You have your store all set up, maybe you are already making sales. But are you tracking the right activities on your website to allow you to dig into ecommerce data? Tracking the right information to help you make the best decisions about your business is essential for any modern business, especially if your storefront is online.
Setting Up Web Analytics For Ecommerce Data:
The first step is to make sure that you have web analytics code set up on your site to begin tracking your visitors. A great place to start is with Google Analytics. It is a powerful free tool that you can get set up and tracking with quick.
To get Google Analytics setup and working on your site you will need to first create a Google Analytics account. Then you will need to add your tracking code to the <head> of your website. There are several ways you can do this.
Adding Google Analytics for Shopify
Shopify has a native integration for Google Analytics you can find directions on setting up Google Analytics with Shopify Here.
Because the Shopify integration does not yet support GA4 you can find detail instructions on how to set up GA4 with Shopify here (post coming soon.)
Adding Google Analytics For BigCommerce
BigCommerce has a native integration for Google Analytics you can find directions on setting up Google Analytics with BigCommerce Here.
Because the BigCommerce integration does not yet support GA4 you can find detail instructions on how to set up GA4 with BigCommerce here (post coming soon.)
Adding Google Analytics For GTM
If you are not on an ecommerce platform that has a native integration with Google Analytics using Google Tag Manager (GTM) can be a a quick and easy way to add Google Analytics to your site, epically if you already have GTM running on your site. you can find directions on setting up GTM for Google Analytics here.
Adding Google Analytics Directly To Your Website
If you prefer you can also add the tracking code directly to your website template. If you decided to go this route enlist the help of your developer. They can ensure the tracking code is added to the correct portion of your website template without breaking any of your code. You can find directions for adding Google Analytics directly to your website here.
Setting up Enhanced Ecommerce for Google Analytics
Now that you have the Google Analytics code on your site you will want to make sure and turn on Enhanced Ecommerce in your Google Analytics settings. This will allow Google Analytics to automatically start tracking your ecommerce events. Here are the steps to turn on Enhanced Ecommerce in Google Analytics:
- Sign in to Google Analytics
- Click Admin
- Navigate to the view you want to turn on enhanced ecommerce in
- In the VIEW column click Ecommerce Settings
- Set the Enable Ecommerce status to ON
- Click Next Step.
Ecommerce Events You Need To Track
Many ecommerce templates are set up to automatically send data to the Google Analytics Enhanced Ecommerce integration. However some templates may have missed setting up code for all of the events you wish to track. Here is a list of the minimum ecommerce events you will want tracked:
Ecommerce Events:
- Product views
- Add to cart
- Check out initiated
- Purchase
- Abandoned Cart
- Subscribers
If you notice that you are not receiving data for any of these events itโs time to have your developer check the template for your website. They will need to add any missing data points that are sent to the enhanced ecommerce integration.
Similarly if you have a custom site you will need your developer to add code to your site or set up google tag manager tags for all of the events you would like tracked.
Now that you are set up correctly and tracking data what can you do next?
What Can You Do With Your Ecommerce Data?
What is your Ecommerce data telling you? Here are the top advanced analytics ecommerce projects you should look at adding to your road map.
1. ๐ ๐ฎ๐ง๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌ – To understand how customers are progressing through your sales funnel and identify what is working well, so you can do more of it, and where the areas of friction are so you can eliminate them.
2. ๐๐๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฏ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ป๐ฎ๐น๐๐๐ถ๐ – To understand how customers are interacting with your brand and support marketing strategies.
3. ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด – To support inventory management and marketing strategies.
4. ๐-๐ ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐๐น๐๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด – For customer segments to personalize marketing and website experience.
5. ๐๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ ๐๐น๐ด๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ต๐บ – For product recommendations to increase website sales.
You will notice that all of these projects are tied to a business outcome, so when considering what projects you should start with think about your companies current pain points, and how gaining understanding from your ecommerce data could help you address those pain points.
Need help on your next analytics project, we are here for you. Just submit a request and we will help you make the most of your data.