Behavior reports

Behavior reports help you understand your customers' shopping behavior. You can also access the Online store cart analysis report. These reports can provide insights to your business about how to do the following activities:

  • market your products better online and offline
  • upsell to your best target audience
  • create promotional pricing and product bundles
  • increase your average order total.

For example, if your online store has a theme that has a search bar, then you can review what terms your visitors are using to search for products in your store in the Top online store searches report. You can also review the search terms that don't give any results in the Top online store searches with no results report.

You can use the data in the behavior reports to increase sales by arranging your store so that customers can find what they're looking for, and that in the process they're encouraged to make additional purchases.

View your behavior reports

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Analytics > Reports.
  2. Click Categories.
  3. Click Behavior to filter the reports to display only behavior reports.

Online store conversion over time

The Online store conversion over time report displays the percentage of online store visitors that make a purchase over a selected period of time.

The following columns are in the Online store conversion over time report:

Columns in the online store conversion over time report
ColumnDescription
Time groupingThe time grouping you've selected, such as day, week, or month.
SessionsThe total number of sessions on your online store.
Added to cartThe total number of sessions where a customer added a product to a cart.
Reached checkoutThe total number of sessions where there was user input (for example, a key press or mouse click) during checkout.
Sessions convertedThe total number of sessions where a customer purchased a product.
Conversion rateThe percentage of sessions that resulted in a purchase.

This information can help you understand how well your store is converting sessions into sales.

When you open this report, the data is up to date, give or take a few seconds. You can reopen or refresh the report to include newer data.

You can compare data from different date ranges in this report.

Your daily report might update within a 48 hour period after it's initially processed and published. This happens because your traffic data is calculated within a minute, and unwanted bot traffic can end up included in the data. Tests to determine this type of traffic are run, and can take up to 48 hours to complete. If these tests find unwanted traffic, then the unwanted data is removed from your reports.

Example: Using the online store conversion report to make business decisions

Sarah has a sporting goods store. A lot of people visit her online store, but she isn't getting many sales yet.

From her Shopify admin, Sarah clicks Analytics > Reports. On the Behavior card, under the Reports heading she clicks Online store conversion over time. She clicks the Group by drop-down menu, and groups her conversion rate report by Month.

Sarah discovers that her online store conversion rate last month was 5%, meaning 5% of people who visited her online store that month ended up purchasing a product. Over the next month, Sarah reorganizes her collections and launches a new discount code to see changes to her conversion rate, using the Online store conversion over time report to monitor her progress.

Web Performance

Optimizing your online store web performance can improve the shopping experience for your customers, make your store more discoverable, and increase conversion. You can learn how your store performs against industry standards and other Shopify stores similar to yours by viewing your Web Performance report.

To learn more about this report, refer to Web Performance dashboard and reports.

Product recommendation conversions over time

If you use product recommendations from Shopify on the product pages of your online store, then the Product recommendation conversions over time report indicates how effective those recommendations are over a selected period of time. This information can help you understand how well your store is converting product recommendations into sales.

The following columns are in the Product recommendation conversions over time report:

Columns in the product recommendation conversions over time report
ColumnDescription
DayThe day that the customer interaction occurred.
SessionsThe number of sessions where customers viewed product recommendations on a product page.
Sessions with clicksThe number of sessions where a product page was viewed by a customer after clicking a product recommendation.
Sessions with add-to-cartThe number of sessions where a recommended product was added to the cart by a customer after clicking a product recommendation in the session.
Sessions with purchasesThe number of sessions where a product was purchased by a customer after adding it to the cart following a click on a product recommendation within the session.
Click rateThe percentage of sessions with product recommendations that resulted in a click on a product recommendation.
Add-to-cart rateThe percentage of sessions with product recommendations that resulted in a product recommendation added to cart.
Purchase rateThe percentage of sessions with product recommendations that resulted in the purchase of a product recommendation.

The data is similar to a funnel: the number of sessions is always greater than or equal to the number of clicks, the number of clicks is always greater than or equal to the number added to cart, and the number added to cart is always greater than or equal to the number of purchases.

