The Complete Guide to Setting Up Google Analytics for your Shopify Store

Google Analytics provides troves of actionable data that’ll help grow your online store’s revenue. From identifying the pages on your site that result in the best conversion rates to finding drop-off points, Google Analytics data is a must-have for all Shopify users. With that in mind, let’s look at the steps you need to take in order to get Google Analytics working perfectly with your Shopify store.

Upgraded Analytics

First off, you’ll need to make sure you’re using the latest version of Google Analytics. Google introduce Universal Analytics a while ago, and there’s been some confusion as to whether or not Shopify users need to upgrade their Analytics account from Classic to Universal. According to Google, Universal Analytics is the operating standard and all properties have been upgrade to Universal. Your Shopify account should be upgraded to Universal, but to make sure, follow these steps:

1. 1. From the Shopify admin tab, click the Online Store option, then select Preferences.
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9. 2. Scroll down to the Google Analytics section, then select Upgrade to the latest version.

Once your Shopify account is updated to the latest version of Google Analytics, you need to enable your store to understand and generate reports from that data.

Making Universal Analytics Work

To make sure that Universal Analytics works with your Shopify store, do the following:

1. 1. Log in to your Google Analytics account and click the Settings wheel in the bottom-left corner.
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9. 2. In the second column of menu options for your website, select the Tracking Info tab, then click on Tracking Code.
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17. 3. A new screen will roll in from the right, where you’ll see your Tracking ID, Status, and a Website Tracking dialog box. In the Website Tracking dialog box, you’ll see a snippet of code starting and ending with the <script></script> tags. Copy that script to your clipboard.
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23. 4. From there, you’ll need to log back into your Shopify Admin account.
24. 5. From there, select Online Store, then select Preferences.
25. 6. On the Preferences page you’ll see blank field for your Google Analytics account. Paste the tracking code you copied from your Google Analytics account to the blank field within your Shopify Admin account.
26. 7. Finally, disable password protection for your online store.  

Ecommerce Tracking

To this point you’ve upgraded your analytics account and ensured you’re tracking all the data possible. Next, you can implement specific ecommerce tracking services to gain enhanced detail about your site visitors. Google provides two versions of ecommerce tracking services and today we’ll look at implementing their “Enhanced” view. This gives you the most data possible on visitor behavior.

1. 1. Go to your Shopify Admin account, select Online Store, then select Preferences.
2. 2. Select Google Analytics, then check the Use Enhanced Ecommerce checkbox. Then save your work.
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6. 3. Next, go to your Google Analytics account and click on the settings wheel in the bottom-left corner. In the far-right column, under All Web Site Data, click Ecommerce Settings.
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10. 4. Switch your Enable Ecommerce Status to On. You’ll also see an option to turn on the Related Products status. Do so to generate related products data in your Analytics reports.
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14. 5. Select Next Step.
15. 6. You’ll see another dialog box appear asking you to enable Enhanced Ecommerce Reporting. Select that status to On.
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19. 7. Finally, select Submit and you’ll now be able to generate ecommerce-specific data on your website visitors.

As a Shopify partner, we know that these three steps will enable Google Analytics’ powerful tools for your ecommerce store, enhancing your knowledge of visitor behavior and page conversions. This information is critical to maintaining a consistently-optimized website and providing your visitors with the best possible shopping experience. ]]>