Analytics Discrepancies
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A frequently asked question is: why don't the numbers represented in Shoplift match what is reported in Shopify or Google Analytics? While it may seem straightforward, tracking and analytics is a complex practice, and there are a multitude of reasons that data might not match across reporting tools:
Differences in how a valid visitor or session is defined. Some tools primarily measure traffic from visitors (unique individuals or devices) whereas others use sessions (a discrete period of time when a unique visitor was seen). Depending on the reporting tool, and whether the tracking methods implemented are first-party or third-party, there may also be differences in how visitors are able to be deduplicated across browsers and devices.
Exclusion or inclusion of bot traffic. In 2024, bot traffic on the internet reached an all-time high of about half of all traffic globally, according to the . Shoplift leverages advanced anti-bot measures to ensure the traffic collected on tests is from real visitors, but other reporting tools may allow bots through, like search bots (like Googlebot) or bots from email inbox providers (which scan for content safety).
Cookie and JavaScript enablement. Many internet browsers, like Safari, now block third-party cookies and Javascript by default. Furthermore, many people use privacy tools in their browsers like to block ads and specific trackers.
Cookie consent and regional internet privacy laws. Depending on where your visitor traffic is coming from, there may be data privacy laws in place, like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), that prevent analytics from being recorded if consent is not provided.
Different reporting timezones. Depending on where you or your store is based, there may be significant differences in the specific time when visitors are attributed within certain reports.
We highly recommend referencing Shopify's on analytics discrepancies between analytics tools for more information.
When comparing Shoplift's reported visitor counts on templates to Shopify's reported session or visitor counts on landing pages, it is important to understand the differences in how these metrics are tracked and reported on.
In Shoplift, a visitor counts as any unique website visitor that encounters a tested template at any point in their session. We track visitors this way to correctly evaluate and track when a tested experience has an impact on a visitors shopping journey.
In Shopify, the definition of a visitor is the same (any unique website visitor) but the way they are tracked and reported on differs. Shopify reports visitors on a landing page basis, which means that they will only count the visitor in the landing page report if the page was the first page encountered in a visitor's session.
In other words, Shoplift will often have slightly higher visitor counts on tests than are reported in Shopify in the landing page report, because we record any visitor who encountered that landing page within the duration of the test.
When running a product template test and comparing orders between Shoplift reports and Shopify's product or orders reports, there are a few differences in tracking to be aware of.
When Shoplift tracks orders for a template test, all orders made by visitors that encountered that tested template in their journey are included in the test report. This includes orders wherein products on untested templates are present, so long as the visitor making that purchase encountered the tested product page during their shopping session.
In Shopify, when looking at product or orders reports, this means that the order counts represented in Shopify will likely be lower than the order counts represented in Shoplift.