perform great but you will still receive more traffic. The CVR will start going lower because of the increased traffic. This shouldn’t panic you because -maybe- 2 of the ad groups have been performing great. You better check the CVR by traffic source report instead of only CVR. You should have the correct UTM link structure on your Facebook Ads to get this report properly.

  • Devices, browsers, and operating systems would also give you a meaningful breakdown of your Conversion Rate. You might have responsiveness or technical issues per device/browser/operating system. Don’t underestimate the value of CVR by Device Type or Operation System report.

You can create customized Conversion Rate reports on Shopify Analytics quite easily.

We will create an article/video education series on Shopify Analytics Reports, soon. It will be free and published in Analyzify Hub - make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss it!

Conversion Rate Report Shopify Analytics

Shopify Analytics vs. Google Analytics

Both platforms have unique features and benefits. The short answer is that you need to use them both. Shopify Analytics is easy to understand and shows you the general view - using the core metrics and reports.

We observe inaccuracies and discrepancies in Shopify Analytics reports - especially when it comes to sales attribution. You will probably see a lot of orders from “Direct” which is not natural at all.

Google Analytics, on the other hand, offers an in-depth analysis opportunity - probably even more than you need. You can combine and merge any kind of report with each other. It is also possible to create your own custom dashboards and reports where you can tackle the core metrics that you care about.

Google Analytics Enhanced E-commerce features have been a game-changer for many merchants. You will find more information and benefits about Google Analytics in the following sections.

API

Shopify’s Analytics API is deprecated as seen on this thread. You can see the Reports API if you are a Shopify Advanced or Plus store. The Shopify Reports API doesn’t cover all the metrics available on the Analytics API.

You can use the Report resource to publish reports to the Reports page in the Shopify admin. For example, a shirt fulfillment app could publish a report that compares shirt sales by marketing campaign. The reports are based on queries written in ShopifyQL.

If you are looking for an Analytics API, you can consider Google Analytics. Google Analytics 4,in particular, comes with a great built-in BigQuery integration.

Google Analytics - Shopify

shopify gtm

You might be confused about Universal Analytics and GA4. Google recommends parallel tracking - and so do we. You should be using both versions at the same time. In this way, you will still have your current Analytics setup and also add Google Analytics 4 on top of it.

Learn more about Google Analytics - Shopify integration, Google Analytics versions (Universal Analytics & GA4), setup options, key reports, data discrepancies, common problems, and solutions.

Universal Analytics

It is the most popular version of Google Analytics. It has been around since 2013 and hasn’t changed until last year. Shopify’s native integration made the setup seamless. In particular, Enhanced E-commerce reports empowered Shopify merchants with more understanding of their user, product, and sales behavior

How to Set up Universal Analytics on Shopify

Method 1 Shopify’s Native Integration

You can easily set up Google Analytics through Shopify Admin > Online Store > Preferences > Google Analytics section. Just type your Universal Analytics ID and make sure you enable Enhanced Ecommerce.

Shopify’s native integration
Method 2 Analyzify - Shopify App for Data Analytics

Analyzify is a Shopify app that provides you with a turnkey data analytics setup including data layers, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics 4, Universal Analytics, and many other integrations.

Analyzify comes with advanced integration with Universal Analytics. However, we still recommend using the native Universal Analytics integration as it has some advantages.

Analyzify shopify app dor data analytics
Method 3 Other Shopify Analytics Apps

Make sure to check other Shopify Analytics apps on the Shopify app store. We recommend you consider the following factors while evaluating:

  • Do you want to pay an ongoing subscription fee for Google Analytics while you have the native integration or one-time-fee options like Analyzify?

  • What will the app provide you as an addition to the native integration?

  • Will it be easy to set up and use? Does the app offer a setup option if you are not a tech-savvy Shopify merchant? Does it have an extra cost?

  • Will the app ensure that your setup is done correctly and data flows seamlessly?

Now we can assume that you have done and verified your Google Analytics setup, you can jump into the following sections to learn more about Google Analytics reports and common Analytics issues for Shopify merchants.

The Most Important Universal Analytics Reports for Shopify Merchants

We receive this question quite often: “Where should I be looking in Google Analytics?” We have listed the most important reports below:

1. Acquisition > All Traffic > Source/Medium:

You want to know where your traffic/sales are coming from. This will help you understand so much about your business and also help you optimize the ROI for your campaigns. You should be seeing your Paid Campaigns as well as your social traffic, including the paid and the organic. If you don’t see this report correctly, that means your UTM parameters or other settings are not done correctly.

Analyzify Reports by Source and Medium

Note: This example report has two problems:

- Social Media Traffic being marked as a referral
- Too much direct traffic.

