As a Shopify merchant, you’ll know that the platform has a host of brilliant tools to help you build your business. Shopify Analytics is one of them. Through its analytics platform, you can produce reports based on your store performance and use the data to grow your business further.
Shopify Analytics’ standard dashboard is particularly useful for a general overview of your store’s performance. If you’re looking for more though, you can use their report functionality.
What Shopify Analytics tracks and measures
When you set up your Shopify store, the analytics function will begin to track the following conversions:
- Sessions Converted
- Add to Cart
- Reached Checkout
It also collects the following metrics:
- Store Sessions
- Returning Customer Rate
- Average Order Value
- Conversion Rate
- Total Orders
- Top Products
- Sales by Traffic Source
- Sales by Marketing
- Online Store Sessions by: Traffic Source, Location, Device Type, Social Source, Top Referrers by Session.
If you’re new to Shopify - and analytics - this might be enough for you at first. However, if you want to get the most out of Shopify Analytics, you can use its reporting functions.
1. Sales Over Time (Business Report)
If you have a Shopify, Advanced Shopify or Shopify Plus plan, you will have access to 11 sales reports available within the Reports section of your dashboard.
To export your business report, navigate to the Finance section on your Analytics dashboard → Sales → Total Sales.
When you look at total sales, include all gross sales, taxes, and shipping fees. If a customer made a return or used a promo code, that will also be subtracted from the total.
Why should you review this report in Shopify?
This business report enables you to make better-informed business decisions. By looking back at your sales data, you will be able to build prediction charts and better plan your cash flow.
2. Shopify Analytics: Sales By Discount (Marketing Report)
If you offer discount codes through your email marketing, for example, you can learn a lot from Shopify’s ‘Sales By Discount’ marketing report.
With the data from this report, you will be able to track the performance of each campaign and will be able to see how profitable they were for your business.
You can also see how many promo codes you are actively running. This will highlight whether you have codes to deactivate because they are out of date or if you need to create new ones.
Why should you review this report in Shopify?
If you’ve set up promo codes, of course you want to know if they are working well or not. By monitoring your codes, you can better understand which of your marketing efforts are actually generating conversions. Monitoring promotional code efforts is critical to understanding what platforms and marketing efforts generate leads and conversions.
3. Shopify Analytics: Sales By Product (Product Report)
The sales reports in Shopify Analytics also allow you to look at your inventory performance.
This report is great for easily identifying which products are selling (and conversely, which are not selling so well).
With the help of this report, you can begin to build a better picture of what products perform well with visitors to your store.
Why should you review this report in Shopify?
Your sales by product report can give you insight into how your products perform organically versus promoted.
For example, if you have recently promoted a product, you can track an increase in sales.
If you have a product that does well organically (without paid advertising), you can look to increase the types of those products you stock.
4. Shopify Analytics: Returning Customers (Retention Report)
For your store to do well, you should be looking for repeat business. You want customers to return time and time again. This report can help you identify who is consistently purchasing from your online store. Knowing who frequently purchases, you can offer unique rewards to say thank you to those loyal customers.
Why should you review this report in Shopify?
Identifying your returning customers can help you convert these customers into referrers. If they are happy with your products, they are more likely to engage with your brand and recommend you to their friends.
The bottom line
Shopify’s Analytics are an asset to your business. Make the most of what it offers. If you’re new to Shopify Analytics, watch this helpful overview.
The more you become familiar with Shopify Analytics, the more opportunities you will have to identify trends for your business and see which products are delivering.