Check & Set Up Google Analytics to your Shopify Store

Introduction

Setting up Google Analytics on your Shopify store is crucial to understand your audience, track their behavior, and optimize your marketing strategies. In this article, we’ll walk you through the process of checking and setting up Google Analytics for your Shopify store step-by-step.

Why use Google Analytics for Shopify

Google Analytics is an essential tool for every e-commerce business. It provides valuable insights into your customers’ behavior, their demographics, and the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. With Google Analytics, you can:

1. Understand your audience better
2. Track website performance
3. Optimize your marketing efforts
4. Improve conversion rates
5. Enhance user experience

Creating a Google Analytics account

To set up Google Analytics for your Shopify store, you first need to create a Google Analytics account. Follow these simple steps:

1. Go to the Google Analytics website
2. Click “Start for free”
3. Sign in with your Google account or create a new one
4. Follow the on-screen instructions to set up your account

Connecting Google Analytics to Shopify

Once your Google Analytics account is created, it’s time to connect it to your Shopify store. Here’s how:

1. Log in to your Shopify admin panel
2. Go to Online Store > Preferences
3. Scroll down to the “Google Analytics” section
4. Enter your Google Analytics tracking ID (found in your Google Analytics account)
5. Click “Save”

Configure Google Analytics settings

To get the most out of Google Analytics, you should configure some settings. For example, you can:

1. Set up goals to track conversions
2. Create custom segments to analyze specific user groups
3. Enable site search tracking to understand user queries

These settings will help you get more accurate and actionable data.

Enable E-commerce tracking

To track e-commerce transactions, you need to enable E-commerce tracking in Google Analytics. Follow these steps:

1. Log in to your Google Analytics account
2. Go to Admin > E-commerce Settings
3. Toggle “Enable E-commerce” and “Enable Enhanced E-commerce Reporting” to “ON”
4. Click “Save”

Add Google Analytics tracking code to Shopify

To ensure that Google Analytics is tracking your Shopify store data, you need to add the tracking code to your Shopify theme. Here’s how:

1. Log in to your Shopify admin panel
2. Go to Online Store > Themes
3. Click “Actions” and select “Edit code”
4. Open the theme.liquid file
5. Paste your Google Analytics tracking code just before the closing </head> tag 6. Click “Save”

Verify Google Analytics tracking

After adding the tracking code, it’s important to verify that Google Analytics is tracking your Shopify store data correctly. To do this:

1. Go to your Google Analytics account
2. Select “Real-time” from the left sidebar
3. Visit your Shopify store in a new browser tab
4. Check if your visit is registered in the “Real-time” report

If you see your visit, the tracking is working correctly.

Optimize tracking with Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager (GTM) is a powerful tool that allows you to manage and deploy multiple tracking codes and scripts on your Shopify store. Integrating GTM with Google Analytics can help you optimize your tracking and gain more control over your data. Follow these steps to set up GTM for your Shopify store:

1. Create a Google Tag Manager account
2. Add the GTM container code to your Shopify theme
3. Configure and publish Google Analytics tags in GTM
4. Test the tracking in Google Analytics

Analyzing data from Google Analytics

Once you’ve set up Google Analytics on your Shopify store, you can start analyzing the data to gain insights into your customers’ behavior and preferences. Some valuable reports to explore include:

1. Acquisition reports: Understand where your traffic is coming from
2. Behavior reports: Analyze user engagement and website performance
3. Conversions reports: Track your sales and revenue

Key metrics to track

When analyzing your Google Analytics data, it’s essential to focus on key metrics that can help you make data-driven decisions. Some important metrics to track include:

1. Bounce rate
2. Average session duration
3. Pages per session
4. Conversion rate
5. Revenue per user

Improving your Shopify store with Analytics insights

By analyzing your Google Analytics data, you can identify areas for improvement and optimize your Shopify store accordingly. Here are some ways to use your insights:

1. Improve user experience by addressing high bounce rates
2. Optimize product pages with low conversion rates
3. Enhance your marketing campaigns by focusing on high-performing channels
4. Personalize your content for different customer segments

Common mistakes to avoid

When setting up and using Google Analytics for your Shopify store, avoid these common mistakes:

1. Not setting up goals and conversions
2. Ignoring mobile performance
3. Focusing on vanity metrics instead of actionable data
4. Not regularly reviewing and updating your tracking setup

Conclusion

Google Analytics is an essential tool for every Shopify store owner. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can set up Google Analytics for your store, gain valuable insights, and make data-driven decisions to improve your business.

FAQs

1. Is Google Analytics free to use for my Shopify store? Yes, Google Analytics offers a free version that is suitable for most Shopify stores.
2. Do I need to know how to code to set up Google Analytics on my Shopify store? No, the setup process is simple and doesn’t require any coding knowledge.
3. Can I use Google Analytics to track multiple Shopify stores? Yes, you can create multiple properties within your Google Analytics account to track different stores.
4. How long does it take for Google Analytics to start showing data? Google Analytics typically starts showing data within 24 hours of setting it up.
5. What is the difference between Google Analytics and Shopify Analytics? While Shopify Analytics provides basic e-commerce tracking, Google Analytics offers more advanced features, customizations, and insights into your website performance and user behavior.