Ecommerce is taking over the world – a fact anyone can hardly argue with – taking its companion, the most popular worldwide online shopping platform Shopify with it. Shopify got so beloved by its customers due to a number of reasons.
First things first, it makes the online shopping experience management quite easy. You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars building a modern website by yourself and are able to purchase a prebuilt, eye-catching Shopify theme instead.
Secondly, It has it’s separate hosting right on the Shopify platform, which means your website will run faster than those of your competitors. Thirdly, you get an all-in-one online shopping platform that combines ecommerce store, it’s deals, ads, customers and analytics monitoring and management. Fourthly, it is on our list of the top 10 best digital marketing tools to consider in 2019.
Why install Google Analytics on Shopify
Now, since one single instrument can’t be used for all of your marketing needs, it would be a wise decision to add Google Analytics to Shopify. Why you would ask. The truth is, even though Shopify analytics is quite informative, it does not satisfy the needs of any business that is willing to grow. Correct tracking and monitoring of your ecommerce analytics is a crucial factor in propelling your online store.
Understanding your users and their behaviour will help you develop and market your products more in line with your audience’s preferences and, therefore, increase your sales. And this is the factor Shopify analytics lacks – by adding Google Analytics to Shopify, you get precise data no other resource is going to provide.
And now that we established why is it important to set up Google Analytics on Shopify, let’s find out how to install Google Analytics on Shopify.
How to install Google Analytics on Shopify
First of all, let’s just say that adding Google Analytics to Shopify is a quite straightforward process. All you need is time, access to both platforms, and attention to detail.
You can install Google Analytics on Shopify using either of the two methods:
1. Using Google Analytics code.
All you have to do is go to your Online store > Preferences and in the special section called Google Analytics paste your Google Analytics code. This method is fast, effective and quite painless, although integration is not always perfect and some info can occasionally get lost along the way.
2. Using Hard code
Hardcode is a smart way of saying you’ll have to manually code in Google Analytics code into the theme of your Shopify store. This method requires extra developers time, and a review from the analytics specialists but provides extra security and reliability when it comes to ensuring your data is delivered from Shopify to Google Analytics correctly.
If you choose to use Google Analytics code, please follow the steps below for adding Google Analytics to Shopify.
Step 1. Make sure it’s not already enabled
Yeah, we know how it sounds, but hear us out: it turns out enabling your Google Analytics repeatedly (not every Tuesday, no, meaning more than once) will mess up data accuracy, which is the point behind the whole Google Analytics installation. So to make sure Google Analytics for Shopify has not been enabled already, follow these two steps:
1. Go to your Shopify admin > Online store > Preferences > Google Analytics
Now if the box is empty, you’re good, follow the next instruction below. But if you see some code in there already, skip to step 4 of this article.
2. Go to your Themes > Actions > Edit code > Layout > {/} theme.liquid
When you open the theme.liquid file, see if you can locate any Google Analytics tracking tags, that look like this – ga.js, dc.js, gtag.js, or analytics.js. If you notice nothing similar, we’ll see you at the next step of the Google Analytics for Shopify installation. If you did find these tags in the theme.liquid file, the process of setting up Google Analytics for Shopify has been already completed and you can skip to Step 4 of this awesome article.
Step 2. Choose a Google Account
Any Google product requires a Google account. Duh, obviously. But if you have one already, you can use it for all of their products, including Google Analytics for Shopify.
If you haven’t set up your Google account yet, it’s time to create one, and you can do so by using the link right here.
After you’re done, or if you already have one, you can move to the next step of this article.
Step 3. Turn your Google Analytics on!
The next step will actually split in two – depending on whether you had your Google Analytics set up before.
- If you’ve set up your Google Analytics for Shopify once before, please follow:
Sign In > Website > Website URL > Get Tracking ID. > I Accept > Global Site Tag
Once you’ve entered the website tab, type in all the info on your newly created account and website. Type in your primary domain in the Website URL section, and after pressing Get Tracking ID and accepting terms and conditions, copy all the info under the Global Site Tag.
Now go to your Shopify admin > Online store > Preferences > Google Analytics
And paste your Global Site Tag information you’ve just copied in your clipboard.
- If you’ve never had to add Google Analytics to Shopify before, please proceed with:
Sign In > Admin > Create Account > Website > Website URL > Get Tracking ID. > I Accept > Global Site Tag
Once you’ve entered the website tab, type in all the info on your newly created account and website. Type in your primary domain in the Website URL section, and after pressing Get Tracking ID and accepting terms and conditions, copy all the info under the Global Site Tag.
Now go to your Shopify admin > Online store > Preferences > Google Analytics
And paste your Global Site Tag information you’ve just copied in your clipboard.
Once the same Shopify Google Analytics account window you just filled with your Global Site Tag has been updated, it will look like the example below, and you’ll know your Google Analytics for Shopify integration has been enabled.
Step 4. Enable Ecommerce Reporting
You thought that after pasting that code you were all done, didn’t you? Well, not so fast, as we still have to enable our Ecommerce / Enhanced Ecommerce Reporting, by following the steps below:
- If you use Enhanced Ecommerce, click the checkbox right where we ended up placing the code in step 3.
- Now wherever you use Enhanced Ecommerce or simply Ecommerce, follow the next steps:
Google Analytics > Admin > View > Ecommerce Settings > Enable Enhanced Ecommerce/ Ecommerce Reporting > ON > Save
Points to watch out for when installing Google Analytic for Shopify
Our data-driven world evolves fast – sometimes even approaching the light-speed limits. But that doesn’t protect our newly-invented technology from the flaws of imperfection, which means there is always a number of points to watch out for. According to some stats, 88% of Shopify stores have Google Analytics set up incorrectly.
You heard that right, well above the half of all Shopify stores are getting inaccurate data without even realizing it. To help you avoid their destiny, we created this list of things you should consider in adding Google Analytics to Shopify process and after it:
- Disabled demographics tracking
Enabling it allows you to receive precise data on your demographics for ads and analysis, so make sure to go to your Google Analytics dashboard and turn it on. Speaking of distant demographics, if you’re looking for a great guide on Shopify’s shipping policies you can click on this link right here.
- Unequal Shopify and Google Analytics orders
Since some customers using mobile checkout miss seeing the order confirmation page, some portion of the Shopify orders never gets recorded in Google Analytics.
- Missing checkout steps
When you are able to track your checkout’s each and every step, you can track which factors – delivery options, extra charges or payment methods – influence customers’ decision to leave or proceed with the checkout.
- Untracked product list views
Product lists bring sales. And it’s important to track which ones bring more, and which ones have to be rearranged and move into the first category. Utilizing collected info is also amazingly useful when it comes to personalized customer recommendations.
- Untracked add-to-cart info
No need to say how tracking add-to-cart details on products that got added and/or abandoned are crucial in monitoring user behaviour and setting up campaign retargeting.
Conclusion
Now that you’ve found out how to set up Google Analytics, enjoy your new perks of having extended analytics data on your user behaviour and ecommerce sales – all in one place.
And when you want professional assistance in setting up, decoding or utilizing your analytics data, feel free to contact us using the form below 😉
