It's no secret that Shopify is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms out there, but one thing that's been puzzling many Shopify users is when it will support Google Analytics 4 (GA4).
As a powerful analytics tool that can provide invaluable insights into website performance, and an ability to track customers across multiple devices and channels, GA4 offers a lot of great features, including more accurate tracking, robust data analysis, and more.
But the question remains - when will Shopify support GA4?
Let’s look at what GA4 is, how it works, why it’s important for Shopify store owners, and what you can do about GA4 & Shopify.
Here are the key takeaways:
- Google is set to sunset Universal Analytics
- Google Analytics 4 is going to replace Universal Analytics in early 2023
- GA4 has become a powerful & essential tool for Shopify store owners
- You can set up GA4 on Shopify using Google Tag Manager
Read on and find out when & how you can use GA4 with your Shopify store.
What is Google Analytics 4 (GA4)?
If you're a Shopify store owner, you may have heard about Google Analytics 4 (GA4): Google's latest analytics solution, designed to help businesses measure and optimize customer experiences.
Standing out as an advanced platform that utilizes AI and machine learning to provide insights into user behavior and engagement, GA4 allows you to take actionable steps in order to improve the customer journey.
With Google Analytics 4, you can track the performance of your websites, apps, and other digital properties in real-time, which helps you to understand how, why, and to what extent customers interact with your brand.
Additionally, Google Analytics 4 can provide detailed analytics on customer journeys and how users are engaging with different marketing channels, allowing you to optimize your campaigns so you can get the maximum results.
As a Shopify store owner, you can gain valuable insights into customer behavior and create more personalized experiences for your users with the help of GA4 since it:
- Runs across multiple platforms without relying solely on cookies,
- Uses an event-based data model,
- Provides more actionable & useful data, along with user-friendly reports
- Supports seamless & powerful integrations with other Google products and services,
- Comes with an AI & machine learning structure.
It’s a fact that doubts have been coming up on whether GA4 is better than Universal Analytics, which is set to stop working by early 2023, but the truth is that GA4 is constantly improving, with Google rolling out new features that make it even better.
Why is GA4 Important for Shopify Store Owners?
GA4 is becoming a powerful & essential tool for Shopify store owners day by day, as it offers an incredibly comprehensive suite of data-driven insights that allow them to better understand their customers and their shopping behaviors.
With GA4, you can easily track user engagement, sales, website traffic, and other key metrics, giving them an invaluable edge in the competitive e-commerce marketplace. In short, it provides you with the ability to access more detailed and actionable insights than ever before.
In addition, GA4 lets you easily segment customers into different target audiences, allowing you to target your marketing efforts and optimize your Shopify store for each specific audience. You can measure the effectiveness of your campaigns, helping you make informed decisions about your marketing strategies.
On top of each and every great feature that comes with GA4, it easily provides you with the most important e-commerce reports that you should check out regularly for your Shopify store. For example, if you check out these reports:
- Traffic & Attribution
- Product & Category & Brand Performance
- Purchase & Order Level
- Retention & Lifetime Value
- Analytics Intelligence Insights
You can get a deeper understanding of how your business performs, and build a strategic plan and vision to improve your business. You don't have to be an expert, but knowing the fundamentals of these essential reports can be a game-changer for you.
GA4 For Shopify: How to Use Google Analytics 4 on Shopify?
As Google is set to sunset Universal Analytics (UA) in July 2023, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) will replace it as their only data analytics solution, providing much better solutions & user experience.
And according to what Shopify announced earlier, you will be able to start using Google Analytics 4 on your Shopify store by March 2023.
However, it’s very important to start using GA4 on Shopify as soon as possible because you won’t be allowed to carry your data in Universal Analytics over to Google Analytics 4.
Although there’s no native solution for Shopify & Google Analytics 4 (GA4) integration at the moment, there’s an open-source solution that makes things work:
You can set up GA4 on Shopify with the Shopify GA4 kit using Google Tag Manager. Once you follow the step-by-step instructions, you secure a fully functional GA4 integration on your Shopify store with no fees included - and no apps needed.
Thanks to its event-based data model, Google Analytics 4 provides a seamless view of user journeys across your website and apps. As it leverages Google’s machine learning to fill in data gaps with predictive modeling and insights, you can optimize your outcomes and enhance your business.
Furthermore, since it tracks users without relying on cookies, Google Analytics 4 is well-equipped to monitor a changing digital landscape and give you meaningful insights about your customers, even with incomplete data.
Most Important Google Analytics 4 (GA4) Settings for Shopify Merchants
Google Analytics 4 is a robust tool that can be utilized to its maximum potential when set up properly and all best practices are followed.
You can apply the following settings to improve the performance of your GA4 & Shopify integration.
1. Enable Google Signals
Google shares user data with your Google Analytics account, providing more precise cross-device reporting and increased visibility into your visitors' data. The new Google Signals feature stands out as an invaluable advancement for Google Analytics users.
To enable Google Signals, go to Google Analytics 4 Admin > Data Settings (under the "Property" column) > Data Collection > Enable Google Signals.
2. Set Data Retention to 14 months
By default, user and event data retention is set to two months. However, you can extend this to 14 months in order to gain a better understanding of user behavior over a longer period of time. You have to make sure that you are compliant with GDPR and any other applicable privacy policies based on the country in which your business is located.
To perform this, navigate to: Google Analytics 4 Admin > Data Settings (under the "Property" column) > Data Collection > Date Retention
3. Link Google Ads with GA4
This integration will improve your Google Ads performance as the data sharing between these two platforms is incredibly powerful.
To integrate Google Ads with GA4, go to Google Analytics 4 Admin > Product Linking (under the "Property" column) > Google Ads
4. Link Google Search Console with GA4
Google Search Console is the most reliable source for analyzing your organic search results. By connecting your Google Search Console and Google Analytics 4, you will be able to access keyword-based performance reports.
To do this, go to Google Ads > Google Analytics 4 Admin > Product Linking (under the "Property" column) > Search Console
In conclusion, Shopify is a fast-growing e-commerce platform that is constantly looking to improve its features and capabilities. At this point, Shopify has not officially announced any native solution to support Google Analytics 4.
Yet, you don’t need to wait for Shopify to release a native solution as you can easily perform a Shopify & GA4 integration using the Shopify GA4 kit.
Top comments (5)
What is the main difference in data models between GA4 and UA?
GA4 uses an event-based data model while UA uses a hit-based one. In Universal Analytics, there are various hit types, including PageView, Social, and Transaction. In GA4, these are all referred to as Events, with different names and parameters. This change leads to a deep integration between all reports and capabilities.
Thanks for quick reply :)
Yes, it does. You can get purchase tracking and other user behavior metrics and reports which are incredibly important for any store.
I think this is a great comment that acknowledges the practical value of the information shared. It's always important to consider how theoretical knowledge can be applied in real-world situations, and it's encouraging to hear that this information seems useful in practice. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts!