Why use Enhanced Ecommerce in Google Analytics?

Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes

And what’s wrong with my current ecommerce implementation?

Google Analytics Ecommerce tracking has been around for nearly a decade and it does a great job of tracking transactions and product data.

Here are some examples of what the standard eCommerce implementation tracks:

  • Transactions:
    • Transaction ID
    • Store affiliation
    • Revenue
    • Shipping tax
  • Product Data:
    • Product ID
    • Name
    • SKU
    • Category
    • Price
    • Quantity

This tracking allows for your basic eCommerce reporting. In Google Analytics, you’ll have access to the following reports:

  • Overview: A general eCommerce overview of revenue, transactions, ecommerce conversion rate, and average order value.
  • Product Performance: An overview of individual product revenue and quantity sold.
  • Sales Performance: An overview of individual transactions and the revenue, tax, and shipping associated with each one.
  • Time to Purchase: The number of days between a visitor’s initial visit and a purchase.

However, with Google Analytics Enhanced Ecommerce, you’ll unlock additional reporting features for much more robust insights. Below are a few of the additional reports at your disposal:

The Shopping Behavior Report is a funnel that shows the following information:

  • Total Sessions
  • Sessions with Product Views
  • Sessions with Add to Cart
  • Sessions with Checkout
  • Sessions with Transactions
  • Abandonment at each point in the funnel.

This report is particularly useful for a holistic view of conversion rates across the website.

The Checkout Behavior Report provides a full view of each checkout step – defined by your organization – and where users are dropping off as they navigate through the checkout process.

The Checkout Behavior Report can help you optimize certain points during your checkout flow and, once again, determine where users are abandoning the checkout. I find this report to be very useful for A/B testing the checkout flow process.

Next up on the reports only available with an Enhanced Ecommerce implementation is the Product List Performance Report, which allows you to view individual product impressions and clicks (product click-through-rate, or CTR). You can also view the same information for product lists on your website.

But it doesn’t stop there!

You can view product position, as well as product list position, allowing you to analyze how the order of your products and product lists influence CTRs and conversion rates (for example, understanding how featured products or category positions impact sales for a particular product).

Overall, you’ll experience better conversion tracking with Enhanced Ecommerce. For example, events fire when users visit the product detail page, which allows you to look at an individual product’s cart-to-detail rate (how often a product that was added to a cart is purchased). You’ll also be able to review individual product buy-to-detail rate (how often a product that was viewed was ultimately purchased).

This is just a high-level overview of a few of the many benefits for upgrading your Google Analytics Ecommerce implementation to an Enhanced Ecommerce implementation.

Questions? Feel free to reach out to me at jimmy [at] infotrustllc.com

Author

  • James Love

    Jimmy Love is currently the Industry Team Manager for the Healthcare & Fitness Industry Team at InfoTrust. Jimmy was a contributor to InfoTrust’s Crawl, Walk, Run Amazon best-selling book series, and a speaker at the New York City Durability Summit. Jimmy works with some of the largest healthcare and fitness organizations in the world, helping them advance their digital analytics maturity in a forward-thinking and strategic manner.

    When away from his desk, Jimmy enjoys attending Cincinnati Bearcats football and basketball games, and spending quality time with his beautiful wife and dogs.

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email
Originally Published: March 30, 2017

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

November 1, 2023
Originally published on March 30, 2017

Other Articles You Will Enjoy

Leveraging Attribution Models in Google Analytics 4 to Improve Your Marketing Strategy: Tips and Best Practices

Leveraging Attribution Models in Google Analytics 4 to Improve Your Marketing Strategy: Tips and Best Practices

In the dynamic landscape of digital marketing, understanding the customer journey is crucial for optimizing strategies and maximizing ROI. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) introduces…

5-minute read
Is It Time to Upgrade? 4 Signs Your Organization Needs Google Analytics 4 360

Is It Time to Upgrade? 4 Signs Your Organization Needs Google Analytics 4 360

As VP of Partnerships at InfoTrust, I’ve had the opportunity to talk with hundreds of decision-makers about their interest in upgrading to Google Analytics…

4-minute read
Google Tag Best Practices for Google Analytics 4

Google Tag Best Practices for Google Analytics 4

After collaborating with several of my colleagues at InfoTrust including Bryan Lamb, Head of Capabilities, Corey Chapman, Senior Tag Management Engineer, Chinonso Emma-Ebere, Tech…

4-minute read
How to Integrate Google Analytics 4 with BigQuery for Enhanced Data Analysis and Reporting

How to Integrate Google Analytics 4 with BigQuery for Enhanced Data Analysis and Reporting

Has your business found that its reporting needs require advanced analysis of your analytics data beyond what is practical in the Google Analytics 4…

4-minute read
Leveraging Custom Dimensions and Metrics in Google Analytics 4 for Content Performance Measurement: Best Practices and Real-World Examples

Leveraging Custom Dimensions and Metrics in Google Analytics 4 for Content Performance Measurement: Best Practices and Real-World Examples

In today’s digital landscape where content reigns supreme, understanding how your audience interacts with your content is paramount for success. For news and media…

5-minute read
Advanced Analysis Techniques in Google Analytics 4: How to Use AI-Powered Insights and Predictive Analytics for Effective Marketing

Advanced Analysis Techniques in Google Analytics 4: How to Use AI-Powered Insights and Predictive Analytics for Effective Marketing

AI-powered insights and predictive analytics are revolutionary tools reshaping the modern marketing landscape. These advanced analytics techniques, particularly prominent in Google Analytics 4 (GA4),…

8-minute read
Tracking User Behavior with Events in Google Analytics 4: Examples and Use Cases

Tracking User Behavior with Events in Google Analytics 4: Examples and Use Cases

So you’ve created your Google Analytics 4 (GA4) properties, created your data stream(s), and followed all the necessary steps to configure your property. Now…

5-minute read
App Install Attribution in Google Analytics 4: What You Need to Know

App Install Attribution in Google Analytics 4: What You Need to Know

App install attribution in Google Analytics for Firebase (GA4) is a feature that helps you understand how users discover and install your app. It…

6-minute read
Predictive Analytics in Google Analytics 4: How to Use Machine Learning to Forecast User Behavior and Outcomes

Predictive Analytics in Google Analytics 4: How to Use Machine Learning to Forecast User Behavior and Outcomes

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is embracing the power of machine learning by incorporating predictive analytics within the platform so that you can use your…

7-minute read

Get Your Assessment

Thank you! We will be in touch with your results soon.
{{ field.placeholder }}
{{ option.name }}

Talk To Us

Talk To Us

Receive Book Updates

Fill out this form to receive email announcements about Crawl, Walk, Run: Advancing Analytics Maturity with Google Marketing Platform. This includes pre-sale dates, official publishing dates, and more.

Search InfoTrust

Leave Us A Review

Leave a review and let us know how we’re doing. Only actual clients, please.