Installing Enhanced Ecommerce Tracking on your Shopify Store
Enhanced ecommerce tracking setup on a shopify store can get bit tricky, depending upon the level of your expertise.
In this article I will show you, how to correctly install enhanced ecommerce tracking with and without Google Tag Manager on your Shopify store.
Whether or not you use Google Tag Manager, the whole process of setting up enhanced ecommerce tracking on your Shopify Store is still the same.
Follow the steps below:
Step-1: Make sure that Google Analytics is correctly installed on your website via Shopify (as explained in this article: How to correctly set up Google Analytics for Shopify Store). Otherwise you won’t be to install enhanced ecommerce tracking.
Step-2: Login to your Google Analytics account and then navigate to the ‘All Website data’ view (or any other view where you want to collect the enhanced ecommerce data).
Step-3: Navigate to the ‘Admin’ section of your Google Analytics view and then click on ‘Ecommerce Settings’ under the ‘View’ column:
Step-4: Set your ecommerce settings like the one below:
Note: If you skip Step-4, then your Google Analytics view won’t collect any enhanced ecommerce data coming from Shopify.
Step-5: Leave the ‘checkout labelling’ settings intact. This is because Shopify does not support ‘checkout labelling’ for enhanced ecommerce:
Note: With Shopify Enhanced Ecommerce tracking, your ‘Checkout behaviour Analysis’ report won’t work.
Step-6: Click on the ‘Submit’ button. Your Google Analytics view is now ready to receive enhanced ecommerce data.
Get the E-Book (104 Pages)
Step-7: In order to understand the checkout behavior of your shopify store, you would need to set up Sales funnel in Google Analytics like the one below:
Shopify generate following virtual pageviews for each checkout step:
Customer Information
/checkout/contact_information
Shipping
/checkout/shipping
Payment
/checkout/payment
Order Review
/checkout/review
Thank you
/checkout/thank_you
So these virtual pageviews can be used as funnel steps in Google Analytics (provided Google Analytics cross domain tracking is correctly working between your website and the Shopify checkout website: checkout.shopify.com):
If you are new to Sales funnel in Google Analytics then read this article: Google analytics goals and sales funnel – Complete Guide
Step-8: Login to your shopify store with Admin/full access and then click on ‘Preferences’ under the ‘Online Store’ drop down menu:
Step-9: Scroll down to the ‘Google Analytics Section’ and then check the box ‘Use Enhanced Ecommerce’:
Step-10: Click on the ‘Save’ button.
That’s it. Enhanced ecommerce tracking is now installed on your Shopify store.
Note: Do not use Google Tag Manager to install Enhanced Ecommerce tracking on your Shopify Store. Enhanced ecommerce tracking is built into shopify and it does not use GTM or its data layers to deploy the tracking. So even if you try to use data layers for enhanced ecommerce, Shopify won’t use it.
Step-11: Once a new order has been placed on your website and couple of minutes (10 or more minutes) have elapsed then navigate to ‘Shopping Behavior Analysis report‘ (under ‘Conversions’ > ‘Ecommerce’) in your Google Analytics view:
You should now be able to see the ecommerce data like the one below:
Step-12: Now navigate to ‘Funnel Visualization’ report (under ‘Conversions’ > ‘Goals’):
Step-13: Select the goal you created earlier (in order to understand the checkout behavior of your shopify store) from the ‘Goals’ drop down menu:
Step-14: Now look at the funnel visualization report and find drop offs from one funnel step to the next:
Do you know the difference between Web Analytics and Google Analytics?
99.99% of course creators themselves don’t know the difference between Web analytics, Google Analytics (GA) and Google Tag Manager (GTM).
So they are teaching GA and GTM in the name of teaching Web analytics.
They just copy each other. Monkey see, monkey do.
But Web analytics is not about GA, GTM.
It is about analyzing and interpreting data, setting up goals, strategies and KPIs.
It’s about creating strategic roadmap for your business.
Web Analytics is the core skill. Google Analytics is just a tool used to implement ‘Web Analytics’.
You can also implement ‘Web analytics’ via other tools like ‘adobe analytics’, ‘kissmetrics’ etc.
Using Google Analytics without the good understanding of ‘Web analytics’ is like driving around in a car, in a big city without understanding the traffic rules and road signs.
You are either likely to end up somewhere other than your destination or you get involved in an accident.
You learn data analysis and interpretation from Web analytics and not from Google Analytics.
The direction in which your analysis will move, will determine the direction in which your marketing campaigns and eventually your company will move to get the highest possible return on investment.
You get that direction from ‘Web analytics’ and not from ‘Google Analytics’.
