Even for essential ecommerce data like product sales and transactions, setting up a reliable data collection system is harder than one might think.

Many ecommerce marketers use Google Analytics to track performance, but it’s not as simple as a “1…2…3” setup.

At Littledata, we work with top apps and agencies in the Shopify ecosystem, especially Shopify Plus partners. In turn, these partners work with marketing managers, data analytics experts and ecommerce store managers across the globe.

One of the questions we often receive from these managers:

Why don’t my transactions in Google Analytics match those in Shopify?

While a plethora of factors can cause differences in Shopify tracking results, we’ve narrowed it down to 6 main causes.

Here are the top two reasons Shopify doesn’t match GA:

1) Orders go unrecorded in Google Analytics

Why does this happen? As a Shopify store owner, your customer never sees the order confirmation page. When online orders go unrecorded in Google Analytics, it’s almost always due to payment gateways not sending users back to the order thank you page.

2) Errors occur in the Google Analytics/Google Tag Manager integration

The Google Analytics/Tag Manager integration allows Google Analytics to track only a few  “micro-moments” (page visits, page bounces, etc.) required for a complete picture of your customers’ online shopping journey.

Though commerce connections like Shopify’s are designed to work for standard websites, some store owners build themes that are more personalized to their products. This requires a custom integration with Google Analytics.

Want to know the other 4 causes? 

These two issues probably seem highly fixable (they are) but they don’t stand alone. There are a host of factors that cause data mismatches between Shopify and Google Analytics data, all of which threaten to weaken your marketing strategy, hurt your sales performance and damage your bottom line.

Luckily, we have just the thing to help. 

Our free ebook, Why your Google Analytics data doesn’t match your Shopify data, isn’t just an answer to the question — it’s packed with details, pro tips and an ultimate solution to your data mismatches.

The ebook will also show you how common tools like ReCharge and CartHook can actually skew your data (and how to fix this).

The best Shopify analytics are those that are accurate and trustworthy. With the help of our ebook, you’re on your way to Shopify greatness!