I recently stopped by the Honest Ecommerce podcast to give listeners the lowdown on ecommerce analytics. Check it out to learn how to fix tracking for Shopify stores! Get the free podcast episode here: Ep. 21 - How To Track Shopify Sales & Marketing (In A Way That Is Accurate & Useful) Honest Ecommerce is one of the fastest growing podcasts for Shopify and Shopify Plus store owners, from the good folks at Electric Eye agency in Columbus, Ohio. While the episode is focused on tips for Shopify stores, we chat about ecommerce tracking for every type of store, whatever platform and business model you're using, and how to do more with less, rather than getting bogged down in too much -- or inaccurate -- data. In the episode we cover: Why we started Littledata and the journey so far What is wrong with your data? (Does your Shopify data match what you see in Google Analytics?) What KPIs should you be looking at in Google Analytics? Using data to drive your business Analytics audits & ecommerce benchmarking How our integrations work, including Facebook Ads, ReCharge and Refersion Littledata's new Segment app for Shopify stores How to connect Facebook Ads data with Google Analytics automatically Which types of ecommerce sites get the most out of Littledata? And much more! :) Check it out and let us know what you'd like to hear about in our next podcast appearance. Haven't tried Littledata yet? Explore our connections or sign up for a free trial today. Transcript [00:00:01.750] - AriYou don't want to start redesigning the site or changing your product line based on a really limited sample because it could be just random. So the more data you can get, the more you can make sophisticated decisions. [00:00:16.300] - AnnetteWelcome to Honest Ecommerce, where we are dedicated to cutting through the b.s. and finding actionable advice for online store owners. [00:00:24.000] - ChaseI'm your host, Chase Clymer [00:00:26.050] - Annetteand I'm your host, Annette Grant [00:00:28.660] - Bothand we believe running an online business does not have to be complicated or a guessing game. [00:00:33.160] - AnnetteIf you are struggling into scaling your sales electric I is here to help to apply to work with us. Today's episode of Honest Eommerce. We welcome the co-founder of Littledata, Ari Messer. [00:00:53.930] - ChaseHe's going to explain to us that our data is broken and how to fix it. [00:01:04.310] - ChaseHey everybody welcome back to yet another episode of Honest Ecommerce. I do want to take one second to say thank you to everyone that's actually listening to it. I've gotten so many e-mails from people or just correspondents where people are like "we actually listened to your podcast. Like I learned something from your podcast." So now I have proof that I'm not just talking into the cloud. [00:01:23.240] - AnnetteWell Chase I hate to break it to you. That's me. I've made a lot of aliases and I'm emailing you to make you feel good about yourself. [00:01:29.360] - ChaseCool. Well then that's a bummer (laughs). Anyways welcome to Honest Ecommerce. [00:01:34.730] - ChaseI'm Chase Clymer, this is my co-host Annette Grant. And today we welcome to the show Ari from Littledata. He is going to kick our butts into gear with Google Analytics. Welcome to the show Ari, and let us know how you know so much about analytics. [00:01:49.130] - AriIt's good to be here. And I actually have I haven't created any aliases but I have the show that I've heard so far. I think it's great to have something here that's, you know, merchants really find useful and find that other agencies and partners too. [00:02:02.910] - ChaseSo yeah I just don't like to blow smoke up people's butts I like it to be honest and real. It takes hard work. [00:02:09.320] - AriYes. Yeah I think there's a lot more space for that now. If you can speak intelligently to people, they'll pay attention. [00:02:17.360] - AriThe more you learn about analytics, the more there is to know (laughs). Basically I joined Littledata as a co-founder a few years ago, and we've been on Shopify for about two years now. We're adding a lot of connections, the main ones being to Google Analytics. So what I knew before joining was really about how analytics could be used to help people grow a SaaS app, because they really were in the startup space a lot and now have learned more and more about analytics for ecommerce. So that's what we're here to talk about today. [00:02:53.150] - ChaseAwesome. So what was that transition like? How did you go from helping SaaS companies to building Littledata. [00:03:00.230] - AriYeah, it was really a natural transition. As we all know, ecommerce is huge. It's growing in all directions, it's continuing to grow and not just in the US, but all around the world. I'd had some cool gigs helping SaaS companies build out integrations. I used to work mostly on the product marketing side. Now, being this close to the company, I sort of do all kinds of things. It was really a lot of those integrations were either directly ecommerce-related or something that was sort of peripherally commerce-related, like helping build out an integration to do retargeting for card abandonment and stuff like that. [00:03:41.390] - AriAnd then with Littledata I met Edward Upton, the original founder in London, and kind of came on and as a Google Analytics consultant at first and just thought, "oh wow, this is a really cool idea — you're actually helping people fix their data, not just report on it." [00:03:57.590] - ChaseSo what is one of those common mistakes that you guys were seeing out there with the data? What's broken with my data? [00:04:08.370] - AriWe do have an audit tool that people can plug in and sort of get a sense for what might be tracked correctly and what's not. So there are all kinds of things that can go wrong. I think for Shopify stores in particular, there's often a mismatch between how sales are being calculated. So that includes different parts of the checkout funnel, when types of products or product groups people are adding to cart that are not purchased, and all the way through actual sales and refunds. [00:04:42.870] - ChaseI can agree with that. I noticed there's always a mismatch between the number in Google Analytics and the number in Shopify. [00:04:49.790] - AriAbsolutely. And with our app, we basically fix that issue. You