We’re an ecommerce analytics company, so it’s no surprise that Shopify and Google Analytics top the list of topics in our most-read and most-shared posts of 2017.

But what continues to surprise us is how many online businesses know that their analytics setup needs to be fixed, but put off the decision to take action. Luckily tools like our Shopify reporting app are making it easier than ever to get accurate data and automated reporting that really drives revenue. If fixing your tracking and making decisions based on trustworthy data wasn’t your main new year’s resolution for 2018, it should be!

Here are the top 5 posts from our analytics blog in 2017. They should provide some inspiration.

1. Is Google Analytics compliant with GDPR?

From May 2018 the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) will come into force in the European Union, causing all marketers and data engineers to re-consider how they store, transmit and manage data – including Google Analytics. This popular post looks at basic and full compliance.

The rights enshrined by GDPR relate to any data your company holds which is personally identifiable: that is, can be tied back to a customer who contacts you.

2. Shopify Marketing Events vs Google Analytics

The ability for other Shopify apps to plug their campaign cost and attribution data into Shopify (via the new marketing events API) is a logical step to building Shopify’s own analytics capability, but is it really a viable substitute for Google Analytics?

Google already has a team of hundreds working on Google Analytics, and it seems unlikely that Shopify will be able to dedicate resources to keep up with the functionality that power users need.

3.Is Google Analytics accurate? 6 common issues and how to resolve them

How do you know if your Google Analytics setup is giving you reliable data? In this much-linked blog post we look at common problems and explain what can be done to make your tracking more accurate.

If the journey of visitors on your site proceeds via another payment processor or gateway, you could be losing the link between the sale (or goal conversion) and the original marketing campaigns.

4. How to increase revenue with Refersion and affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing consistently outperforms other channels for ecommerce businesses. In this special guest post, our integration partner Refersion shares essential tips about how Littledata customers can get a piece of the action.

When customers come through affiliate channels, their average customer revenue is 58% higher than other channels.

5. What you can track with our Shopify app

Here at Littledata we believe that everyone should have access to professional-level analytics tools for tracking, reporting, and improving sales and engagement. That’s why we built the ultimate Shopify reporting app. This much-shared post outlines ‘Shopify’s Standard Tracking vs Littledata for Shopify’. It’s a match we’re betting on!

Shopify is one of the best ecommerce platforms on the planet, but their standard analytics are extremely limited.