Troubleshooting GA4 Integration Issues

Overview

In this guide, you'll learn how to troubleshoot issues with Shoplift's GA4 integration and verify that your test data is flowing correctly to Google Analytics. You'll learn how to identify common problems, use debugging tools, and ensure your experience impression events are properly configured.

Prerequisites

Before troubleshooting, ensure you have:

• GA4 integration enabled in your Shoplift dashboard

• Google Analytics 4 property set up and connected

• Admin or Editor access to your GA4 property

• Google Tag Assistant browser extension installed

• At least one active test running in Shoplift

Common Integration Issues

1. Verify Integration Status

First, confirm your integration is properly connected:

• Navigate to Settings > Integrations in your Shoplift dashboard

• Check that GA4 shows as "Connected" with a green status indicator

• Confirm your Measurement ID matches your GA4 property (format: G-XXXXXXXXXX)

2. Check Event Processing Delay

GA4 typically processes events within 24-48 hours. However, you can verify real-time data:

• Open your GA4 property

• Navigate to Reports > Real-time

• Trigger a test experience on your store

• Look for experience_impression events within 30 seconds

Data Layer Conflicts

If you're using Google Tag Manager alongside GA4, ensure there are no conflicting implementations:

• Check for duplicate GA4 tags

• Verify event naming conventions don't overlap

• Confirm trigger conditions don't exclude Shoplift events

Test Traffic Not Recording

When test impressions aren't being recorded despite proper integration:

1. Confirm Test Status

• Ensure your test is set to "Active" in Shoplift

• Check audience targeting rules match your testing conditions

2. Review Cookie Consent Cookie consent banners may block tracking until accepted:

• Test in an incognito window

• Accept all cookies before testing

• Verify Shoplift cookies (Shoplift_*) are being set after accepting consent

3. Check Browser Extensions Ad blockers and privacy extensions can interfere with tracking:

• Temporarily disable ad blockers

• Test in a clean browser profile

• Use incognito/private browsing mode

Verifying Events with Google Tag Assistant

Google Tag Assistant provides real-time debugging for your GA4 integration. The web-based debugger allows you to monitor events as they fire and inspect their parameters in detail.

Setting Up Your Debug Session

1. Access Tag Assistant

• Open a new incognito browser tab and navigate to tagassistant.google.com

• You'll see the Tag Assistant dashboard with options to start debugging

2. Start a Debug Session

• Click the "Add domain" button

• Enter your store's URL (e.g., https://mystore.myshopify.com), or the URL of the page where a test is being run

• Click "Connect" to initialize the debugging session

• A new tab will open with your store and debugging enabled

3. Debug Mode

• In Tag Assistant, you'll now see a "Connected!" dialog. Press Continue and navigate to the tab containing your Google Analytics Measurement ID.

• Here, you'll see a real-time stream of all GA4 events

• Look for the experience_impression event in the event list

• Events appear within 2-3 seconds of firing

4. Inspect Event Parameters

• Click on the experience_impression event to view detailed information. Depending on your setup, you may see two events, one with a Data Layer value and one with a Google Analytics Hit under Hits Sent.

• The experience_impression Google Analytics Hit is what sends information to Google Analytics. Expand the information under API Call, and confirm that your exp_variant_string parameter is passing the expected test and variant IDs.

• If you see that the parameter values are returning undefined, it could be because the event parameters are being nested in eventModel.

• You can confirm if this is the case by checking the Data Layer values for the experience_impression event:

• If this is the case, then you will need to adjust your variable name in Google Tag Manager from exp_variant_string to eventModel.exp_variant_string so that Google Tag Manager is able to fetch it from the nested object.

• Once you've adjusted the variable name, publish your changes in Google Tag Manager and repeat the debugging steps above to confirm the event is passing the values correctly.

Validating in GA4 Real-Time Reports

After confirming events in Tag Assistant:

1. Open GA4 Real-Time Reports

• Go to your GA4 property

• Navigate to Reports > Real-time

• Look for your event in the "Event count by Event name" card

2. Check Event Parameters

• Click on experience_impression in the events list

• Select "Parameter" view

• Verify all expected parameters appear with correct values

3. Create Debug View For detailed debugging:

• In GA4, go to Admin > DebugView

• Your tagged session should appear if Tag Assistant is active

• Watch events stream in real-time with full parameter details

Getting Additional Help

If you've worked through these troubleshooting steps and still experience issues:

1. Gather Diagnostic Information

• Screenshot of Tag Assistant output

• Your GA4 Measurement ID

• Test ID from Shoplift dashboard

• Browser console errors (if any)

• Time and date of test attempt

3. Contact Support

Reach out to our support team with your diagnostic information:

• Include your store URL and test details

• Provide screenshots of Tag Assistant verification

• Describe the specific issue and when it started