Measuring marketing performance
From the Marketing section in your Shopify admin, you can review the results of your marketing efforts. The Marketing section includes the following data:
- Marketing summary: Key marketing performance indicators tracked over time.
- Marketing channels: Your marketing channels and their results are measured based on key performance indicators such as sales, sessions, average order value, and conversion rate.
- Marketing activities: Your most recent marketing activities and results, which you can filter by channel.
To view the marketing performance data, go to the Marketing page in your Shopify admin.
On this page
Marketing summary
You can view a summary of your marketing results on the Marketing page. By default, the date range displays the last 30 days, and compares to the previous 30 days. You can change the date range and the comparison date range by using the date picker.
The marketing summary includes the following metrics:
| Metric | Description |
|---|---|
| Online store sessions | The total number of sessions on your online store. A session is a period of activity from a visitor where each visit they make to your online store is less than 30 minutes apart. |
| Online store conversion rate | The percentage of total sessions that resulted in an order. |
| Average order value (AOV) | The average value of all orders. The AOV is calculated as gross sales minus discounts, divided by the total number of orders. |
| Total sales | The net sales (gross sales minus discounts and returns), plus taxes and shipping. This calculation includes orders from all sales channels. |
| Sales attributed to marketing | The total value of sales that can be attributed to online store traffic that came from marketing campaigns created in Shopify and any third-party marketing sources that share data with Shopify. |
| Orders attributed to marketing | The total number of orders that can be attributed to online store traffic that came from marketing campaigns created in Shopify and any third-party marketing sources that share data with Shopify. |
Traffic insights
On the Marketing page in Shopify, you can find more detailed information about your online store traffic, which includes the following data:
| Metric | Description |
|---|---|
| Online store traffic over time | All sessions within the selected time period, compared to all sessions from the previous time period. |
| Online store conversion | The percentage of online store sessions that resulted in an order, as compared to the total number of sessions. |
| Top traffic sources | The online sources that brought the most sessions to the online store within the selected time period. |
| Top sales sources | The sources for online store sessions that generated the highest total sales within the selected time period. |
| Top traffic locations | The geographic locations associated with the highest online store sessions during the selected time period. |
Hover over the report icon next to Online store sessions section, then click View report to access traffic insights.
View more detailed information about your online store traffic
Some of the online store traffic insights also link to reports that contain more data. There are three reports accessible from the traffic insights:
Top traffic sources report
The top traffic sources report shows the online store’s top traffic sources by total number of sessions, orders, order value, or conversion rate.
The Top traffic sources report includes the following columns:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Traffic source | The website or service that a customer used to reach your website. |
| Conversion rate | The percentage of sessions that resulted in an order. |
| Orders | The total number of orders that resulted from sessions from each traffic source. |
| Order value | The total value of all orders that resulted from sessions from each traffic source. Order value includes taxes and shipping, and excludes returns. |
| Sessions | The total number of sessions on your online store from each traffic source. |
Top traffic locations report
Shows the online store’s top geographic locations by total number of sessions, orders, order value, or conversion rate.
The Top traffic locations report includes the following columns:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Location | The geographical location a customer was in when they visited your online store. |
| Conversion rate | The percentage of sessions that resulted in an order. |
| Orders | The total number of orders that resulted from sessions from each traffic location. |
| Order value | The total value of any orders that resulted from sessions from each traffic location. Order value includes taxes and shipping, and excludes returns. |
| Sessions | The total number of sessions on your online store from each traffic location. |
Online store conversion report
Shows the rate at which customers convert from session to sales. The report shows the number of sessions that reach each stage in the conversion funnel, from landing on your website, to adding a product to the cart, to reaching checkout, and finally to converting, or completing the checkout. This report also includes a diagram that visually shows the sessions through the stages of conversion.
The Online store conversion report includes the following columns:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Conversion step | The step in the conversion funnel that a visitor reached. |
| Sessions | The total number of sessions on your online store that reached each conversion funnel step. |
When you sort Sessions by ascending or descending value in the Online store conversion report, only the traffic sources are sorted within each reporting category. The reporting categories, such as All traffic or Added to cart, don’t rearrange based on their totals.
For example, suppose you have traffic from Facebook and DuckDuckGo. If you sort the report by Sessions, then only the order of Facebook and DuckDuckGo will change within each reporting category.
