You may be working for a digital marketing agency, in-house at a business, or freelancing for clients and trying to figure out the best way to implement GA4 eCommerce tracking for your Shopify store.
If so, you may know by now that Shopify does not have a native integration for Shopify GA4 eCommerce tracking.
The good news is that through the use of Google Tag Manager, it is possible to set up Ecommerce tracking on Shopify websites.
Below is our recommended article on how to do this, which includes how to create the all-important “Shopify Purchase data layer” which you will see is a crucial step in setting up eCommerce revenue tracking for Shopify.
Google Analytics 4 Shopify Integration Roadmap
As mentioned there is currently no ga4 Shopify integration. Shopify will eventually release a native integration for GA4, however, at the moment we have little indication of when this will be released.
A comment from a Shopify representative on their community support site states that “Shopify is aware of Google’s GA4 announcement. Once we have news to share, we’ll update the Setting up Google Analytics page in the Shopify Help Center, as well as the Shopify Changelog.”
Do I have to use GA4?
Yes. As the name suggests, GA4 is the fourth major release of Google Analytics
GA4 will become the default version of Google Analytics and will be the sole option for analytics tracking come July 1st 2023. This means that Universal Analytics will no longer receive any data from your website, making it a priority for your business to transition to the new GA4 sooner rather than later to ensure continuity in reporting.
When should I replace Universal Analytics with Google Analytics 4?
It’s in your interest to start using Google Analytics 4 sooner rather than later. GA4 will only start collecting data when the property has been created and the tag has been added to your site.
So the sooner you get this done, the more data you will have in GA4 when Universal Analytics is finally sunsetted.
So, how do I set up GA4 ecommerce tracking on Shopify?
Let’s jump into the steps required for setting up GA4 eCommerce tracking on Shopify which are:
- Create a Google Analytics 4 account,
- Create & Install Google Tag Manager Code on your Shopify website.
- Create a Data Layer (For e-commerce tracking in GA4, you are currently required to create your own “data layer” which causes issues for many people. We will recommend the best way to do this further down in this article!
Now let’s look at how to carry out each step:
1. Create a Google Analytics 4 property
Below is our recommended article on how to set up GA4 accounts. Please note, that we would highly recommend adding the new GA4 Analytics tag to your web pages rather than the “Upgrade Now” button you may see in your Universal Analytics account.
Create a Google Analytics 4 property
2. Create a Google Tag Manager account (and install it on your website)
We will use Google Tag Manager to set up the Data Layer & Tracking on your website.
So GTM will need installation. Below are our recommended articles on how to both setup GTM, and add GTM to your Shopify website.
Please be aware that GTM codes need to be added to the product pages, and checkout pages of your Shopify website separately. So there are additional steps required to add GTM to your Shopify checkout pages.
? Setup and install Tag Manager
? Add Google Tag Manager code to your theme
3. Setup Ecommerce tracking for GA4
The fun starts as we begin to unlock the real power of eCommerce events integrations.
There are many guides online on how to carry out this specific step. Therefore we have provided our recommended article on how to create the all-important Shopify Purchase data layer as well as instructions on how to add data layers to the Shopify checkout page, and Shopify product pages.
Following this last step, you should have completed the eCommerce tracking and you can then check that all is set up correctly.
? Complete Guide to Shopify & GA4 Integration
Checking that Ecommerce tracking for Shopify GA4 is working
If you have your Shopify GA4 setup done, it is time to double-check if that’s working properly.
For this we would recommend using the “DebugView” report in GA4 which shows real-time data from your website, so you can make sure you’re setting up events correctly. To test that Ecommerce tracking for Shopify GA4 is working follow these steps:
- Go to Google Tag Manager and use Preview Mode
- Carry out a test order on your website
- View the Preview window for eCommerce purchase information.
If you have followed the above steps you will see eCommerce data in your DebugView report in GA4. Following this, data should also start to show within 24 hours in your Ecommerce reports in GA4
Hiring a GTM/Analytics expert or agency to complete setup for you
Need further assistance? Our tracking, data & analytics service is here to help you to configure the GTM, GA, and GDS; and make adjustments based on your specific business needs. Speak to us today & find out more about how our Google Tag Manager experts can set up B2C and B2B tracking, Shopify Google Analytics 4 and e-commerce features using Google Tag Manager (GTM) and data layers.