Field notes on conversion tracking
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Allga4 · 31gtm · 17ecommerce · 9attribution · 8debugging · 8google-ads · 8consent-mode-v2 · 7privacy · 7reporting · 6tracking-quality · 69 posts tagged ecommerce. Show all
- 3 min read
The four checkout events GA4 needs, and the funnel you get when they all fire
begin_checkout, add_shipping_info, add_payment_info and purchase are the difference between a revenue number and a diagnosis. Most stores send the first and last and wonder why the funnel report is empty.
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- 3 min read
Shop Pay, Apple Pay and express checkouts: where Shopify purchase events go missing
Express checkouts skip the pages your purchase tag was listening to. If GA4 shows fewer purchases than Shopify and the gap is a steady share rather than a one-off, this is usually why. Here is how to prove it and how to fix it.
ecommerceshopifyga4Read the post
- 3 min read
Why tracking decays after launch, and what breaks it
Nobody sets out to break the purchase event. It happens anyway, a few months after the setup was signed off, because of a theme update, an app install, or a consent banner change. Here are the seven ordinary events that silently take tracking down.
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- 5 min read
The GA4 items array: event-scoped vs item-scoped data, explained
Ecommerce reporting lives or dies on the items array. Get its structure and scoping wrong and your product reports are empty even though "tracking works." Here is the anatomy.
ga4ecommercedatalayerRead the post
- 5 min read
Duplicate transactions in GA4: why your revenue is double-counted
If GA4 revenue reads higher than your store, duplicate purchase events are the usual culprit — a refreshed thank-you page, two tags, or a retry. Here is how to find and stop them.
ga4ecommercedata-qualityRead the post
- 5 min read
Handling refunds and returns in GA4 (so revenue stays honest)
If you track purchases but never send refunds, your GA4 revenue is permanently inflated. The refund event fixes it — but only if you send it with the right transaction_id.
ga4ecommercerevenueRead the post
- 5 min read
Shopify Customer Events and the Web Pixel sandbox: what you can and can't track
Shopify moved custom tracking into Customer Events and a sandboxed Web Pixel API, and it broke a lot of "paste your pixel in theme.liquid" muscle memory. Here's what the sandbox allows and where it bites.
shopifyweb-pixelsecommerceRead the post
- 5 min read
BigCommerce tracking: GA4, Meta, and Google Ads without the data-layer gaps
BigCommerce has decent native tracking hooks, but the data layer has gaps that silently drop purchase values and item details. Here's how to wire GA4 and ad pixels so the ecommerce data is actually complete.
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- 6 min read
WooCommerce conversion tracking: the plugin-sprawl problem and how to fix it
WooCommerce can track anything — which is the problem. Five overlapping plugins each inject their own pixel, you get double-counted purchases and conflicting GA4 events, and nobody knows which one is authoritative. Here's how to untangle it.
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