How Session Enrichment improves attribution for Google Analytics
by Edward
Background
Littledata has been at the forefront of tracking Google Analytics events for Shopify stores since 2017, adopting the latest APIs that Google had to offer.
In making the switch to Google Analytics 4 we relied on Google’s Measurement Protocol API for GA4, and we worked with Google to iron out attribution issues in the alpha version.
However, in 2024 we decided the slow progress of the Measurement Protocol was holding back the richness of the data we could pass to Google Analytics and we needed to build a different way.
The launch of Session Enrichment
Our rebuilt Google Analytics integration, rolling out to all customers this month, allows us much greater control how Google attributes the server-side purchases to web sessions.
Session Enrichment brings four key benefits for our customers:
- Attribution Boost to dramatically reduce ‘Direct’ or ‘Unassigned’ purchases, especially for recurring orders
- Purchases can be geolocated, based on the end customer’s IP address
- Purchases can be linked to a device (e.g. split by desktop vs mobile purchases)
- Fine control of how orders outside the Shopify checkout – from other order channels – are attributed to source and medium
All this is being added at no additional cost to our customers as part of our commitment to the highest data quality in Google Analytics.
Let’s look at each benefit in detail.
Attribution Boost
Attribution Boost allows us to remember the attribution of the first order of a subscription and apply it to all subsequent recurring orders. You get a more accurate understanding of customer lifetime value (LTV) and can understand the effectiveness of your subscription acquisition channels.
We can’t remove Direct traffic attribution entirely – in some cases there is no discernible referrer to the session that purchased, but where there is a source or medium we can do a better job of showing that in GA4.
Purchases by location
Watching in real-time where your visitors are coming from is one of the most addictive reports in GA4.
But what you really need is to see where the purchase events are coming from. We had a workaround with Explorations previously, but now you can report of location natively.
Purchases by device
Exploring which device a user purchased (or did not purchase) on is an essential part of improving user experience on your store.
Previously you could see sessions by device, but now you can see revenue and purchase volume per device.
Attributing other order channels
Orders that did not go through the Shopify checkout would previously have been ‘Unassigned’, because there was no source or medium set.
Now you can map the source and medium for each order app or sales channel in Littledata’s settings. You can create custom rules based on:
- Order App Name or App ID
- Order Payment Gateway
- Order Tags
For example, if you’re running Recharge to process recurring orders, you can select the ‘Recharge’ as the app name and set the source to ‘shopify’ and the medium to ‘recurring_order’. This allows you separate out recurring orders in your reports from Direct web orders.
Conclusion
Session Enrichment is a big upgrade both for the attribution quality in Google Analytics, and the level of control Shopify stores can have over how other sales channels are reported.
Server-side tracking allowed up to guarantee 100% of Shopify revenue was reported in Google Analytics, but with some limitations in how the revenue could be analyzed. This new feature removes those limitations.
Happy reporting!