If you also have these problems, make sure to check out our Google Analytics Health Check article series and detect/fix your problems.

2.Audience > Technology > Browser & OS:

How does your website perform on certain browsers and operating systems? If your conversion rate shows a significant difference between browsers, then it means you might have a problem. Make sure that you take this report as a basis for your research. You can do the same with the Mobile > Devices report and see how your website performs per device.

Analyzify Reports by Browser and OS

Just like we mentioned above, the conversion rate (and all other metrics) will change according to the device/browser. It is also natural to convert less from mobile devices. Yet, if it’s too big of a difference (like in the example above); you might want to test your website thoroughly on all devices.

3. Conversions > E-commerce > Shopping Behaviour

This report will show you where you are losing your sales the most during the checkout & purchase process.

Analyzify Reports by Shopping Behaviour
4. Conversions > E-commerce > Product Performance:

You can understand the product-level performance with this report. Make sure to check Cart-to-Detail Rate and Buy-to-Detail Rate. Try to figure out which products perform below the average - and try to find the reasons for this. It can be the product’s image, title, price, description, or maybe even the product itself.

The ratios in the last columns mean a lot.

Analyzify Reports Product Performance
5. Sales Performance - by Source/Medium:

Want to know where each sale comes from? This report will help you with that.

You need to choose Source/Medium as a secondary dimension to see the source of each sale. The same logic applies here. If you happen to see a lot of referrals and direct traffic; you should make a health check!

Analyzify Reports Sales Performance by Source and Medium

Common Universal Analytics Issues for Shopify Stores:

Data Discrepancy:

It should be annoying when you don’t see all your sales or traffic on Google Analytics. There are a number of reasons for this issue and you can check the our following article for this: Discrepancy Between Google Analytics & Shopify

Missing Product List Data:

Unfortunately, Shopify’s native integration doesn’t work well and it missed the product list performance report. You can consider using Analyzify or another external solution for this matter.

Too much direct traffic:

It doesn’t seem natural, does it? It's hard to imagine a website having 20%+ direct traffic. More than that usually refers to a problem. Make sure to check out our health check article series: Direct Traffic on Google Analytics

Unwanted referrals:

Referrals are good - but we all know that Stripe or PayPal can not be a correct referral. It is just a payment provider and Analytics can not recognize it because of the missing setup. The worst part of this is that it overwrites the actual traffic source. So you don’t really know where the traffic is coming from. This is an easy fix and the solution is just here: Referrals on Google Analytics

Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

Google Analytics 4 (aka GA4) is the new and default version of Google Analytics. It’s been around for almost a year now. GA4 is the most powerful free analytics tool in the market. It covers so many enterprise-level features at no cost.

Apart from the standard reports, segmentation capabilities, custom report building features, event-based tracking, BigQuery integration are available features. Make sure to check our article on Exciting Features of Google Analytics 4 for Online Stores.

Shopify doesn’t have a native integration yet. However, we’ve provided you with a few alternative setup options below.

Should you use Google Analytics 4 on Shopify?

Definitely yes! It is the new and default version of Google Analytics. Google pays close attention to this product and it will keep receiving amazing updates. It already has many exciting features as explained above.

How to Set up Google Analytics 4 on Shopify

There are several methods to set up GA4 on your Shopify store. We obviously recommend Method 2. Analyzify empowers over 400 stores and they do have the best possible GA4 Integration and Data Analytics setup. Make sure you check out our reviews on the Shopify App store.

Method 1 Manual Setup

You can do the setup by yourself. Still, we should warn you that you will be missing out on a lot of reports and features as you can not add code to every section of your website for every kind of event. We have created a Youtube Video Series on setting up Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics 4 on your own. Follow the links below:

- Shopify - Google Tag Manager Course (Including GA4 Setup)
- GA4 Setup on Shopify - Youtube

Method 2 Analyzify - Google Analytics 4 Connector for Shopify

Analyzify is not ONLY a Google Analytics 4 connector - it includes all major integrations and ensures that your store has a solid, accurate data analytics setup. We also offer a Done-For-You setup service at no extra cost so that you don’t have to worry about anything but enjoy your amazing GA4 integration and reports.

Want to learn more about Shopify data analytics and marketing topics?

We're thrilled to announce that we have just launched Analyzify Hub! We are creating valuable, actionable, up-to-date Data-Analytics & Marketing focused content for Shopify Merchants and marketers.

Make sure to check it out and subscribe.

One-Time Purchase - No monthly payments

Analyzify is a great deal because it doesn’t have any recurring or unexpected costs. Our price includes the app, detailed documentation & video guides, and world-class support.