know sometimes, you have to do a few more connections and activate some of our plugins (like if you're using ReCharge to do subscription sales or whatever it might be). But basically, what the app does, (not to get too geeky) is use server-side tracking so that every single user action and every sale is tracked in Google Analytics. So what you see in Shopify will match what you see in GA. [00:05:22.170] - AnnetteSo you can get yours to match Google Analytics? [00:05:26.610] - AriYeah, I would say 99.9%. [00:05:30.780] - AnnetteWow. So if people if things aren't tracking properly, is it because the developer didn't set up Google Analytics correctly? Let's kind of peel it back for for our listeners. If they're looking at their Google Analytics, what are some red flags where they would be in need of "pick your theme and get it in the app." Google Analytics sometimes gets very confusing, so walk me through what are the top things to look at and what needs to be fixed? [00:06:13.260] - AriThe main thing is just like Chase was mentioning that just raw sales numbers like when you look at the number in your bank account maybe doesn't match what's Shopify shows. And that doesn't match what's in Google Analytics. So that's definitely a red flag because if you're looking at any sort of marketing campaign — I know we're all getting more and more sophisticated about using audiences and all this stuff like fancy stuff for retargeting and trying to sort of sell people stuff that they're more likely to want to buy — often, you go in there and look and say "well this campaign seems to have worked really well, and yet, the overall sales number is not matching what should be the number of conversions that we got. So it's any kind of mismatch like that, when you're like "this just doesn't seem right." And then of course as you grow, being off by a couple percent can means more and more amount of money. So any kind of mismatch is kind of the thing to look for. [00:07:15.670] - ChaseYeah I mean it's just a snowball effect. Like "oh it's just a few dollars" but that can add up. [00:07:20.760] - AriAnd I wouldn't blame the developers for a lot of it. Some of it's just that Shopify's native tracking and their native Google Analytics integrations are fine, but they're just not that sophisticated. And as we all know, part of that's because they have this really awesome app ecosystem. So you kind of have to find the right tools to make sure it works so that nothing is missing. I mean, I've been guilty of it too, not tagging campaigns consistently, like when you're making your Facebook campaigns and then you start to add more, like the snowball effect. Like how do you really organize them or make sure everything's tracked right? [00:08:03.980] - ChaseThere's just so much in there. So I just want to bring it down to simplify it a bit for our listeners. So, you know, I've got Joe's shoe shop. We're selling sneakers and we're real business. This isn't like a side hustle, this is my full time job. What are the KPIs I should be looking at in Google Analytics? Let's just try to educate people about Google Analytics a bit. [00:08:28.600] - AriSo one thing you should be looking at is how detailed...like if you start to wonder "is this product group performing well?" so stuff that's sort of outside normal questions about overall how's the business doing. So stuff like payment cart abandonment, products being added to the cart, particular pages getting more views than other pages. What are some of the basic thing is that make sense? Like it's the sort of details if you think about merchandising or you're thinking about the next season or what you're going to do for a promotion if you want to go in and look in GA to try to figure out a data-driven view of of what to sell or what to promote or things that might get more subscriptions. [00:09:26.500] - AriLet's say the shoe business is on subscription, running shoes where you've got a new one every month or every quarter or something. You'd want to go into GA and be able to see the type of product that you should promote. [00:10:55.390] - ChaseI think a common oversight with analytics is "it's just data." It's just a bunch of numbers and you have to extrapolate from those numbers and make inferences. You use that data to drive your business and if there isn't like a on-size-fits-all approach to it, it's definitely business-specific. [00:11:20.650] - AriYeah for sure. And so for us, you know with Littledata, what the app does is first, fix the tracking, so then for your particular business, you can go in and figure out the key metrics to to pay attention to. With ReCharge, I'm sure you have a lot of clients doing subscription business. And we're definitely seeing a lot of people that are either experimenting with subscriptions or that's like all of what they do, you know for like athletic supplements or workout clothes or whatever it is. [00:11:52.240] - AriI'm just bringing it up but I think it's a really good sort of case study in how a basic fix in analytics can really help. And you might want to just see if your advertising campaigns are leading to more first time purchases or recurring purchases, like people signing up to get stuff every month. And unless you've set up tracking correctly for the checkout flow, you'll go into Google Analytics...you could be running your company for years and go in (to GA) and suddenly realize there's no way to see that that split. [00:12:29.870] - ChaseYeah that's definitely important information. [00:12:32.720] - AnnetteThis might be a left field question, but can the app at all help with search engine optimization like work the organic there if things are behind the scenes are running smoother? Like could it help you notice things that would help you rise to the top a little bit more? [00:12:51.440] - AriIt's definitely not the main focus, but we do have some fixes (both sort of audit checks) and actually website benchmarks against other sites which you can also see in the app, against Shopify stores and things. For technical performance stuff like page load speed, it actually does have a big effect on SEO. [00:13:12.810] - AnnetteOh cool. So just to make sure I understand this, inside the app, you will have competition in there and I could see like their page speed load compared to