You learn to set up KPIs, strategies and measurement framework for your business from ‘Web analytics’ and not from ‘Google Analytics’.
So if you are taking a course only on 'Google Analytics’, you are learning to use one of the tools of ‘Web analytics’. You are not learning the ‘Web analytics’ itself.
Since any person can learn to use Google Analytics in couple of weeks, you do no get any competitive advantage in the marketplace just by knowing GA.
You need to know lot more than GA in order to work in Web analytics and marketing field.
So what I have done, if you are interested, is I have put together a completely free training that will teach you exactly how I have been able to leverage web/digital analytics to generate floods of news sales and customers and how you can literally copy what I have done to get similar results.
Here what You'll Learn On This FREE Web Class!
1) Why digital analytics is the key to online business success
2) The number 1 reason why most marketers are not able to scale their advertising and maximize sales.
3) Why Google and Facebook ads don’t work for most businesses & how to make them work.
4) Why you won’t get any competitive advantage in the marketplace just by knowing Google Analytics.
5) The number 1 reason why conversion optimization is not working for your business.
6) How to advertise on any marketing platform for FREE with an unlimited budget.
7) How to learn and master digital analytics and conversion optimization in record time.
My best selling books on Digital Analytics and Conversion Optimization
Maths and Stats for Web Analytics and Conversion Optimization
This expert guide will teach you how to leverage the knowledge of maths and statistics in order to accurately interpret data and take actions, which can quickly improve the bottom-line of your online business.
Master the Essentials of Email Marketing Analytics
This book focuses solely on the ‘analytics’ that power your email marketing optimization program and will help you dramatically reduce your cost per acquisition and increase marketing ROI by tracking the performance of the various KPIs and metrics used for email marketing.
Attribution Modelling in Google Analytics and Beyond
Attribution modelling is the process of determining the most effective marketing channels for investment. This book has been written to help you implement attribution modelling. It will teach you how to leverage the knowledge of attribution modelling in order to allocate marketing budget and understand buying behaviour.
Attribution Modelling in Google Ads and Facebook
This book has been written to help you implement attribution modelling in Google Ads (Google AdWords) and Facebook. It will teach you, how to leverage the knowledge of attribution modelling in order to understand the customer purchasing journey and determine the most effective marketing channels for investment.
Himanshu Sharma
Digital Marketing Consultant and Founder of Optimizesmart.com
Enhanced ecommerce tracking setup on a shopify store can get bit tricky, depending upon the level of your expertise.
In this article I will show you, how to correctly install enhanced ecommerce tracking with and without Google Tag Manager on your Shopify store.
Whether or not you use Google Tag Manager, the whole process of setting up enhanced ecommerce tracking on your Shopify Store is still the same.
Follow the steps below:
Step-1: Make sure that Google Analytics is correctly installed on your website via Shopify (as explained in this article: How to correctly set up Google Analytics for Shopify Store). Otherwise you won’t be to install enhanced ecommerce tracking.
Step-2: Login to your Google Analytics account and then navigate to the ‘All Website data’ view (or any other view where you want to collect the enhanced ecommerce data).
Step-3: Navigate to the ‘Admin’ section of your Google Analytics view and then click on ‘Ecommerce Settings’ under the ‘View’ column:
Step-4: Set your ecommerce settings like the one below:
Note: If you skip Step-4, then your Google Analytics view won’t collect any enhanced ecommerce data coming from Shopify.
Step-5: Leave the ‘checkout labelling’ settings intact. This is because Shopify does not support ‘checkout labelling’ for enhanced ecommerce:
Note: With Shopify Enhanced Ecommerce tracking, your ‘Checkout behaviour Analysis’ report won’t work.
Step-6: Click on the ‘Submit’ button. Your Google Analytics view is now ready to receive enhanced ecommerce data.
Get the E-Book (104 Pages)
Step-7: In order to understand the checkout behavior of your shopify store, you would need to set up Sales funnel in Google Analytics like the one below:
Shopify generate following virtual pageviews for each checkout step:
Customer Information
/checkout/contact_information
Shipping
/checkout/shipping
Payment
/checkout/payment
Order Review
/checkout/review
Thank you
/checkout/thank_you
So these virtual pageviews can be used as funnel steps in Google Analytics (provided Google Analytics cross domain tracking is correctly working between your website and the Shopify checkout website: checkout.shopify.com):
If you are new to Sales funnel in Google Analytics then read this article: Google analytics goals and sales funnel – Complete Guide
Step-8: Login to your shopify store with Admin/full access and then click on ‘Preferences’ under the ‘Online Store’ drop down menu:
Step-9: Scroll down to the ‘Google Analytics Section’ and then check the box ‘Use Enhanced Ecommerce’:
Step-10: Click on the ‘Save’ button.
