Luckily, Google Analytics 4 has powerful analytics abilities to collect a variety of ecommerce metrics for your site. Because not all sites have ecommerce data, GA4 does not automatically track it. Instead, you must set up ecommerce tracking manually. 

This guide will provide you with information on what ecommerce data you can track in Google Analytics 4 and how to easily set up ecommerce tracking for your site. 

What Ecommerce Events Can Google Analytics 4 Track?

GA4 can track many kinds of ecommerce events, including: 

• Viewing an item
• Adding an item to cart
• Removing an item from cart
• Making a purchase
• Applying a promotion
• Item revenue

How To Set Up Ecommerce Tracking in Google Analytics 4

If your site uses a common CMS or payment platform, such as Shopify, WooCommerce, or Stripe, they often have instructions or integrations that allow you to set up GA4 ecommerce tracking. We’ve included a brief overview for these three platforms below, as well as how to implement GA4 tracking on your site when not using one of these tools.

Shopify 

Shopify has an easy ecommerce integration system using the Google & Youtube Channel app and adding the Google Tag ID to your Shopify admin page. After setting up GA4 tracking, Shopify will track ecommerce events automatically using the Google Channel app. Here is Shopify’s full documentation on how to set this up for your site. 

WooCommerce

Similar to Shopify, WooCommerce (used with WordPress) makes GA4 setup simple with a custom Google Analytics integration. After setting up GA4 tracking, WooCommerce will track several events, such as product detail views, which track which items a user viewed the full description of. Here are step-by-step instructions for setup straight from WooCommerce. 

Stripe

Unlike Shopify and WooCommerce, Stripe does not have a built-in GA4 integration. Instead, it provides code for developers to add to the site to send data to GA4. Once properly configured, Stripe will track a conversion funnel, allowing you to analyze the purchase journey of site users. See here for full documentation explaining how to add Stripe data to GA4.

Google Tag Manager

If you aren’t using one of the tools above or something similar, you can follow these steps to set up e-commerce tracking using Google Tag Manager and your site’s data layer. 

Step 1: Add ecommerce tracking to data layer 

GA4 documentation contains ecommerce tracking code that needs to be added to your site’s data layer (found in the source code). Your site developer should implement these tracking events on your site. 

Step 2: Confirm that data layer events are tracking using Google Tag Assistant

Use the Google Tag Assistant to ensure that the ecommerce events you have added to your site’s source code (such as view_item, add_to_cart, and purchase) are firing correctly and include necessary data, such as the correct item name, category, quantity, and price.

Step 3: Add ecommerce events as GA4 tags to Google Tag Manager

Create a new GA4 event tag in Google Tag Manager and select a GA4 configuration tag. Enter your recommended event name and select “Send Ecommerce Data” (located under More Settings). 

Next, build a trigger for the GA4 event based on the data layer events you have already established. Select a custom event, and enter your data layer event name under “Event name.” Name your trigger and save it.

After successfully creating your trigger, save your GA4 Event Tag and repeat for each additional ecommerce event you want to create.

Step 4: Use DebugView in GA4 to ensure that Google Tag Manager Events are tracking

Use GA4’s DebugView mode, which can be found in Admin under Data Display. Using preview mode in Google Tag Manager, check that event names are triggering in GA4 and that the item details contain the correct information.

Analyzing Ecommerce Tracking in Google Analytics 4

Once you have ecommerce tracking set up, you can analyze your ecommerce data. Click on reports, then monetization, then ecommerce purchases to see a breakdown of items on your site. 

You can also click on “Purchase journey” to see the path of users making purchases on your site. This can provide insight into which parts of your site might need improvement to ensure users complete their purchases.

For additional reporting needs, you can use ecommerce data in custom reports. Click on the explore tab and create a new exploration where you can add custom dimensions and metrics. Add your data by clicking the ecommerce section under either dimensions or metrics.  

Conclusion

Tracking ecommerce data is crucial for making informed business decisions and optimizing the performance of your online store. GA4 provides robust tools to capture a variety of ecommerce events, and setting up your website to track ecommerce events in GA4 will allow you and your team to leverage these insights, enabling you to understand your customers’ purchase journeys better, identify areas for improvement, and ultimately drive more sales. 

How To Set Up Google Analytics 4 Ecommerce Tracking is an original blog post first published on Go Fish Digital.

What is RegEx?

RegEx is a way to filter data based on matching phrases and patterns. It works by matching strings or characters based on specific criteria, allowing you to customize your expression to create the exact kind of filter you need. RegEx can be beneficial for more complex filtering needs than traditional filtering allows. 