mine? [00:13:22.070] - AriExactly. [00:13:22.170] - AnnetteOh that's awesome. OK. Now that's that's a huge value. [00:13:26.460] - AriYeah. We have those benchmarks broken down by sector, so you could look and say (obviously you can't see the actual stores it's all anonymized, I should say that upfront) but you could go in and say against other people selling shoes with an average order value around one hundred dollars per purchase, "is this a good page load speed, is this a good conversion rate?" stuff like that. [00:13:53.300] - AnnetteThat's really valuable. [00:13:53.410] - ChaseIt is. So there's data everywhere. Is it only Google Analytics you guys are taking a look at? [00:14:00.220] - AriSo the main app does connect with Google Analytics. Our main Shopify app is called Google Analytics by Littledata. By the time this podcast comes out, hopefully we will have launched an app for Segment. So Segment is sort of a connector between all kinds of different apps and platforms. And what this app will do is pull Shopify data, and again making sure everything's tracked correctly (checkout steps, sales, etc.) and pull that into Segment, so then you can connect it from Segment to any destination, which includes Google Analytics. [00:14:46.640] - ChaseThat's wonderful. Yeah I'm over here on the website and I see there's so many connections you guys have set up. [00:14:51.160] - AriCool, yeah. We're building out more, so to the listeners, if there are things you'd like to see, or if you've found a particular analytics problem, let us know and maybe we can fix it or help you find a way to automate or automatically check if it's working or not. [00:15:11.540] - AnnetteDo you want to explain those connections. Like I'm actually looking at your site right now too. So if I were to call in to see if I could get the app, what are some of those things that you would talk, about like the Facebook Ads connection that you have? [00:15:22.710] - AriSure yeah. So basically, for all the connections other than Segment, first you connect to Google Analytics. We're using that as sort of the ultimate source of truth. We always recommend to clients that it's good to gather lots of data and you want to be able to get detailed, but you really want to focus on just a couple of core metrics that are most important (like we were saying earlier) to your business. [00:15:59.700] - AriSo for some people, that will be how their Facebook Ad cost contributes to a particular detail about sales for one kind of product or a new product type or sales type or whatever it is. So what the Facebook Ads connection does is actually pull your ad costs and campaign details into GA so that then you don't have to rely on what Facebook is telling you in terms of how well the ad has performed and how many conversions you got. Instead, you can look and say "oh this campaign actually led to people adding a bunch of this type of product to the cart" or "it ended up leading to X amount of subscription revenue" [00:16:41.740] - ChaseSo you can drill down to the product level to see what had been added to the card from that campaign. [00:16:48.590] - AriExactly. Google makes that pretty easy to do with their own products, but they make it fairly complicated for people using other platforms. And so what a connection like that does is pull in the Facebook data and then suddenly plug that in along with everything else. [00:17:04.710] - ChaseCan I use this app to also see that information from Google AdWords and Google Shopping? [00:17:09.600] - AriYou can. The AdWords connection works a little different whereas it's pulling...I mean the effect is similar, but it actually lets you pull your Google Analytics data into AdWords so you can see sales again...like product sales next to campaign performance. [00:18:20.720] - ChaseWell I'm one hundred percent going to do a demo of this app. This is awesome. [00:18:25.160] - AnnetteYeah I have a question...Chase, you might be able to answer this too. So for instance, are my Facebook Ads currently connected to Google Analytics automatically, or do you have to have an app like Littledata to do that for you? [00:18:41.420] - AriI'd have to take a look at yours in particular, but in general, unless you've gone through and set it up, no they won't be. You might have Facebook as a source, but that won't give you much detail. [00:18:54.640] - AnnetteRight because, specifically going back to what you guys just talked about, I have an ad running right now for a piece of equipment that's a higher dollar and I'm making sales not the ad, but I'm not selling that particular product and I want to drill down and see exactly what I'm selling off of the ad, but I can't do that in Facebook Ads but this would enable me to do that, correct? [00:19:18.940] - AriExactly. That's the perfect test. Yeah. [00:19:21.080] - ChaseAnd you can take it one step further and see if those people are viewing that expensive product for a long time or create a segment to retarget those people and educate those people. Set up some drip campaigns if you have their email? [00:19:37.360] - AriExactly super smart. It's kind of like maybe they're not buying it but they actually were really interested in it. They're like "oh I'll try this first" [00:19:46.890] - ChaseAnd then it's your job to market them and educate them. Here's the thing, I think with just any advertising campaigns, people go for the kill, like instantly it's "buy this buy this buy this." You need to explain what the product is first and educate them about the product, especially if it's an expensive product. No one's just going to drop one hundred dollars plus on something that they didn't know existed before your ad. [00:20:12.500] - AnnetteThey won't drop 500 not knowing what it is? (laughs) [00:20:15.150] - AnnetteI'm going to run this ad, new product 30 days and do it. But what's happening (exactly my issue, so sign me up for the Littledata app today) because I don't know what they're buying. They're not buying the high dollar, they're buying other products and I want to see how that ad is tricking down to that. That's something before we even started this conversation — I didn't know that that connection would do that. [00:20:42.740] - ChaseWe have clients ask all the time to drill down like, what are people doing from the ad if they're not...It's like yeah you made money off