That’s it. Enhanced ecommerce tracking is now installed on your Shopify store.
Note: Do not use Google Tag Manager to install Enhanced Ecommerce tracking on your Shopify Store. Enhanced ecommerce tracking is built into shopify and it does not use GTM or its data layers to deploy the tracking. So even if you try to use data layers for enhanced ecommerce, Shopify won’t use it.
Step-11: Once a new order has been placed on your website and couple of minutes (10 or more minutes) have elapsed then navigate to ‘Shopping Behavior Analysis report‘ (under ‘Conversions’ > ‘Ecommerce’) in your Google Analytics view:
You should now be able to see the ecommerce data like the one below:
Step-12: Now navigate to ‘Funnel Visualization’ report (under ‘Conversions’ > ‘Goals’):
Step-13: Select the goal you created earlier (in order to understand the checkout behavior of your shopify store) from the ‘Goals’ drop down menu:
Step-14: Now look at the funnel visualization report and find drop offs from one funnel step to the next:
Do you know the difference between Web Analytics and Google Analytics?
99.99% of course creators themselves don’t know the difference between Web analytics, Google Analytics (GA) and Google Tag Manager (GTM).So they are teaching GA and GTM in the name of teaching Web analytics.
They just copy each other. Monkey see, monkey do.
But Web analytics is not about GA, GTM.
It is about analyzing and interpreting data, setting up goals, strategies and KPIs.
It’s about creating strategic roadmap for your business.
Web Analytics is the core skill. Google Analytics is just a tool used to implement ‘Web Analytics’.You can also implement ‘Web analytics’ via other tools like ‘adobe analytics’, ‘kissmetrics’ etc.
Using Google Analytics without the good understanding of ‘Web analytics’ is like driving around in a car, in a big city without understanding the traffic rules and road signs.
You are either likely to end up somewhere other than your destination or you get involved in an accident.
You learn data analysis and interpretation from Web analytics and not from Google Analytics.The direction in which your analysis will move, will determine the direction in which your marketing campaigns and eventually your company will move to get the highest possible return on investment.
You get that direction from ‘Web analytics’ and not from ‘Google Analytics’.
You learn to set up KPIs, strategies and measurement framework for your business from ‘Web analytics’ and not from ‘Google Analytics’.So if you are taking a course only on 'Google Analytics’, you are learning to use one of the tools of ‘Web analytics’. You are not learning the ‘Web analytics’ itself.
Since any person can learn to use Google Analytics in couple of weeks, you do no get any competitive advantage in the marketplace just by knowing GA.
You need to know lot more than GA in order to work in Web analytics and marketing field.
So what I have done, if you are interested, is I have put together a completely free training that will teach you exactly how I have been able to leverage web/digital analytics to generate floods of news sales and customers and how you can literally copy what I have done to get similar results.
Here what You'll Learn On This FREE Web Class!
1) Why digital analytics is the key to online business success
2) The number 1 reason why most marketers are not able to scale their advertising and maximize sales.
3) Why Google and Facebook ads don’t work for most businesses & how to make them work.
4) Why you won’t get any competitive advantage in the marketplace just by knowing Google Analytics.
5) The number 1 reason why conversion optimization is not working for your business.
6) How to advertise on any marketing platform for FREE with an unlimited budget.
7) How to learn and master digital analytics and conversion optimization in record time.
My best selling books on Digital Analytics and Conversion Optimization
Maths and Stats for Web Analytics and Conversion Optimization
This expert guide will teach you how to leverage the knowledge of maths and statistics in order to accurately interpret data and take actions, which can quickly improve the bottom-line of your online business.
Master the Essentials of Email Marketing Analytics
This book focuses solely on the ‘analytics’ that power your email marketing optimization program and will help you dramatically reduce your cost per acquisition and increase marketing ROI by tracking the performance of the various KPIs and metrics used for email marketing.
Attribution Modelling in Google Analytics and Beyond
Attribution modelling is the process of determining the most effective marketing channels for investment. This book has been written to help you implement attribution modelling. It will teach you how to leverage the knowledge of attribution modelling in order to allocate marketing budget and understand buying behaviour.
Attribution Modelling in Google Ads and Facebook
This book has been written to help you implement attribution modelling in Google Ads (Google AdWords) and Facebook. It will teach you, how to leverage the knowledge of attribution modelling in order to understand the customer purchasing journey and determine the most effective marketing channels for investment.
Himanshu Sharma
Digital Marketing Consultant and Founder of Optimizesmart.com