$449
One-time fee per store Install Now
What's included?
  • Complete GTM Container
  • Advanced Data Layers
  • Data Validation & Setup Audit
  • Google Analytics 4 Setup
  • Google Ads Pixels & + Enhanced
  • FB Pixel, Bing, Pinterest and more
  • 30+ built-in tags
  • Video-guides, in-depth tutorials
  • 3-months support (*)

Shopify’s native reports will not be enough for you to run and optimize professional marketing campaigns as they provide you only with a simple report interface covering the most basic data.

Furthermore, its native integration doesn’t support Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics 4, and many other related parties.

That’s why you need an advanced tracking & reporting setup to maximize your ROI.

Analyzify is designed to be a beginner-friendly tool. Therefore, it provides you with a video-guided, well-explained onboarding & setup process.

Still, keep in mind that we are more than happy to give you a hand if you ever need our help with the setup. You will just need to give access to our team for your store and Google properties, and we will complete your GTM, GA4, and Analyzify setup at no extra cost.

Definitely, yes! Our tool is totally beginner-friendly and we have detailed video guides for you regarding each step. Our support team is also more than happy to jump in and execute the needed steps on behalf of you if you run into any trouble.

Analyzify will deliver a pre-built Google Tag Manager container with your information and tracking IDs inserted in it. What you will only need to do is to import that GTM container into your Google Tag Manager account, and publish the changes. It is approximately a 15-minute process, and you’ll be presented with detailed video tutorials for each step.

We have been working in the data analytics field for more than 5 years. We have developed Analyzify to help Shopify clients with their data problems.

Analyzify has been a favorite solution of more than 900 stores now, and the number is rapidly growing. As it can be seen in our client reviews, all of our clients are pleased with what they get, and we are always happy to take the necessary actions unless there are case-specific problems.

It’s a fact that data can never be 100% accurate due to many technical reasons. However, you should also note that your data must be consistent for at least 90% of the time.

We assure you that we will take action in case the results are not accurate, and bring the data to the best possible state. We are happy to take a manual approach as well, for we care deeply about our customers.

Analyzify is perfectly compatible with non-Shopify Plus stores. Purchase tracking and other user behavior metrics & reports are incredibly crucial for any store, and you will still have a majority of the events/reports with a regular plan.

The only limitation for regular Shopify stores is that they are NOT allowed to edit the checkout process. So, Google Tag Manager and all the other tracking codes will still work on every page, including the order processed page (aka. "thank you" page), but the checkout steps won’t be included.

We have interactive troubleshooting guides to help you detect and fix any possible issues.

We strongly recommend that you read our "Shopify - Google Ads Playbook" if you wish to have a great understanding of the topic. You can be sure that there won't be any mess if you use the official Google App for remarketing events and Analyzify for conversion tracking.

Our support team is also always ready to help if you have trouble solving your issues.

We aimed to create this free tool to record sales & revenue data to help your marketing ROI and receive more quality GA4 e-commerce reporting.

It is normal for the product and other details in your reports to be missing because the "Purchase" event only sends the purchase data. The complete GA4 e-commerce setup requires a more complex structure and preferably through Google Tag Manager (GTM).

If you are familiar with the code, you can try adding other details into your "Purchase" event code as well. However, it will require some testing, since there is no easy solution that works in all stores as mentioned previously in our tutorial.

Alternatively, you can purchase our app, and it will give you all the e-commerce reports in-depth in addition to many other user-based reports. The data will pass through Google Tag Manager (GTM), so you will have the opportunity to use it in other channels (Ads, Facebook Pixel, etc.) as well.

Our team is here to help you with the setup. We also offer* a complimentary 1 hour individual GA4 & GTM training with our experts.

Analyzify tracks many events & actions that Shopify's native integrations do not, such as product list visits, product list / category clicks, etc. Moreover, as Google announced that Universal Analytics will be completely replaced with Google Analytics 4 in July 2023, Analyzify includes data layers, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics 4, and many other integrations that the native Shopify simply doesn’t offer.

Analyzify also provides you with a well-designed data layer, which means you could extend your 3rd party implementations with other marketing partners easily. Analyzify offers you direct support to configure your GA account to get the best out of the data layers like content grouping, custom dimensions, goal setup, etc. Last but not least, Analyzify comes with a detailed Google Data Studio report through which you can see all the important reports in detail.

Your historical data won't be affected. Analyzify doesn't require to create new Google Analytics, Google Ads or Google Tag Manager accounts.

It works on your existing properties. It just changes the way that data flows into these accounts.

You can learn more about our process through this link.