the ad your turned out fantastic but they're like cool, like what were they buying? There's no easy way to see that in Facebook. [00:20:56.000] - AriTotally. And even when we started Littledata, we didn't realize that at first. And as we started working with more companies, we were doing custom setups with Google Tag Manager to try to figure this out, and then we were like "wait a sec. If we could just build something that would pull this into Google Analytics, voila." [00:21:16.320] - AnnetteThat is so valuable. My brain is kind of rocked. That's awesome. [00:21:23.960] - ChaseYeah you just ruined Annette's weekend. Now she's going play with this. [00:21:31.610] - ChaseIt takes time to get data that you can make a decision from. You don't need to be looking your data everyday. Unless you're getting so many page views and sessions a day, which is top tier million dollar companies, you don't have enough data to make a decision from 24 hours ago. Even with ads, if you're not spending thousands of dollars a day you know your ads run for like a week before you see what the hell is going on. [00:22:03.040] - AnnetteActually Chase, you taught me that. Like this specific ad that I'm running right now...t's what, the twenty eighth of the month? We started running it at the beginning and I said "hey I'm not even going to look at this. Let's just let it roll, like let's not even look at." I looked at it yesterday and I was like "wait, what's happening here?" I would know if I sold that high dollar product. We didn't. And I'm like I'm just going to let this roll for a while just not even pay attention to it and focus on everything else. And when I looked at it yesterday...we're selling stuff, we're not selling that product, the ad is working, but how? [00:22:32.730] - ChaseYeah the attribution on Facebook is unique in and of itself...and honestly you can get some sketchy agencies that make that thing really long. And they get that attribution up and they're like "Yeah, we made you all this money" but you're like where is it? Where's that money? [00:22:52.300] - AriYeah. [00:22:52.370] - AnnetteBeing a store owner, I have wonderful developers that I work with but sometimes I try to do some of this stuff myself. So when I now, after my mind's been blown and I get the app, is this something that you need to have a developer connect for you, or is it easy enough for a DIY store owner to do themselves? [00:23:17.790] - AriYeah we've definitely tried to make it easy enough. And the good thing is for Shopify (and we do have clients on other platforms like Magento, BigCommerce) it's fully automated. So unless you have a really customized theme (in which case we do have separate setup steps where our support team can help you) it all should just happen automatically [00:23:39.020] - AnnetteAnd that is for Facebook Ads also? [00:23:41.340] - AriYeah. [00:23:42.560] - AnnetteOh wow. OK. [00:23:44.030] - AriIt'll give you a guide in the app. You'll have to make sure that the campaigns have been named in a certain way. There's some things we can't do automatically. But for those few things that we can't do it, it gives very clear steps. [00:24:00.760] - ChaseSo what size stores does this make sense for? [00:24:07.720] - AriI always say anyone who wants to grow should start tracking things early, because otherwise you'll get to a point where you can't go back and get a start date if the tracking wasn't set. Basically once you start to introduce traffic, our basic plan runs up to about five hundred orders per month. We have the pricing tiered based on sessions, orders or sales, but the number of orders is a pretty good indicator. So once you're starting to get traffic and have some orders come through, it's a good time to go with it. And then for our enterprise plans, where we do help with custom setup and reporting and things as needed, those are generally larger — you know, bigger DTC brands doing maybe five to 50 million a year. [00:24:55.020] - AnnetteAwesome. Just for our listeners (this is something I always like when apps offer this), Littledata offers a twenty five percent off discount if you pay the annual fee upfront so you can save some serious dollars. [00:25:09.330] - AriOh yeah. Hey you're doing my job for me! That's a good point. [00:25:13.420] - AnnetteIt's always nice to be rewarded if you're going to pay for something upfront, as a consumer. [00:25:22.160] - AriYeah. And we do find like Chase was saying, it takes a while to start gathering the data for advertising campaigns, and also just for understanding user flows on your site because you really need a lot of information. You don't want to start redesigning the site or changing your product line based on a really limited sample, because it could be just random. So the more data you can get, the more you can make sophisticated decisions. [00:25:47.740] - ChaseAwesome. I think that is the gem of the podcast right there. And with that I think we're going to wrap this one up. [00:25:54.700] - ChaseIs there anything that you want to leave with our guests? I know everyone probably want to go check out the app. It's Littledata.io slash Shopify (90 percent of our listeners are probably on Shopify). [00:26:05.430] - AriYeah, nothing in particular...ifyou're using ReCharge, our Shopify ReCharge connection is really powerful will probably solve a lot of tracking issues that you thought couldn't be solved. So check that out. And that's about it. It's a great podcast. Good to be here. [00:26:23.970] - AnnetteNo, thank you! I do appreciate it. You actually answered the question I was going to ask Chase after the podcast (laughs). [00:26:30.500] - ChaseI hate when we have podcasts when it's like a sales letter, but for this app, it's just so fancy — it works. It solves problems and that's what people want. [00:26:41.840] - AnnetteActually it's solving problems I didn't even know there was a solution for. So that's exciting. Thank you Ari. We appreciate having you on today. [00:26:52.690] - AriOh and you just one more thing...If anyone has questions, even if they don't need the app, we do a lot on our blog around analytics issues. So feel free to write to us with topics you'd like covered and we'll sort of investigate. [00:27:09.790] - ChaseOh cool awesome I'll check that. I'll check the blog out too. Awesome. Well thanks a lot.

