Posted by How to become an eCommerce entrepreneur Shopify is a Canadian e-commerce company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. It is also the name of its proprietary e-commerce platform for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems. Shopify offers online retailers a suite of services “including payments, marketing, shipping, and customer engagement tools to simplify the process of running an online store for small merchants.
Shopify was founded in 2004 by Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand, and Scott Lake after attempting to open Snowdevil, an online store for snowboarding equipment. Unsatisfied with the existing e-commerce products at the time, Lütke and his team decided to build their platform.
Shopify is also a platform for businesses of all sizes to create an online store. It offers users a customizable platform, an easy-to-use checkout process, and a wide range of features.
Some of the features of Shopify are
- Unlimited products and categories
- Customizable theme designs
- Mobile optimization
- 24/7 support
- Built-in blogging platform
- Discount codes and coupons
- Shipping labels and tracking
- Integration with third-party apps and services
While Shopify also has its built-in analytics tool, which gives users insights into their store’s performance. However, many businesses choose to supplement this with Google Analytics.
What is Analytics?
Analytics are a way of understanding how your website or app is being used. They can show you things like how many people are visiting your site, what pages they’re looking at, and where they’re coming from.
Google Analytics is a free web analytics service that provides insights into website traffic and marketing effectiveness. Google launched the service in 2005, and it has since become the most widely used web analytics tool.
Google Analytics can track all sorts of data, including page views, unique visitors, bounce rate, conversion rate, and much more. It also offers a range of features, such as custom reports and goals, that can be used to track specific business objectives.
Google Analytics is a free service that provides detailed statistics about the visitors to a website. It can be used to track sales and conversions and provide insights into customer behavior.
The features of Google Analytics can be divided into four main categories:
- Visitor Acquisition: This includes understanding where your visitors are coming from (e.g., organic search, direct traffic, referral traffic) and what devices they’re using (e.g., desktop, mobile).
- Behavior Analysis: This includes understanding what visitors do on your website or app (e.g., what pages they visit, how long they stay, what actions they take).
- Conversion Tracking: This includes understanding which visitors take the desired action on your website or app (e.g., make a purchase, sign up for a newsletter).
- Reporting and Analysis: This includes understanding how your website or app performs over time (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly).
Google Analytics Breakthrough: From Zero to Business Impact.
How to add Google Analytics to your Shopify store
There are two ways to add Google Analytics to your Shopify store: through the Shopify platform or Google Tag Manager.
We recommend adding Google Analytics through Google Tag Manager if you’re comfortable working with code. This method gives you more control over your tracking code and allows you to track events on your website or app (e.g., button clicks, form submissions).
If you’re not comfortable working with code, you can add Google Analytics to your Shopify store through the Shopify platform. This method is less complex and doesn’t require any coding knowledge.
Why Use Google Analytics?
There are a few reasons why you might want to use Google Analytics in addition to Shopify’s built-in analytics tool.
First, Google Analytics is more comprehensive than Shopify’s analytics. It can provide detailed information about the source of your traffic, what keywords people are using to find your site, and what devices they’re using to access it.
Second, Google Analytics is more flexible. It can be customized to track specific goals and conversions, which can be helpful if you’re running a marketing campaign or trying to improve your website’s performance.
Third, Google Analytics is more user-friendly. It has a more intuitive interface and a more comprehensive range of features than Shopify’s analytics tool.
How to Add Google Analytics to Shopify
Adding Google Analytics to your Shopify store is easy. Just follow these steps:
1. Create a Google Analytics account. If you don’t already have one, you can sign up for free at https://analytics.google.com/.
2. Generate a tracking code. Once you’ve signed in to your Google Analytics account, click on the Admin tab. In the Property column, click on Tracking Info > Tracking Code.
3. Copy the tracking code. Copy the entire code, from <script> to </script>.
4. Add the tracking code to your Shopify store. In your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Preferences. Paste your tracking code into the Google Analytics section and click Save.
Your Google Analytics tracking code will now be added to your Shopify store. You should start seeing data in your account within 24 hours.
How to Use Google Analytics
Now that you’ve added Google Analytics to your Shopify store, you can start using it to track your store’s performance. Here are a few things you can do:
1. Check your traffic sources. Go to Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels. This will show you where your traffic is coming from, such as organic search, direct traffic, or social media.
2. See what pages people are looking at. Go to Behavior > Site Content > All Pages. This will show you which pages on your site are viewed the most.
3. Find out what devices people are using. Go to Audience > Mobile > Overview. This will show you the percentage of traffic that’s coming from mobile devices.
4. Track your goals. Go to Conversions > Goals > Overview. This will show you how well your site is performing in terms of meeting specific goals, such as sales or sign-ups.
5. Get insights into your customers. Go to Audience > Demographics. This will show you things like the age, gender, and location of your visitors.