The report doesn't include data for products that are added to the cart or purchased by using a Buy Button or a third-party app.

You can group the data by day, week, or month. You can also compare data from different date ranges.

Because of the way that recommendations are tracked, this report might not display all the recommendation engagement on your store from the past 24 hours.

Top products with low recommendation click rate

The Top products with low recommendation click rate report displays the top selling products of the last 30 days that have recommendations with a click rate below average.

Columns in the top products with low recommendation click rate report
ColumnDescription
Product titleThe title of the product.
Product typeThe type of the product.
Recommendation click rateThe percentage of sessions with product recommendations that resulted in a customer clicking a product recommendation.
Difference from average click rateThe difference between the Recommendation click rate and the average click rate.

The information in this report can help you understand which products your customers are viewing the most that have a below average click rate for the recommended products that are displayed. You can consider customizing the recommendations for these products in the Search & Discovery app.

The report includes data in the last 30 days and will change daily. Because of the way that recommendations are tracked, this report might not include data on your store from the past 24 hours.

Top online store searches

The Top online store searches report displays a breakdown of the search terms that your customers used to search for a product in your online store.

Columns in the top online store searches report
ColumnDescription
Search termThe term that the customer used to search your store.
Number of searchesThe number of sessions where customers searched your store with that term.

This information can help you understand specific words that customers are using when they're looking for something in your store. You can consider whether adjusting your product titles and descriptions will help your customers to find what they're looking for quickly.

Because of the way that searches are tracked, this report might not display all the searches on your store from the past 12 hours.

Top online store searches with no clicks

The Top online store searches with no clicks report displays a list of the search terms with results that didn't receive any clicks from the customers searching your store.

The following columns are in the Top online store searches with no clicks report:

Definition of the columns in the top online store searches with no clicks report
ColumnDescription
Search termThe term that the customer used to search your store.
Number of searchesThe number of sessions where customers searched your store with that term.

This information can help you understand the specific words that customers use to search your store when they don't click any results. You can then consider whether adjusting your product titles and descriptions will help your customers to find what they're looking for quickly. You can also customize your store's search results in the Search & Discovery app.

Because of the way that searches are tracked, this report might not display all the searches on your store from the past 12 hours.

The report includes data starting from September 2, 2022.

Top online store searches with no results

The Top online store searches with no results report displays a breakdown of the search terms that your customers used to search for a product in your store that didn't give them any results.

The following columns are in the Top online store searches with no results report:

Columns in the top online store searches with no results report
ColumnDescription
Search termThe term that the customer used to search your store.
Number of searchesThe number of sessions where customers searched your store with that term.

This information can help you understand the specific words that customers are using when they're looking for something in your store. You can consider whether adjusting your product titles and descriptions will help your customers to find what they're looking for quickly. You can also customize your store's search results in the Search & Discovery app.

Because of the way that searches are tracked, this report might not display all the searches on your store from the past 12 hours.

Search conversions over time

If you use Shopify's storefront search, then the Search conversions over time report indicates how effective storefront search is over a selected period of time. This information can help you understand how well your store is converting searches into sales.

The following columns are in the Search conversions over time report:

Columns in the search conversions over time report
ColumnDescription
DayThe day when the customer interaction occurred.
SessionsThe number of sessions where customers searched.
Sessions with clicksThe number of sessions where a product page was viewed by a customer after clicking a product that displayed in search results.
Sessions with add-to-cartsThe number of sessions where a product was added to the cart by a customer after clicking a product that displayed in search results within a session.
Sessions with purchasesThe number of sessions where a product that appeared in search results was purchased by a customer after clicking the product in search results and adding it to the cart within a session.
Click rateThe percentage of search sessions that resulted in a click to view a product.
Add-to-cart rateThe percentage of search sessions that resulted in a product added to cart.
Purchase rateThe percentage of search sessions that converted into purchases.

The data is similar to a funnel: the number of sessions is greater than or equal to the number of clicks, the number of clicks is always greater than or equal to the number added to cart, and the number added to cart is always greater than or equal to the number of purchases.