We're excited to participate in eCommerce Master Plan's virtual summit for subscription ecommerce this week. Littledata CEO Edward Upton is one of the lecturers, and that's not all! Over 10 industry experts have contributed in-depth online sessions to the summit, with advice for a variety of sites. This popular online conference is the place to be, whether you're just launching subscription products or looking to optimize revenue and customer lifetime value for an established brand.  eCommerce Master Plan Virtual Summit The summit is a gathering place for thought leaders and growing brands. Sessions are live today, Tuesday 30th April, and unlocked for participants until 5pm on Thursday 2nd May. In one of the online sessions, Ed shares essential advice about Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) for subscription ecommerce. Get the inside scoop on how to calculate CLV and what it means for your business. The summit is a who's-who of next-gen ecommerce apps and consultants. Ed is joined by experts from ReCharge, Churn Buster and more. Topics include everything from launching and scaling a subscription box company, to specifics about Facebook Ads and loyalty programmes. Why attend the summit? Why should you attend this 3-day annual conference? Chloe and the team break it down into the most convincing reasons: HUGE OpportunityThe latest Royal Mail research predicts the Subscription Box market will be worth £1 billion in 2022. This Summit will give you the knowledge to grab your share of that market growth It's a different ball gameSubscription eCommerce is a very different type of business to a 'normal' eCommerce business. Different challenges, different opportunities. This Summit will explore those differences, and how to make the most of them to build and grow your subscription business. Keep OptimisingLearn multiple ways to optimise and improve the marketing of subscription products. We couldn't agree more. It's why we built, and why we regularly highlight content specifically for online retailers selling things by subscription - whether it's the heart of your business (like it is for our customers Athletic Greens and Dry Farm Wines) or simply a part of your wider product mix. Plus, it's a virtual summit so travel costs are nonexistent. So start brewing that coffee at home and hop online for non-stop learning. Sign up today! Free podcast with subscription ecommerce tips Want to learn more before signing up? Conference organizer (and ecommerce mastermind) Chloe Thomas has you covered. Check out Chloe's latest podcast (the 213th episode!) on top tips from the summit - including some from Littledata. If you're looking for even more free content, this podcast episode is a great compliment to Ed's appearance on the eCommerce Fastlane podcast, where he breaks down how to get a complete picture of your store's performance, from marketing channels through repeat buying behaviour. Thanks and see you at the summit!

Littledata's own Edward Upton is featured on a new episode of the Ecommerce Fastlane Shopify podcast! Check it out here:Episode 33: Get The Complete Picture Of Your Shopify Store's Performance With Deeper Marketing Insights .The eCommerce Fastlane podcast is the best in the business. It caters to ecommerce strategies, success stories, sales, traffic, and growth for Shopify Plus stores. In the new episode Ed discusses the Littledata Shopify reporting app and how you can make smarter business decisions for your Shopify store. As podcast host Steve Hutt puts it "It closes the loop on all of your data including your Shopify store orders, marketing channels, and lifetime customer value." In other words, your Google Analytics will never be the same. Littledata is a Shopify App Partner that has created an analytics platform that takes Google Analytics and literally puts it on steroids. It closes the loop on all of your data including your Shopify store orders, marketing channels, and lifetime customer value. Littledata offers a free connection with Google Analytics to make sure people get accurate reporting, more powerful marketing insights, and a more complete picture of ecommerce performance. Shopify's basic integration with Google Analytics doesn't capture all of the ecommerce journey events and attribution that stores want to have. That's where Littledata comes in, to make sure that you can get a better grasp of the customer journey. [subscribe] Our Shopify Plus connection automatically tracks the sales and marketing data you need to scale a Shopify Plus store. Here's a comparison chart between our tracking and the default tracking in Shopify. On top of fixing your data collection we've launched the first Shopify flow connector for Google Analytics. The connector enables Shopify Plus stores to automate tracking with custom events in Google Analytics. If you're a subscription business, we integrate with ReCharge to give you an accurate data stream. This means no more headaches when it comes to recurring orders and first-time orders. [note]Now, with a revamped ReCharge connection — ReCharge v2 — you can track subscription lifecycle events with ease![/note] Say goodbye to the days when transactions from Shopify don't match Google Analytics, and say hello to accuracy! Littledata is the smart solution and we offer a free Google Analytics connection, plus a 14-day free trial on all of our plans - it's the smart way to connect Shopify Plus with Google Analytics. Don't forget to leave a review after subscribing to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or wherever else you like to listen!