How can I use RegEx?

RegEx filters use a combination of multiple expressions and special characters to filter data based on patterns. Using RegEx allows you to filter values matching part of a phrase, rather than only matching exact values, returning multiple values rather than just one. Understanding how to use RegEx can be instrumental in filtering values to match the needs of your business. 

What are RegEx Metacharacters?

RegEx metacharacters are special characters that can be used when creating RegEx filters to define how phrases should be filtered. While there are many RegEx metacharacters, the following chart lists some of the most popular RegEx metacharacters, their purpose, and an example of how they can be used. 

RegEx in Google Analytics 4

RegEx in explorations

RegEx can be used to create custom filters in the explorations section of GA4. RegEx expressions in Google Analytics 4 match exactly, so using metacharacters to broaden your results is key. 

To add a RegEx filter to a Google Analytics 4 exploration, first navigate to or create your exploration (located in the Explore tab). Under variables, select “Segments” and choose the type of segment you want. Next, click “add new condition” and select the variable you want to filter. After selecting your variable, click “add filter.” Select “matches RegEx” from the available dropdown menu and write your RegEx statement below. Click apply when you’re done. 

For example, let’s say you wanted to look at the number of users who had visited a page with the word “shop” somewhere in the title. You could create a user segment and write a RegEx filter with the word “shop.” However, if you just write the word “shop” the RegEx filter will only look for a page that has the exact name “shop.” If you want the filter to include pages that have shop somewhere in the title, you can use the expression *shop.* This expression uses metacharacters that say that there can be an unlimited number of any characters before and after the word shop, and to include any result where the page title includes the word “shop.” 

RegEx in Looker Studio

RegEx can also be used in Looker Studio. While Looker Studio has other available filter options, using RegEx filters allows you to filter more complex data to your needs. One example of this would be the limitation of Looker Studio OR clauses, which only allow you to include 11 OR clauses. If you need more OR clauses than this, you can use a RegEx filter and the | metacharacter. 

To add a RegEx filter in Looker Studio, click on the chart you want to filter and select “add a filter.” Select “create filter,” and choose either “RegExp match” or “RegExp contains.” Then, write your RegEx filter. 

Conclusion

Although RegEx is slightly more complex than other filtering options, its advanced abilities allow you to write more complex statements to filter for the exact information you need more efficiently than typical filters. When using RegEx filters in GA4 or Looker Studio, always make sure to test that your filter is working properly and modify your expressions as needed. Doing so will allow you to create nuanced and custom filters for your website’s needs.

How To Use RegEx in Google Analytics 4 is an original blog post first published on Go Fish Digital.

Users

• What it is: Users are visitors who interact with your website or app. Users are counted uniquely, so one user who interacts with your website multiple times will still only count as one user. Google Analytics 4 tracks both users and new users. “New users” are users who visited your site for the first time in your specified date range. 
• Where to find it: The total number of users can be found on the homepage The date can be adjusted at the bottom of the card.
• Why it’s important: Looking at the total number of users on your site during a set time period can be a helpful overview of site traffic. User data is also segmented by behavior and demographics in Google Analytics 4, allowing you to understand more about your audience as a whole. 

Sessions

• What it is: Like users, sessions track your website traffic. However, while the users metric tracks a visitor to your website once (even if they visit the site multiple times), sessions track every time someone visits your site. Google Analytics 4 has specific guidelines on how they track new sessions. In GA4, a session expires after 30 minutes of inactivity. If a user interacts with your website again after 30 minutes of activity, it will be counted as a new session. For more information on how Google Analytics 4 tracks sessions, check out this article.
• Where to find it: Like users, you can find the total number of sessions on the homepage. The date can be adjusted at the bottom of the card.
• Why it’s important: Sessions provide context on how users engage with your site. Tracking sessions, particularly when combined with other metrics, helps you understand things such as how users are interacting with your site, conversions, and user retention.

Views per User

• What it is: Views per user tracks the average number of pages viewed per person.
• Where to find it: The views per user can be found under the Google Analytics 4 reports section by clicking on “Engagement” and then “Pages and screens.”
• Why it’s important: Knowing the average views per user helps you understand how much content users are consuming on your site before navigating away. Views per user can also be used to understand which pages encourage site visitors to continue navigating and engaging with your site. 

