Shopify has finally released a GA4 native integration. Should you switch?
This week, Shopify has finally released its native integration for GA4 via the Google sales channel app. This is just in time, as Google has stuck to its guns in insisting it will shut down Universal Analytics by July 2023.
If you're not yet setup on GA4, is it your best option? And if you're already setup, should you be making the switch?
Here's a look at the pros and cons on this new feature.
Getting setup on GA4 via Shopify is now really easy
The good news is it's fast & easy to get setup on Shopify's Google sales channel. In fact, it's even easier than integrating Universal Analytics was via the Online Store preferences, which required a copy/paste of the tag.
All you have to do is first setup a new GA4 account (unless you have one), then install the Google sales channel (if you don't already have it) in your Shopify store admin and select "Get started" in the blue box.
From there, it's only a few clicks to connect your Google Account and select the new GA4 property. Done!
If you're switching from a custom integration to the native integration, you'll need to ensure you remove the custom integration after you complete this process, to avoid double tracking your metrics.
Read the full Shopify documentation.
But the integration is not full-featured and does contain some early bugs
Initial reports indicate that Shopify's native integration is missing some key eCommerce event tracking and is showing a few bugs in its early release (special thanks to Steve Lamar for this insight!).
The Shopify integration successfully tracks the following events:
Page_view
Search
View Item
Add to Cart
Begin Checkout
Purchase
The downsides is that we're missing some other key eCommerce events which enable us to get the most out of GA4:
View item list - essentially, a Category page view
Select Item
Add to Wishlist
View Cart
Add Shipping Info
Add Payment Info
Whilst those events tracked certainly give us more insight than the standard copy/paste of code which did not enable full eCommerce tracking, these missing events prevents us from really understanding the full user behaviour and analysing the entire customer journey and checkout funnel performance.
In addition to this, the Pageview event appears to be sending duplicate events at the Checkout on the Shipping and Payment pages in Shopify, which means we can't even supplement the above missing events with pageview data, at least not accurately.
The hope is that Google or Shopify will work on fixing these and adding more events in the coming weeks or months - but there's no guarantee it will.
Shopify's native integration is a client-side integration, not server-side
In short, this means data from your Shopify store must pass to GA4 via the browser, rather than direct from the Shopify server.
This usually results in the following drawbacks:
Data is less accurate: We often see a 10-20% event and revenue discrepancy due to privacy settings and ad blockers which can block some data sent to GA4 (if you compare your GA revenue to Shopify's equivalent revenue - ie. with shipping & taxes, before returns)
Data is less secure: As opposed to server-side tagging where the data is sent from Shopify to the cloud server and owned by you, data is sent from the browser directly to GA4 which makes it less secure
Performance can be affected: Client-side tagging can slow down sites a little
Basically, here's the low down (I cover this in more detail on Youtube).
Best practice integration is still done through a custom or third party integrator
My best practice recommendation to get the most out of GA4 in terms of full-featured data to generate insights which drive growth is still a server-side integration setup either through a data analyst or a third party SaaS solution.
Which you'll need really depends on your technical requirements and how customised your store is - I run through all this in the integration section of my online course, GA4 for eCommerce.
Getting setup on GA4 is just the start
GA4 is an entirely new platform from Universal Analytics, with a new structure, new metrics and events and reports which are a leap forward in terms of our ability to draw insights for eCommerce growth - but you need to use and learn the platform to see the value.
This is why I launched GA4 for eCommerce. It's an online learn-as-you-go, online training specifically designed for eCommerce store owners, marketers and agencies where I'll show you how to transition to and master GA4.
You and your team will learn how to:
Integrate Google Analytics 4 for with your eCommerce store with a full eCommerce integration
Customise your GA4 so it's accurate from the setup data
Analyse your data using GA4’s new Exploration reports and use the data to drive actionable insights
Reconcile your GA4 data with Universal Analytics’ historical data for ongoing comparisons
Backup your UA data before Universal Analytics is deleted so you don't lose data