Monetization—at the end of the day, this is what it's really all about for ecommerce brands. You need to know what's making you money and what isn't so you can continue to make improvements and grow. For many of us, when we think of analytics for our brand, monetization reports come to mind first. In Google Analytics 4, you can use these reports to see overall revenue from items, ads, and subscriptions, as well as what things specifically are generating revenue for you. While some of these reports are similar to the ecommerce reports in the old Universal Analytics, many are brand new in GA4. They're also not difficult to build and start using, so let's jump in and show you how to set them up for your store. [tip]Hear former Google's former Evangelist for Google Analytics Krista Seiden talk through everything you want to know about moving to GA4.[/tip] How to create monetization reports in GA4 When we talk about monetization reports, specifically this includes Overview reports, E-commerce Purchase reports, and Retention reports. GA4's new interface has a whole dropdown section dedicated to monetization reporting in the reports view, and this is where we'll start when building the report. After you navigate to this dropdown menu, selecting Overview will show you total revenue, total ad revenue, and ecommerce revenue. This report also shows your total number of purchasers (and first-time purchasers) along with the average purchase revenue per user. Comparing monetization for users based on demographics GA4 also allows you to use custom identifiers to create comparisons of different buyers so you can see revenue based on unique shoppers. To do this, click the 'Add comparison' icon in the top right of the report screen, then choose the specific identifiers you want to compare by. Watch the full walkthrough video below to see how to build ecommerce purchases and retention reports. How to use monetization reports Aside from the obvious usefulness as an insight into which of your products sell the most, monetization reports help you dig deeper into the nuances of where your revenue is coming from and what's really driving it. These reports will help you judge ad campaigns by attributing revenue, and help you zero in on your best buyers using custom identifiers to compare purchases made by different customers. The ecommerce report shows things like item views, purchases, purchase-to-view rate, and item purchase quantity—all of which will help you judge your product offerings and make changes if necessary. The retention report shows returning users compared with new users on your site, and even shows them by cohort, so you can determine how well you're doing at attracting repeat buyers—and what profile those buyers fit. Get more GA4 Making the move to GA4 is a process, but we've got you covered every step of the way. Use our resources below to make the switch painless. How to start off on the right foot with GA4 [Podcast] How to create source/medium reports in Google Analytics 4 How to create sales performance reports in Google Analytics 4 How to build customer behavior reports in Google Analytics 4 [tip]Want an expert's help setting up GA4 for your store? Book a call and talk to our team about how you can make the leap with just a few clicks.[/tip]

When you're looking for ways to measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns, you need to be tracking your website's source/medium data. This stat is essential for getting an accurate measurement of marketing attribution—but with the changes to Google Analytics 4, it can be a tricky one to nail down reporting for. But don't worry—we've got you covered with a video walkthrough on exactly how to build this report as part of our GA4 courses series. We'll show you how to create source/medium reports in Google Analytics and provide some tips on how to use this data to improve your marketing efforts. How to build source/medium reports in GA4 As we've mentioned in past editions of our GA4 courses series—and you've no doubt seen if you have a GA4 property already set up—Google Analytics 4 takes a totally different approach to display your store's metrics than the old Universal Analytics. While things like customer behavior reports and sales performance reports rely on the new explorations feature to let users build custom reports, source medium reports don't need as much work. The out-of-the-box traffic acquisition report works as your base, and from there you'll add "source / medium" as a custom dimension to the report and remove the default dimensions. After that, all you need to do is save the report and you can view it in your GA4 library of reports. Check out the full video below to see step-by-step how to build the source/medium report yourself: [tip]Prefer to have an expert set your store up on GA4? Book a demo with one of our team members and they'll show you how to get GA4 reports up and running for your store in minutes.[/tip] How to use "source/medium" reports in GA4 When you're determining marketing attribution and calculating your ROI on marketing campaigns, the source/medium report comes in handy as a guide to your most effective traffic sources. Being able to pinpoint which sources send the most visits to your store allows you to focus more narrowly on winning campaigns, and by using UTM parameters in your marketing efforts you can determine the mediums that drive the highest traffic as well. Put it all together and you have a nice picture of which channels to focus on, which strategies in your promotion mix work best, and where you can cut costs and maximize ROI and return on ad spend. Dive deeper into GA4 Getting old Google Analytics reports to work in GA4 is one key piece of making the move to the new Analytics, but it's not the only thing you need to check off your list. We have plenty of resources to help you make sure you've covered everything you need to not only start using GA4, but make sure you keep historical data for your store and get the same reports you've always relied on. Jump into GA4 with Google Analytics Expert Krista Seiden How to start on the right foot with GA4 [Podcast] How to tell if you're ready to make the switch to GA4 Why you should switch to server-side tracking for ecommerce analytics How to build customer behavior reports in Google Analytics 4 How to create sales performance reports in Google Analytics 4

