E-commerce success hinges on data, but no single tool offers the complete picture. Platforms like Triple Whale and Shopify deliver valuable insights, but they fall short when it comes to granular, on-site behavioral data. This is where Google Analytics comes in, providing critical data that neither Triple Whale nor Shopify can fully capture.
The data you shared is from Google Analytics and offers detailed information about how users engage with your website—from the moment they arrive to the checkout process. In this blog post, we’ll discuss why this data isn’t available in Triple Whale or Shopify, and why it’s so vital for understanding your customers and optimizing conversions.
What Triple Whale and Shopify Offer (and What’s Missing)
Triple Whale excels at tracking upper-funnel attribution—campaign impressions, clicks, and traffic sources. It provides visibility into which ads or campaigns drive users to your site and shows basic conversion paths. However, it doesn’t capture what happens on your website once users arrive.
Shopify is focused on bottom-funnel analytics—tracking orders, transactions, average order value (AOV), and revenue metrics. It provides information on what products were purchased and the revenue generated but lacks insights into how users navigate your site, interact with products, or drop off.
The gap lies in behavioral data—the data that reveals the “why” behind user actions. Google Analytics fills this gap by capturing user behavior at a granular level, showing how users interact with site elements, engage with specific features, and navigate through the site.
Why Google Analytics Data Is Essential
Google Analytics collects data that reveals:
- In-depth user interactions: Clicks on product images, use of site filters, engagement with content, and other micro-interactions that contribute to conversions.
- Site navigation patterns: Insights into how users move between pages, interact with menus, and exit points that Triple Whale and Shopify don’t track.
- Checkout behavior: Detailed funnel analysis, showing specific steps where users drop off, such as abandoned carts or incomplete payment forms.
By integrating this behavioral data, you get a more comprehensive view of your site performance, enabling you to make more informed decisions.
How Google Analytics Complements Triple Whale and Shopify
- Tracks Engagement That Drives Conversions:
While Triple Whale can show which campaign drives traffic, it can’t reveal how users engage once they land on your site. Google Analytics shows engagement metrics like pageviews, average session duration, and scroll depth, which help you understand whether campaigns drive quality traffic that is likely to convert.
- Identifies On-Site Friction Points
Shopify reveals purchase data but doesn’t highlight the friction points that prevent conversions. Google Analytics can track when users abandon the cart, hesitate at certain checkout steps, or struggle to use site filters. For example, the data you shared captures event counts for interactions like filter usage or size selection, revealing where users might be having issues.
- Provides Insights Into User Intent
With Google Analytics, you can see how users engage with product pages—whether they view product images, read descriptions, or interact with reviews. This data reveals user intent and helps you optimize product pages to align with what users are looking for.
Shopify’s purchase data doesn’t capture these exploratory interactions, meaning you miss out on the factors that influence purchase decisions.
- Helps Refine Checkout Flows
Triple Whale and Shopify only capture the beginning and end of the purchase journey. Google Analytics, however, offers data on intermediate steps, such as add-to-carts, removal of items, and coupon code applications.
This deeper analysis helps you understand where users are dropping off, whether due to unexpected shipping costs, slow load times, or security concerns.
- Offers User Segmentation Based on Behavior
Google Analytics enables you to segment users based on specific behaviors—like users who engage with certain filters, return visitors who view specific products, or those who exit after viewing a particular page.
Neither Triple Whale nor Shopify provides this level of behavioral segmentation, making it challenging to create personalized marketing campaigns or retargeting strategies.
Why This Data Is Not in Triple Whale or Shopify
Triple Whale focuses primarily on ad attribution and does not collect on-site engagement metrics. Its primary role is to attribute sales back to campaigns, so it doesn’t have the infrastructure to track detailed user interactions beyond ad clicks and pageviews.
Shopify’s primary focus is transaction data and inventory management. It captures order information, conversion metrics, and customer details, but it is limited to what happens after users decide to make a purchase.
In essence, both platforms are strong in their respective areas—Triple Whale in upper-funnel attribution and Shopify in transactions—but they lack the ability to capture the full spectrum of user behavior. Google Analytics provides this missing layer, making it the essential piece of the e-commerce analytics puzzle.
How to Use Google Analytics Data Effectively
- Implement Enhanced E-commerce Tracking
Set up enhanced e-commerce tracking in Google Analytics to capture product impressions, add-to-carts, checkout steps, and completed transactions. This offers a comprehensive view of the entire funnel.
- Analyze Behavioral Segments
Use Google Analytics to create behavioral segments, such as users who abandon carts, engage heavily with reviews, or use specific filters. This segmentation allows you to tailor marketing strategies and site optimizations.
- Create Integrated Dashboards
Combine data from Google Analytics, Shopify, and Triple Whale in Looker Studio to visualize the complete customer journey. This integration enables you to align marketing efforts, site experience, and transactional data in one place.
Conclusion:
While Triple Whale and Shopify excel at their specific roles in e-commerce analytics, they lack the depth of on-site behavioral insights that Google Analytics provides. By integrating behavioral data into your analytics strategy, you fill the gap and gain a complete understanding of your customer’s journey—from first click to final purchase.
This comprehensive approach enables smarter marketing decisions, better user experience optimizations, and higher conversion rates, ultimately driving growth and revenue for your business.