You can group the data by day, week, or month. You can also compare data from different date ranges.

The report doesn't include data for products that are added to the cart or purchased by using a Buy Button or a third-party app.

Because of the way that searches are tracked, this report might not display all the searches on your store from the past 12 hours.

Sessions by landing page

The Sessions by landing page report displays which page sessions on your store users start on.

You can review this breakdown from your Analytics page.

When you open this report, the data is up to date, give or take a few seconds. You can reopen or refresh the report to include newer data.

Sessions by device

The Sessions by device report displays the type of devices used to access your website.

You can review this breakdown from your Analytics page.

When you open this report, the data is up to date, give or take a few seconds. You can reopen or refresh the report to include newer data.

Online store cart analysis

The Online store cart analysis report helps you understand your customers' shopping behavior by showing you pairs of products that they have added to the same cart in the last 30 days. You can use the information in this report as a guide for building marketing strategies based on the included data.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Analytics > Reports.
  2. Click Categories.
  3. Click Behavior to filter the reports to display only behavior reports.
  4. Click Online store cart analysis.

The report displays a maximum of 10 pairs of products.

Because of the way that this report is generated, the analysis might not reflect all the activity on your store from the past 24 hours.

Marketing techniques

Have you ever wondered why milk is usually found at the back of the grocery store, far away from the cereal?

The milk could be moved to a fridge closer to the cereal, or the cereal could be moved closer to the milk, but they're purposely separated.

Because milk spoils quickly, most people who grocery shop need to buy milk frequently. Marketers place the milk at the back of the store so shoppers have to walk past many other products to get to it. Studies in psychology and marketing indicate that shoppers will recognize brands of other products as they move between the cereal and milk and add them to their carts. Often enough, the product is something shoppers didn't even know they wanted.

Cereal is placed closer to the entrance because marketers are confident that if you purchase cereal, then you will need milk as well. You will then have to get the milk from the back of the store and walk past all the other products on the way there. If you went to the store to purchase milk, then it's not guaranteed that you would want cereal with it. Because of this, milk is placed at the back of the store and cereal is placed at the front, and not the other way around.

Regardless of what industry your business is in, you can apply this type of marketing technique in your Shopify store.

In the following examples, Product A will refer to the products under the Shoppers who added column and Product B will refer to the products under the ... also added column to illustrate the product relationships in the Online store cart analysis report.

Price discounts and markups

Based on the concept that shoppers are likely to add Product B to their cart after adding Product A, you can discount Product A and increase the price of Product B. The discount might increase the frequency that Product A is added to the cart and impact the frequency that Product B is also added.

There are different ways to discount your prices in Shopify:

Website ads

You can advertise your products on your website using banner ads and product recommendations.

Many Shopify themes have slideshow banners built into the home page. The banner is a highly visible section of your store, so you can place a banner ad that customers can click and go directly to that product. If you aren't familiar with how to do this yourself, then you can work with a designer or a Shopify Partner to create an advertisement and upload it to your home page slideshow.

You can also use product recommendations to suggest related products to your customers based on products that they're currently viewing.

Email campaigns

You can collect customer emails during checkout and run email marketing campaigns.

If you have a long list of customers to email, then you can find an email app in the Shopify App Store to build a mailing list that pulls data from the Customers page in your Shopify admin.

Product location in your store

In the milk and cereal example, grocery stores try to increase sales by physically separating Product A from Product B. If the relationship between products isn't strong enough, then customers might not be able to find Product B and give up, making the separation harmful to your sales.

Placing products close together might not give you the same advantage as indicated by the product relationship in the milk and cereal example, but it makes it easier for your customers to find what they're looking for.

Make sure that you consider how you place your products in your online store because customers might not search for products online the same way that they would in a physical store. If you do separate your products, then make sure that customers can still search your store for what they're looking for.

There are different ways to change the product placement in your store:

Logistics

You can use product relationships in the Online store cart analysis report to help you plan how to stock your inventory. For example, you can keep Product B located close to Product A in your warehouse.

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