Knowing your sales performance is a key piece of information when making decisions about many aspects of your ecommerce store. It's the best way to see everything from key high-level metrics like conversion rate, average order value, and total revenue to more detailed sales reports for different items and sales over a period of time. As you might already know, Google Analytics 4 comes equipped with a whole different layout than what we've gotten used to in Universal Analytics. But that doesn't mean you can't build the same sales reports you need to get vital revenue stats about your business. In this edition of our Google Analytics 4 courses series, we'll show you step-by-step how to build sales performance reports in GA4. [note]This is the latest in a series of how-to videos we've shared on creating reports in Google analytics 4. You can view the whole playlist on our YouTube channel.[/note] How to build the sales performance report in GA4 As we mentioned in our GA4 how to course on building customer behavior reports in GA4, the new version of GA relies on a feature called "explorations." This is going to be your hub for many reports in GA4, as the tool has shifted from pre-built reports to allowing users to customize what they're looking for and build reports from the ground up. When it comes to sales performance reports, you'll be adding actions that customers have taken specifically to craft the full report. The video below provides a quick walkthrough on each step you need to follow to add every parameter and event into your sales performance report. [tip]Want help from an expert as you get used to the new GA? Book a demo with one of our team members and they'll show you how to get GA4 reports up and running for your store in minutes.[/tip] Learn more about GA4 The sales performance report is just one of the many helpful reports you can build in GA4. check out our full GA4 courses series on YouTube to see the others, or follow the helpful links below to prep for GA4 and make sure you're ready for the new era of Google Analytics. How to build customer behavior reports in Google Analytics 4 Lunch with Littledata: Jumping into GA4 with Google Analytics Expert Krista Seiden The rise of Google Analytics 4 and sunsetting of Universal Analytics How to start off on the right foot with GA4 [Podcast] 10 reasons to move to GA4 for ecommerce analytics Google Analytics 4: Ready to make the switch?

Of all the changes Google is rolling out in Google Analytics 4, one that's getting extra attention is the change to behavior reports. Those used to the old Universal Analytics dashboard might be a bit lost at first looking at the new "explorations-driven" setup in GA4 and panic. Can you still get the same behavior reports in GA4 that you came to know and love in Universal Aanalytics? Yes, you can! You'll have to do a little manual report building first to see it though. To help you hit each step in the report-building process and get those vital customer shopping and checkout behavior reports up and running in GA4, we put together two detailed how-to videos that will walk you through the process step by step. [tip]Need help making the switch to GA4? Hear an expert's take on how to make the switch.[/tip] How to see customer shopping behavior reports in GA4 The shopping behavior report is the snapshot of your customers' activity as they browse your store. It's a crucial report not only for seeing where customers drop off and what product pages perform best but also for answering detailed questions about customer behavior from different referral channels. In the past, this report required the implementation of Google's Enhanced Ecommerce reporting, which adds features on top of standard ecommerce reporting like adds to cart, checkout initiation, and purchase completion. In GA4, everything you need to build the report comes automatically included out of the box. Building the shopping behavior report in GA4 leverages the new events feature, so once you've manually added the right parameters your report will be up and running! Follow the video below for a step-by-step walkthrough of the report building process: How to see customer checkout behavior reports in GA4 The checkout behavior report in GA4, like the shopping behavior report, requires building through a series of events added into an exploration report. You'll set up this report as a funnel, which will allow you to see each step where a customer might drop off before purchase. The checkout behavior report is perhaps the strongest tool you have in identifying cart abandonment and making the right decisions to minimize drop offs before purchase completion. Follow the video below to create the report in minutes for GA4: Get more on GA4 Building customer behavior reports is a key piece in your overall strategy for moving to GA4, but it's only part of the puzzle. We've got everything you need to demystify this new analytics platform, ensure you're prepared to make the move, and get the most out of GA4 from day one. Check out these helpful resources for more of everything you need to know about GA4: Lunch with Littledata: Jumping into GA4 with Google Analytics Expert Krista Seiden The rise of Google Analytics 4 and sunsetting of Universal Analytics How to start off on the right foot with GA4 [Podcast] 10 reasons to move to GA4 for ecommerce analytics Google Analytics 4: Ready to make the switch? [subscribe]

Black Friday Cyber Monday is like the Super Bowl for ecommerce stores. It’s that one critical event where you need to perform your best, and often it can feel like your entire year depends on making the day a success. Of course, we know the sheer magnitude of shopping activity is what makes it so important. The NRF estimates that 158.3 million shoppers will be looking for Black Friday deals this year (over 66 million more people than watched the actual 2020 Super Bowl, funny enough.) It’s easy to get so lost on prepping and promotions for this monumental day that you miss the most important part of the whole event — gathering crucial sales data that will help you drive revenue all year long. Getting the most out of the data you collect from shoppers on Black Friday comes down to building a robust data pipeline for your store. After all, you need the right game plan if you’re going to take home the biggest trophy of the year. More importantly, though, you need to be able to stick to that winning formula if you want repeat success. We know a thing or two about building robust data pipelines ourselves. In this article, we’ll show you how you can beef up your data stack to get 100% accurate, infinitely useful metrics and turn your Black Friday strategy from a one-day win into a years-long triumph. Why data matters most for Black Friday Cyber Monday success As the saying goes, “give someone a fish and you feed them for a day, but teach them to fish and you feed them for a lifetime.” That same principle is the basis for why data you collect from BFCM campaigns about valuable shoppers is