Engagement Rate

• What it is: The engagement rate is measured as the percentage of engaged sessions out of total sessions. Google Analytics 4 counts a session as an “engaged session” if it meets any of the following criteria:
  • Lasts more than 10 seconds
  • Includes a conversion 
  • Has at least 2 page views
• Where to find it: Engagement rate data can be found under the Google Analytics 4 reports section by clicking on “Acquisition” and “User Acquisition.”
• Why it’s important: Engagement rate provides insight into whether your content is reaching the right audience. High engagement rates indicate that site visitors are interacting with your website, while low engagement rates could signal that changes are needed to your site to effectively engage your audience.

Event Tracking

• What it is: Events occur when a user interacts with your website in some way. Some events are automatically collected in Google Analytics (such as page views or scrolling), while others are customizable to allow you to implement your own events to be tracked on your website. 
• Where to find them: Automatically collected events are in the report section under “Events.” Manually created events will be found in the same location after being set up. 
• Why it’s important: Events are the primary method of tracking used in Google Analytics 4 and are highly flexible and customizable. Knowing what events are and how to use them properly will allow you to optimize them to your site’s needs. 

Key Events [Previously Conversions]

• What it is: Key events are similar to events but are events that you specify as being important to your business. An example of a key event might be completing a form or generating a lead. You can define an event as a key event by going into admin, clicking on “Data Display,” then “Events,” and then toggling on the switch that says “Mark as Key Event.”
• Where to find them: You can see the number of key events that have occurred on each page of your site in the reports section under “Engagement” and “Pages and screens.”
• Why it’s important: Marking specific events on your site as “key events” allows you to see which parts of your site have a large impact on your business as a whole and which areas need improvement.

Session Key Event Rate [Previously Conversion Rate]

• What it is: The session key event rate is the percentage of sessions in which a key event is triggered. This was previously referred to as a conversion rate.
• Where to find it: Key event rates are not automatically visible in Google Analytics 4, but they can be manually set up.
• Why it’s important: Tracking key event rates shows how effective your website is at getting users to perform desired actions. It can also be beneficial to see which parts of your website need to be improved based on user behavior.

E-commerce Data

• What it is: For businesses selling products on their websites, tracking e-commerce on your website is crucial to understand how visitors are making purchases. Some e-commerce measurements include:
  • Add to Carts – The number of times that the add to cart event is triggered
  • Items Purchased – How many items were purchased in total and per product
  • Revenue – Revenue from items purchased (taxes and shipping not included)
• Where to find it: E-commerce analytics are available in the reports section of Google Analytics under the “Monetization” section. E-commerce data includes multiple metrics to view revenue, items purchased, and items viewed. It also provides information on user journeys throughout your site, giving insight into how many people viewed a product, added it to their cart, proceeded to check out, etc. 
• Why it’s important: Utilizing e-commerce data helps you optimize your products and website to your customers’ needs by understanding which channels are driving purchases, how users are navigating your site, which marketing efforts are effective, and what needs to be improved. 

Traffic Source

• What it is: Traffic source shows how users are coming to your site through various default channels. It indicates how users discovered your website, such as through email, advertising, social media, and more. 
• Where to find it: Traffic source information is available in reports by clicking on “Acquisition” and “Traffic acquisition.”
• Why it’s important: Monitoring traffic sources helps you understand how users find your website. It allows you to identify which marketing channels are driving traffic to your site and how users engage with your content. This can help you make marketing decisions, such as whether more money and time should be spent on Google ads rather than social media advertising.

Landing Pages

• What it is: A landing page is the page that users visit first when visiting your website. Examples of this could be your site’s homepage, a promotion page, or a blog post. 
• Where to find it: Landing page information is available in reports by clicking on “Engagement” and “Landing page.”
• Why it’s important: Identifying key landing pages helps you understand where users are first seeing your content, giving you the opportunity to engage with them immediately upon entering your site. It can also help you evaluate the effectiveness of marketing campaigns or advertisements by seeing which pages of your site receive the most attention. 

Tech Attributes

• What it is: Tech attributes provide insights into how users interact with your website across different devices, browsers, and platforms.
• Where to find it: Tech information is available in reports by clicking on “Tech” and “Overview.”
• Why it’s important: The way your website appears can differ based on the browser and type of device that it is viewed from. Understanding how most people view your website allows you to optimize your site accordingly, such as prioritizing your website design on mobile devices.

Conclusion 

With the countless available metrics to track in Google Analytics 4, picking which metrics to track can be overwhelming. Understanding the most important metrics to track and what they mean for your website can help you and your team optimize your analytics strategy and customize your analytics to best suit your business’s needs.

11 Metrics You Should Track In Google Analytics 4 is an original blog post first published on Go Fish Digital.