Field guides to setup Google Analytics 4 with ecommerce tracking
The Swiss online-marketing agency netpulse wants their clients to be on top of the upcoming mandatory Google Analytics 4 switch. To ensure their team and their clients are capable of setting up Google Analytics 4 with ecommerce tracking, I'm creating field guides for them. The field guides are created for multiple ecommerce platforms.
Status: 🟢 Ongoing
Link: https://www.netpulse.ch
Duration: 2022 -
About the field guides
Netpulse has a lot of clients of all sizes. Their clients use different ecommerce platforms, from known players like Shopify to custom built solutions. In order to gather valuable analytics data, netpulse adopts the new Google Analytics 4 and runs it alongside the departing Universal tracking from Google.
The team at netpulse is highly trained and certified in Microsoft, Google and Meta advertising, but doesn't have the technical capabilites of creating and integrating custom tracking scripts into multiple technology stacks.
That's were I come in, setting up tracking with Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics 4 and the plentora of ecommerce tracking events it offers.
The process creating the field guides
- The team at netpulse created a list of potential clients with different ecommerce platforms that they would like to tackle.
- They talk to the client and grant me access to their platform, Tag Manager and Analytics.
- I'm setting up the tracking writing custom scripts and implementing them in the clients ecommerce platform of choice.
- After the setup is tested, I'm writing a comprehensive guide how to replicate the tracking for other clients. These guides include code snippets, pre-defined Google Tag Manager containers and additional explanations to ensure a smooth integration.
- The netpulse team reviews the field guide and implements the tracking for other clients or gives them the field guide to do it themselves.
- Success 😊
How we measure success
We apply 3 measurements to ensure the field guide is working as expected:
- netpulse or their client can replicate and implement the tracking themselves, following the guide and code snippets provided.
- Existing tracking data is not diluted by running the Google Analytics 4 alongside Universal tracking.
- Comparing existing data and the new data gives the same conversion results.
These simple goals help setting up future proof ecommerce tracking and allows netpulse to proof to their clients the importance of proper analytics setup.
Multiple ecommerce platforms
Currently the tracking field guides are available for netpulse customers with the following ecommerce platforms:
- Magento v2.x: This setup requires the purchase and installation of an extension as it's much cheaper compared to building the entire tracking from scratch.
- Duda + Ecwid: Honestly I have never before heard of Ecwid, but it's integrated into the Duda page builder which is recommended by Google. With the API docs I was able to integrate the tracking with Ecwid deeply.
- Shopify: Integrating the custom tracking into the templates and writing scripts using the liqud templating language, their clients on Shopify now get a better picture into the purchasing habits on their sites.
There will be more guides in the upcoming months including the following:
- WooCommerce, the ecommerce platform for WordPress
- Odoo, which has come a long way from their OpenERP days
- Shopware and PrestaShop
- A few custom ecommerce platforms