the true prize. There are a few reasons why this is true. Competition As you no doubt are aware, your store will not be the only show in town for Black Friday shoppers. The high level of competition means you need to focus on finding promotions, pricing strategies, and product offerings that drive ROI. The best foundation for making these decisions is a detailed analysis of your customers’ buying habits and behavior when visiting your ecommerce store. You might pinpoint which groups out of all your BFCM shoppers have the highest customer lifetime value (LTV) or the ones with the lowest customer acquisition cost (CAC). If you’re changing prices with competitors in mind, track how many adds-to-cart certain products get and correlate that with buying behavior when the same product is not discounted. Use data to make decisions all year If a customer has engaged with your store and is familiar with your brand, the likelihood they will purchase from you again is much higher. Even better, they’ll come to you with a lower CAC and have a higher conversion rate than other visitors. Every piece of information you collect about customer behavior on your store will help inform not only your future marketing, but the audience you should target. Track cart abandonment rate to see who in your shopping audience is there to browse and use conversion rate to see which shoppers are most engaged and willing to buy. Once you know who your ideal shoppers are, you can build data-driven retargeting campaigns on Facebook, Google, and Twitter Ads that will give you the highest ROI. Black Friday discounting increases next season’s purchasing Back in 2016, we aggregated data from 143 retailers who participated most in that year’s Black Friday, versus 143 retailers who didn’t. What we found was that in the first 23 days of November 2017 – before the next Black Friday rolled around – stores that pushed discounts in 2016 had a median year-on-year increase in sales of 13%. The stores that didn’t participate only had 1% growth. The conclusion that sticks out from the data is that your promotion methods for this year’s Black Friday event will have effects, and seemingly positive ones, through the year that follows. If you don’t have a strong data pipeline in place to assess, segment, and target that higher-purchasing audience you’ve gained, you’ll lose out on the chance to continue growing your sales and keep the momentum from this Black Friday rolling for years to come. How to build a scalable and robust data pipeline Now that we’ve hopefully made it clear why you should focus on building a robust data pipeline to maximize your BFCM returns, let’s dive into how you can actually do it. Follow the right benchmarks When you start any kind of promotion, you should have a good goal in mind. Setting attainable targets that push store growth is key, and you definitely should not choose your goal metrics without a specific reason or pick unrealistic targets. A better strategy when setting goals for your store is to benchmark them against other ecommerce sites. We’ve surveyed thousands of ecommerce stores and gathered industry benchmarks that show the average for many of the most important ecommerce data points. Knowing how your store stacks up against the competition not only lets you plot a path toward growth, but also opens your view to areas where you’re exceeding and others where you need to focus. That will allow you to narrow your focus to a few key areas, saving you time and money. Tip: Get benchmarks tailored to your ecommerce store when you sign up for Littledata’s 30-day free trial. Check your current data pipeline for holes You’re most likely already using some kind of data reporting tool to check the health of your ecommerce store, even if it’s something as simple as Shopify Analytics or Google Analytics. But, as we mentioned earlier, you need to have the right game plan to win an event as big as BFCM, and that comes from using the right tools. First, you need to make sure you’re actually getting the right metrics in your reporting tool, not missing out on valuable data due to cookie blockers or mismatched data. After you’re sure you’re getting 100% accurate data in your reporting, make sure you’re using the right tools to track every kind of transaction on your store. For example, if you’re a subscription seller, then make sure you’re using a subscription data tool like ReCharge. It allows you to ensure correct attribution stats, track product views and shopping behavior, build checkout conversion funnels and understand who your repeat buyers are. You can also use a tool like Carthook to get a full picture of customer activity during checkout, as well as create powerful upsells and build a one-page checkout that saves customers hassle and improves conversions. There’s no shortage of tools you can implement into your data stack to build a complete and accurate picture of your store. Whether you want to improve your ability to acquire customers from social ads or test and optimize the perfect product page, make sure you have all the services you need in place to paint a clear picture of your ideal buyer so you can keep them coming back to your store. Use a powerful data platform like Segment Of all the tools to add to your data stack, Segment could be the most powerful. That’s because of its far reach allowing you to capture data from every customer touchpoint while integrating with your other data tools like ReCharge, Bold, or Ordergroove. Segment by Littledata can connect to your Shopify store in one click and begin automatically sending accurate data from Shopify to Segment using 100% accurate server-side tracking. Plus, that server-side tracking allows you to still receive valuable customer data without worrying about third-party cookies interfering with the accuracy. If you want support that will help you scale smart, you can pair Littledata’s Grow plan with your Segment connection and make sure your marketing dollars go toward fueling your store’s rapid growth. For even more hands-on support, Littledata offers a Plus plan with full account management to guide you through your data journey. Making the most of Black Friday Cyber Monday Maximizing your success this Black Friday Cyber Monday — and the months and years that follow — comes down to having a truly accurate and robust data pipeline to support your decision-making. Collecting data about BFCM shoppers at each touchpoint, using a service like Segment along with other data stack stars like ReCharge and Carthook, gives you the power to identify your most valuable customers and create a marketing strategy that will keep them shopping at your store far beyond when Black Friday ends.