Ecommerce
The Web Analytics Ecommerce page shows revenue, orders, where shoppers drop out between a product and a purchase, and how each product sells.
The Web Analytics Ecommerce page shows what your shop earns: revenue, orders, the average order and the conversion rate. It also shows where shoppers drop out and which products sell.
Before you start
- Install the Web Analytics script on your shop. See Analytics script. Without the script, the page shows Install Web Analytics to see what your shop earns.
- Verify the domain. See Verify ownership.
- In the sidebar, select Web Analytics > Ecommerce.
- Select the dates in the filter dock. You can also turn on the comparison with an earlier period.
Shop tracking switches on by itself when VitalSentinel recognizes your platform: Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento or Squarespace. For another shop, send your own shop events. See Analytics script.
Set up shop tracking
If Web Analytics never found a shop event, the Web Analytics Ecommerce page shows We found no shop events in this period with the chip No shop events yet. Owners and admins see the platforms as chips, and the link Send your own events for a custom store.
- On the Ecommerce page, click your platform, or click Set up shop tracking.
- In the panel Set up shop tracking, select Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, Squarespace or Custom events.
- Copy the install snippet.
- Follow the steps for your platform in the panel to paste the snippet into the head of your shop.
- On Shopify, also copy the Shopify custom pixel and add it in Customer events. On Squarespace, also paste the snippet in the order page fields. See Install on your platform.
Owners and admins can open the panel at any time with Shop setup in the page header. Use it to add the order step when your shop already sends product views.
When the snippet is on your shop, VitalSentinel recognizes the platform. It then records product views, add to cart, checkout and orders. Events appear within minutes of the first shop visit.
Outbound clicks without a shop
If your site has no shop but readers click links to other sites, the setup page shows a note. It starts with No shop? You still earn here and counts the clicks. These are clicks, not revenue. Click See where readers go to open Journeys & Funnels.
Shop summary
When shop events arrive, the Web Analytics Ecommerce page starts with one sentence. With the comparison on, it says how revenue changed, such as Revenue is up 14% on the previous period or Revenue is down 9% on the previous period. Without the comparison, no sentence shows, unless the period has no orders.
If the period has no orders, the sentence says No orders in this period, or No orders match these filters with filters.
A second line can name the biggest leak, such as Biggest leak: 1,200 viewed a product, only 90 added it to the cart (93% lost).
If shoppers are active but no order comes through, owners and admins see Orders aren’t recorded yet. The banner names the missing step for your main shop platform, for example "Add the Shopify custom pixel to record orders".
Click Finish shop setup to open the setup panel on the tab of that platform. If the platform is not known, the panel opens on the Shopify tab. The banner does not show while filters are on. It goes away when the first order arrives. See Platforms.
If your shop reports amounts in more than one currency, a note explains which currency the page uses. If Web Analytics found shop problems, a banner such as Ecommerce: 2 open issues shows. It links to Site Health.
Shop numbers and chart
The Web Analytics Ecommerce card shows four tiles above a chart. Click a tile to plot it. You can plot one or two tiles.
| Tile | What it means |
|---|---|
| Revenue | Money from completed orders, counted once per order |
| Orders | Completed orders, counted once per order |
| Average order value | Revenue divided by orders |
| Conversion rate | Orders divided by visits: the share of visits that ended in an order |
With the comparison on, each tile shows the change. If the comparison period has no data, the tile shows No data in the comparison period. If the comparison period uses another currency, the tile says so. The chart can show downtime from Uptime Monitoring.
Why conversions moved
When the comparison is on, the Web Analytics Ecommerce page explains why orders or revenue changed. Tiles split the change into From visits, From conversion rate and From order value. The parts add up to the change. A part is not a cause.
The table What explains the change shows the segments with the biggest move first. The list What else happened shows changes on your site around the dates. If you use filters, a note says Why conversions moved looks at the whole site.
For more about this card, see Conversions.
Where shoppers drop out
The Web Analytics card Where shoppers drop out shows four steps: Viewed a product, Added to cart, Started checkout and Bought. Each step shows how many times it happened and the share lost from the step before. Fix the step that loses the most people.
Each step counts events, not people. Someone who views three products counts three times. Bought counts purchase events.
If a step is larger than the step before, it is not a drop. Your platform probably reports a purchase for each product in an order.
All products
The Web Analytics card All products lists each product for the dates in the dock. A product viewed three times counts three times.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Product | The product name |
| Views | How many times the product page was opened |
| Add to cart | How many times the product was put in the cart |
| Add-to-cart rate | The share of views that ended with the product in the cart |
| Purchases | How many times the product was bought |
| Revenue | The money this product brought in |
| Conversion rate | Of the people who viewed the product, the share who bought it |
Sort by Add-to-cart rate to find products that many people view but few buy. These products need a better page or price.
Items and buyers
Lower on the page, the tiles Items and buyers show:
- Items sold: purchase events with items. It counts events, not the quantity in each order.
- People who viewed a product, People who added to cart and People who bought. People count per day, so someone who comes back on another day counts again.
If your platform reports purchases per order and not per product, a note says so. Site-wide revenue and orders are then correct, but per-product purchases show no figure.
Troubleshooting
Why does Ecommerce say "We found no shop events in this period"?
Web Analytics found no shop event. Check that the Web Analytics script is on every page of your shop. If you use a supported platform, tracking switches on by itself. For another shop, send your own shop events. See Analytics script.
Why are per-product purchases empty?
Your platform reports purchases per order, not per product. Site-wide revenue and orders are correct. Per-product purchases appear when your shop sends purchases for each product.
Why does Bought show more than Started checkout?
Each step counts events. Your platform probably reports one purchase event for each product in an order. This is not a drop.
Why does Ecommerce show more orders than Conversions or Acquisition?
Ecommerce also counts orders from visitors who asked not to be tracked. Conversions and Acquisition count only orders from visits with a known source.
Related
- Conversions - goals, orders and where conversions come from
- Acquisition - revenue for each campaign
- Organic revenue - the sales that follow your Google clicks
- Analytics script - install the script and send shop events
Conversions
The Web Analytics Conversions page shows your goals and orders over time, and which sources, pages and devices bring the visits that convert.
Performance & Reliability
The Web Analytics Performance & Reliability page shows if slow pages, outages or broken landing pages cost you visitors, and which pages to fix first.
