I've successfully added ecommerce tracking for Google Analytics to my Business Catalyst sites. I haven't found any [free] definitive guides out there, so I thought I'd share.
Business Catalyst files
For the tracking script, the Business Catalyst file you need to have opened is /Layouts/OnlineShop/order_receipt-US.html.
However, you also need to add the Google analytics script - with out the ecommerce modification - to all the pages on your site. I recommend putting in the <head> of your page templates.
Google Analytics Ecommerce Tracking
To start tracking Business Catalyst ecommerce transactions with Google Analytics, here are the steps you need to take.
- Log into Google Analytics and navigate to the profile settings page for the Business Catalyst site. Under "Ecommerce Settings" select "Yes, this is an E-Commerce Site".
- While still in analytics, go to the "Tracking Code" tab under your profile. Don't grab the code from the Standard tab. Instead, select "Advanced".
- When someone goes through the cart on a Business Catalyst site, the domain switches to *.worldsecuresystems.com. So you need to select "Multiple top-level domains".
- I would also select the check boxes for AdWords campaigns, DoubleClick data and Track online ad campaigns from other providers
- The script Google shows you on this page is what you should put on all your page templates.
- Now you're ready to grab that code and modify it for ecommerce tracking.
- The code given in Google Analytics should go on all the pages of your website. The easiest way to accomplish that is to put it on all your templates. However, there's one more step.
- You then need to modify the code for your receipt page as shown below. Finally, place that modified code on the /Layouts/OnlineShop/order_receipt-US.html page. Here's what it should look like modified. [You'll need to close the script tags, of course.]
script type="text/javascript" var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-*******-*']); // your Google Analytics profile id _gaq.push(['_setDomainName', 'example.com']); // your domain name - not *.worldsecuresystems.com, but the domain you've chosen for your site _gaq.push(['_setAllowLinker', true]); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); _gaq.push(['_addTrans', "{tag_orderid}", // Order ID "", // Affiliation "{tag_amount}", // Total "", // Tax "", // Shipping "", // City "", // State "" // Country ]); _gaq.push(['_trackTrans']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://' : 'http://') + 'stats.g.doubleclick.net/dc.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); /script
Result
You won't see all the details about the purchase in Google Analytics. That's because Business Catalyst does not pass all the needed variables to the order receipt page. [Perhaps that's a feature request.]
However, it's still valuable to know the order ID and revenue in Google Analytics - knowing which sources drive your revenue is critical. It's also pretty easy to grab the order ID [under Ecommerce > Transactions in Google Analytics] and look in your Business Catalyst site for the order. Here's a screenshot of the results I saw on the first day.
1 Correct answer
Google Analytics could collect the following if Business Catalyst passed it to the order_receipt-US.html page.
- order ID - necessary to associate item with transaction
- SKU/code - required
- product name - necessary to associate revenue with product
- category or variation
- unit price - required
- quantity - required
- affiliation or store name
- total - required
- tax
- shipping cost
- shipping city
- shipping state or province
- shipping country
These two articles should get Business Catalyst developers a long way toward enabling
...
38
Replies
Google Analytics could collect the following if Business Catalyst passed it to the order_receipt-US.html page.
- order ID - necessary to associate item with transaction
- SKU/code - required
- product name - necessary to associate revenue with product
- category or variation
- unit price - required
- quantity - required
- affiliation or store name
- total - required
- tax
- shipping cost
- shipping city
- shipping state or province
- shipping country
These two articles should get Business Catalyst developers a long way toward enabling this
- https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gajs/gaTrackingEcommerce
- https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gajs/methods/gaJSApiEcommerce
It would be nice if this were a simple site setting option in the admin console. I built a WordPress store once, for instance, that only required my Google Analytics profile id (the 'UA-*******-*' number). Once I entered it, analytics worked site wide and transactions showed up, too.
In Google Analytics, I look at a number of reports. I'll use the reports under the Advertising tab to evaluate my return on ad spend. I also use the reports under the Conversions tab to work backwards from purchases and completed goals to sources or site changes that impacted them.
If anyone is interested with cross domain revenue tracking for products with BC's ecommerce module drop me a line. gary@itbusiness.com.au
Currently you can only track the complete order but I've developed a method to now also track individual products as well.
Awesome Post sir..my eCommerce tracking is working perfectly in the analytic..but why it is showing (direct) / (none) under SOURCE / MEDIUM in my Google Analytic Dashboard and also if you can let me know the exact Thanks Page after successful payment please.
Please See the screen shot :
Thanks !
AdChoices