For information about the marketing reports in the Analytics section, refer to Marketing reports. To view reports on the results of your marketing campaigns that use third-party marketing apps, refer to Marketing activity reports.
Sales and orders attributed to marketing
In the Marketing Summary, you can view the amount of sales and sessions attributed to marketing activities. To get more specific data, click View report.
The following reports and data models are available to help you understand sales and orders attributed to marketing activities in greater detail:
- Top channel performance report
- Channel performance report
- Marketing activities report
- Attribution models
- Installed marketing app activities
Top channel performance report
The Top channel performance section displays your store's top five marketing channels, and the details of each channel by sales, sessions, orders, conversion rate, average order value (AOV), first-time customers, and returning customers. Reporting is based on your UTM parameters and connected app activities to your online store.
You can click View channel report to access the full Channel performance report for all of your store's marketing channels. You can also click a specific campaign to view a detailed report of that campaign.
Channel performance report
From the Channel performance report, you can view a list of all of your marketing channels and their conversion results over a selected time frame. The graph displays trend lines for the top five channels, based on the criteria that you select to display. You can adjust the graph on this page by the following criteria:
- Time frame: choose dates within a preset time frame, such as Last Year, or select dates for a custom time frame.
- Available metrics: view data for sales, sessions, AOV, conversion, first-time customers, and returning customers.
- Attribution model: display attribution data based on last click, first click, or last non-direct click.
The table displays data for all of the marketing channels that are associated with your store, including organic, paid, and unattributed. You can modify the columns by clicking the column icon, and adding or removing metrics based on your store's needs.
You can also sort the table by the clicking the metrics that are most important to your business. For example, you can click Sales to sort the table by least or most sales, or you can click Sessions to sort the channels by the highest or lowest number of sessions so that you know which marketing channels generated the most traffic to your store.
Campaign details
The campaign report shows a the following data for a specific campaign:
| Metric | Description |
|---|---|
| Average Order Value (AOV) | The average value of all orders. The AOV is calculated as gross sales minus discounts, divided by the total number of orders. |
| Conversion rate | The percentage of sessions that resulted in an order. |
| Cost | The amount spent for this campaign. |
| Customer acquisition cost (CAC) | The total amount spent on advertising and sales divided by first-time customers attributed to the campaign. |
| First time vs returning customers | The number of customers who placed their first order as compared to the number of customers who placed repeat orders from your store. |
| Top Orders by sales | Orders with the highest amount spent. |
| Online store conversion funnel | The number of visitors to your online store for each stage in a conversion path. |
| Top products sold | Products with the greatest number of units sold. |
| Sessions by device type | Number of sessions organized by device type. |
| Orders | The number of completed orders. This number includes returns. |
| Return on ad spend (ROAS) | The amount of revenue earned against the amount spent on this campaign. |
| Total sales | The total value of sales after discounts and returns. This amount doesn't include tax or shipping. |
| Sessions | The number of sessions that can be attributed to a marketing activity. A session is a period of continuous activity from a visitor. Sessions include new and returning visitors. |
Channel performance marketing activities report (marketing-activities-report)
From the Channel performance report, click a specific channel name (for example, Google) to view a report that displays all of the marketing activities that are related to that channel. The data in this report is a combination of data about traffic where the customer used a link with UTM parameters and data from integrated marketing apps.
You can use this report to review data within a selected date range and based on different attribution models. You can also use this report to view all of the marketing activities that are connected to your store, by deselecting all channels.
Attribution models
You can use attribution models to get information about the channels that your customers interact with and which channels contribute to your sales. This information can help you understand when and where across the customer journey that customers are converting.
There are five attribution models available for you to use with marketing activity data to better understand your customers journey.
| Attribution model | Marketing credit allocation rules |
|---|---|
| Last non-direct click | Gives 100% of attribution credit to the last channel the customer clicked before conversion. Data for Last non-direct click is available from November 1, 2021. If you're seeking out data from an earlier date, then select a different attribution model. |
| Last click | Gives 100% of attribution credit to the last channel the customer clicked before making a purchase. |
| First click | Gives 100% of attribution credit to the first channel that the customer clicked before making a purchase. |
| Any click | Gives 100% of attribution credit to each channel that contributed to a sale. Data for Any click is available from January 1, 2023. If you're seeking out data from an earlier date, then select a different attribution model. |
| Linear | Gives equal attribution credit to each click that contributed to a sale. |
Consider using multiple attribution models to analyze your data, so that you can view the customer journey from more aspects. This helps you to reduce bias in your interpretation of the data and come to more complete conclusions than you might when using only one attribution model.