Google Analytics can be a valuable tool for understanding your store’s performance. Using it alongside Shopify’s built-in analytics lets you get a comprehensive view of how your store is doing and what areas need improvement.
Google Analytics Breakthrough: From Zero to Business Impact.
How to upgrade to Universal Analytics in Shopify
As of October 2013, Google Analytics has upgraded to a new version called Universal Analytics. This new version includes several changes, such as the ability to track cross-device activity and new ways to collect data.
Shopify has updated its platform to support Universal Analytics, and all Shopify stores will be automatically upgraded shortly. In the meantime, you can upgrade your store manually by following these steps:
1. Log in to your Shopify account and go to Online Store > Preferences.
2. Under Google Analytics, check the box next to Use Universal Analytics tracking code.
3. Copy your new tracking code from the Google Analytics site and paste it into the Google Analytics section in Shopify.
4. Click Save.
Your store will now be using Universal Analytics.
How to enable e-commerce tracking codes in Google Analytics
If you want to track sales and other e-commerce data in Google Analytics, you need to enable e-commerce tracking in your account. This can be done by following these steps:
1. Log in to your Google Analytics account and click on the Admin tab.
2. In the View column, click on E-commerce Settings.
3. Check the box next to Enable E-commerce.
4. Click Save.
Your e-commerce data will now start appearing in Google Analytics. You can view it by going to Conversions > E-commerce > Overview.
What to track with Google Analytics
There are several things you can track with Google Analytics. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
1. Traffic sources. You can track where your traffic is coming from, such as organic search, direct traffic, or social media.
2. Pageviews. You can see which pages on your site are being viewed the most.
3. Device usage. You can find out what or sign-ups.
5. Customer insights. Go to Audience > Demographics. This will show you things like the age, gender, and location of your visitors.
The Key Metrics to know in Google Analytics
The default Google Analytics dashboard can be overwhelming. There are dozens of metrics, and it’s not always clear which ones you should be paying attention to.
Here are a few key metrics that you should know about:
1. Users: This is the number of unique visitors to your site.
2. Sessions: This is the total number of visits to your site.
3. Pageviews: This is the total number of pages that have been viewed on your site.
4. Pages/Session: This is the average number of pages viewed during a session.
5. Avg. Session Duration: This is the average amount of time a user spends on your site.
6. Bounce Rate: This is the percentage of users who leave your site after viewing only one page.
7. Conversion Rate: This is the percentage of users who take the desired action on your site, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter.
Google Analytics can be a valuable tool for understanding your store’s performance. Using it alongside Shopify’s built-in analytics lets you get a comprehensive view of how your store is doing and what areas need improvement.
List out Google Analytics alternatives
1. Clicky
2. Piwik
3. Adobe Analytics
4. Statcounter
5. Woopra
6. Mixpanel
7. Kissmetrics
8. Gaug.es
9. GoSquared
10. FoxMetrics.
Google Analytics Breakthrough: From Zero to Business Impact.
Tips on how to improve the performance of Google Analytics with Shopify
There are a few things you can do to make sure that Google Analytics is tracking your Shopify store accurately:
1. Use a universal analytics tracking code. This will ensure that all of the data from your store is being collected correctly.
2. Check your traffic sources. Ensure that you do not see any unusual spikes or drops in traffic from specific sources.
3. Compare your data. Use Shopify’s built-in analytics to compare your data with what you see in Google Analytics. This will help you spot any discrepancies.
4. Test your checkout process. Use Google Analytics’ funnel visualization tool to see how many users complete your checkout process. This will help you identify areas where your checkout process is losing people.
5. Keep an eye on your bounce rate. If your bounce rate is high, it could indicate that something is wrong with your site. Try to identify the specific pages where people are bouncing and see if there’s anything you can do to improve the experience on those pages.
Using Google Analytics alongside Shopify’s built-in analytics, you can get a comprehensive view of how your store is doing and what areas need improvement.
The differences between Google Analytics and Shopify Analytics
| Google Analytics | Shopify Analytics |
| Google Analytics is a free tracking tool that can be used to track all sorts of data about your store, such as traffic sources, page views, and device usage. | Shopify’s built-in analytics tool is similar to Google Analytics, including data about orders, customers, and conversion rates. This data is only available to Shopify users, and it’s not possible to export it into Google Analytics. |
| If you want to track data that isn’t available in Shopify’s analytics, then Google Analytics can be a valuable complement. | If you’re using Shopify, you might not need to use Google Analytics. |
| Google Tag Assistant is a handy tool that inspects your sites and looks for any tracking script problems. | A common discrepancy reported by Shopify users is that their visitor number is lower than Google’s. |
| If you’re running a big e-commerce store and want data for more than 30,000 customers, you’ll need to use Google Analytics. | Shopify’s Customer reports are limited to 30,000 customers. |
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