Ecommerce tracking in Google Analytics is a specialized feature designed for online businesses to analyze and understand their sales data and customer behavior.
What is Ecommerce Tracking?
Ecommerce tracking allows you to measure the transactions that occur on your online store. It allows you to tailor your marketing strategies based on real sales data, focusing on the most effective channels and campaigns.
How Can I Set Up Commerce Tracking? Standard Ecommerce tracking requires adjustments to your website's tracking code. This can be set up manually or through Google Tag Manager. Enhanced ecommerce tracking requires data layer on your site that passes detailed ecommerce data to Google Analytics.
This is a little tricky to do- but you could also just use Simple Analytics. Simple and privacy-friendly. No complexity. No cookies. Just the data you need in a simple dashboard.
Anyway, back to Google Analytics.
Types of Ecommerce Tracking
There are two levels of ecommerce tracking in Google Analytics:
- Standard Ecommerce Tracking provides basic transaction data, including revenue, tax, shipping, and quantity of products sold.
- Enhanced Ecommerce Tracking offers more detailed insights, such as product impressions, clicks, internal promotions, and the shopping behavior of users through the entire purchase process.
What Metrics Does Ecommerce Tracking Provide?
This feature can track several categories of metrics:
- Sales Data: such as revenue, number of orders, and average order value.
- Product Performance such as quantity sold, product revenue, and average price. These are metrics related to a single product
- Transaction Details including transaction IDs, billing location, and associated revenue.
Analyzing Ecommerce Data
- Ecommerce Reports: Google Analytics provides dedicated reports for analyzing ecommerce data, helping you understand sales performance, product engagement, and the customer journey.
- Conversion Optimization: Use this data to identify trends, optimize product listings, and improve the checkout process.
Final Thoughts
Ecommerce tracking in Google Analytics offers online businesses insights into sales performance and customer behavior, but not every organization needs such complex and clunky tools! If you just want a straightforward dashboard with the insights you need, GA is not a great place to start. Additionally, Google Analytics is a privacy-invasive tool and requires an annoying cookie banner.
That's why we built Simple Analytics, a privacy-friendly and simple analytics tool - no personal data, no cookies, just the insights you need in a straightforward dashboard.
If this resonates with you, feel free to give Simple Analytics a spin (It's free). You just need to add the script and off you go. This takes about one minute.
Enjoy!