The following reports can display data based on these attribution models:
Cross-device data
Cross-device data gives you a more complete picture of your customers' purchase journey as they toggle between devices, such as a laptop or a mobile device.
As an example of a cross-device customer journey, a customer clicks an ad on Instagram from their mobile device. Then, they browse your online store with their mobile device and provide their email, but leave without making a purchase. A few days later, the customer receives an email from your store. The customer opens the email from their laptop, visits your online store, and purchases a product.
In the example above, without cross-device data the Instagram ad wouldn't receive any credit for the purchase the customer made on a different device. Knowing which channels support your top purchase paths can help you to better understand your marketing spend, so that you can make more informed decisions and deliver the right message to your customers at the right time.
Installed marketing app activities
On the Marketing page, you can view a conversion report for the most recent marketing activities that you create in Shopify.
The results shown in marketing activity reports depend on the type of activity. For example, if you're running ads, then you see information specific to ads such as ad spend, impressions, and clicks. If you're posting to Facebook, then you won't see any information about ad spend. Reports for marketing activities created by using a third-party app include only the information available to Shopify from the app.
When you get an order that's attributed to a marketing activity, you can also view the conversion details from the order details page.
Marketing activity reports show data about the interactions that can be attributed to the marketing activities that you created in Shopify. You can use the reports to understand the effectiveness of your marketing activities.
Sessions and sales attributed to marketing activities that you create in Shopify are based on the last-clicked interaction. For example, if a customer last clicked a Facebook ad that you created in Shopify before placing an order, the sale is attributed to the marketing campaign activity that represents the Facebook ad in Shopify.
Marketing activities created by using a third-party app are also listed under Installed marketing app activities on the Marketing page in Shopify. To learn more about the third-party apps that you can use to create marketing activities, refer to the works with Shopify marketing collection on the Shopify App Store. For details on setting up your marketing activities with third-party apps, see the documentation for the app.
The reports include data about a few results of the marketing activities that you created in Shopify:
| Metric | Description |
|---|---|
| Sessions | The number of sessions attributed to a marketing activity. A session is a period of continuous activity from a visitor. Sessions include new and returning visitors. |
| Ad spend | The amount of money spent on the marketing activity. |
| Added to cart | The total number of sessions in which a customer added an item to a cart. |
| Orders | The total number of sessions in which an order was placed. |
| Order rate | The percentage of sessions in which an order was placed. |
| Sales | The total value of sales from orders attributed to the marketing activity. Includes gross sales, shipping, and taxes. Excludes discounts and returns. |
| Impressions | The number of times the marketing activity was viewed. |
| Opened | The number of unique recipients who opened an email. |
| Clicked | The number of times a marketing activity has had an interaction, such as when a customer clicks a button, taps their screen, or clicks a link from an email. |
| Clickthrough rate(CTR) | The percentage of interactions with your content, such as when a customer clicks a link, compared to the number of times the content was viewed. |
Discrepancies in report data for marketing activities created in Shopify
When you create a marketing activity in Shopify, you might notice some differences between the Shopify reports and related third-party reports. This is because of the differences in how Shopify and third parties attribute interactions and sales, and also because of delays in syncing data.
For example, if you create a Facebook ad in Shopify, and then view the conversion report for the activity in Shopify as well the data in Facebook for the same ad, then the two reports might show different results.
Discrepancies in attribution
You might note discrepancies in sales and order data between your Shopify marketing activity reports and the reports available from the marketing app or the third-party platform where you created the marketing activity.
For example, if you're running an email campaign and a Google Shopping campaign at the same time, then in cases where a customer clicks on both your email and your Google Shopping ad they can each record a separate conversion. But the Shopify marketing activity report attributes the sale only to the source of the ad that was clicked most recently within the past 30 days.
Discrepancies in ad spend
You might note discrepancies between the ad spend data in your Shopify marketing activity reports and reports available externally for the same service.
For example, your Shopify activity report might display a 10 USD ad spend for a Facebook campaign, but the same campaign in Facebook Ad Manager displays 13 USD in ad spend. The ad spend amount for marketing apps can take up to 24 hours to sync to Shopify, so the delay causes the discrepancy.
The ad service controls your spending limit, and the reporting delay won't cause you to spend more than your budget.