lesleyhays

Connect Google Analytics 4 to your Etsy shop (the right way)

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If you’re ready to harness the power of numbers to optimize your Etsy shop but haven’t installed (or upgraded) Google Analytics yet, don’t wait any longer!

Here are the complete, accurate instructions for connecting Google Analytics 4 with an Etsy shop.

You will learn:

  • What login to use for Google Analytics
  • Whether to create a new Google Analytics Account or use one you already have
  • All the most effective, up-to-date settings to apply inside Google Analytics
  • How to link your new Google Analytics tracking number to Etsy
  • How to test everything is working
  • What to do next to start looking at your visitor numbers and behaviour!

⚠️ You need to follow these instructions even if your Google Analytics 4 Property was created automatically and you had the old GA version (Universal Analytics) connected to Etsy.

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lesleyhays

Connect Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to your ecommerce platform

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1 July 2023 is fast approaching came and went, just as fast as we expected.

Some UA Properties kept tracking data all the way to November 2023 but it’s all over now. Universal Analytics has been and gone!

If you were previously “dual tracking” GA4 with Universal Analytics, you can now remove the UA tracking code.

If your ecommerce platform supports Google Analytics 4, you should connect it as soon as possible to restore your web analytics tracking.

Keep reading to find instructions for your ecommerce platform (or leave a comment if yours isn’t yet covered).

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lesleyhays

The (almost) Definitive Guide to Real Etsy Traffic Sources in Google Analytics

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⚠️ IMPORTANT!
These instructions are for GA Universal Analytics and are no longer applicable. Etsy now supports GA4.

The out-of-date article below is available to read if interested. If the topic is still relevant in GA4, it might be updated in the future.

POP QUIZ: Can Google Analytics answer this question?

“How do people find my Etsy store?”

At first, Google Analytics looks like it has all the answers! There in your reports, you see: direct traffic, referrals, a few from Facebook and other social media… Isn’t that how they got there?

ANSWER: Nope! Not unless you follow the instructions in this guide.

Google “etsy traffic sources” and you’ll find this little Help article from Etsy. In that article it says this:

“Google Analytics shows how people found Etsy.”

So, what’s the difference?

Well, that means that any of the traffic sources you see in Google Analytics could show how that person found the Etsy home page or an entirely different shop before they navigated to yours within Etsy. Half your so-called social media traffic could be from other people’s marketing! (And not in a good way…)

Even worse, Google Analytics doesn’t show you how people found your shop within Etsy, which makes up the bulk of your traffic. Etsy search, clicks from favorites or recently viewed, promoted listings: all hidden.

That kinda sucks.

Where’s all the Etsy traffic? Probably in “(direct) / (none)”…

You could just analyse your traffic sources in Shop Stats, but let’s fix it in Google Analytics instead.

This guide explains how to use channel definitions and filters to make traffic sources a whole lot more accurate!

This looks much better! Yep, these are the exact same visitors.
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lesleyhays

What is Direct Traffic in Google Analytics… really?

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Direct traffic in Google Analytics is one of the first big mysteries you discover. What is direct traffic? Why does it perform so well? Who are these people?

What is this?

Every other traffic source seems so self-explanatory: Google, Pinterest, organic (search), email… But (direct) / (none). Direct from where? None of what?

No seriously. What IS this? What does it mean and why is there so much of it?

In this guide, you’ll get a thorough but easy to understand introduction to the mystery of Direct Traffic. You’ll learn:

  1. Why “Direct” is fundamentally different from all your other traffic sources
  2. What kinds of visits it actually includes
  3. How to keep it “clean”
  4. How to analyze it

This article has been updated for Google Analytics 4.

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lesleyhays

What Etsy Inc Can Teach Us about Goal Setting for Our Values

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Love him or hate him, Josh Silverman is one of the big names of 2017. Not a politician or part of the Hollywood elite, but creating controversy nonetheless at a place that’s close to our hearts.

When Silverman stepped in as the new Etsy CEO earlier this year, his mandate was growth. That meant growth for shareholders, but also growth for sellers.

The past few years haven’t been easy, for Etsy or sellers. Despite their increasing Gross Merchandise Sales, 2014 through 2016 saw the average amount spent per buyer and per item fall. More buyers who buy cheaper things for less is not a good outcome for handmade businesses trying to crack a luxury market!

Despite this, sellers as a whole haven’t welcomed Silverman with open arms. They see him representing “big capitalism” and fear the changes he’ll bring will destroy the last vestiges of the Etsy they once knew.

A scary story, perhaps. Let’s take a break for a moment and think about ourselves…

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lesleyhays

How to Measure Ecommerce Success like a CEO (Even after One Sale)

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The smell of your morning coffee still lingers in the air as your daily task list looms.

Gotta answer those customer questions…
Better update those old product descriptions…
What about that new Instagram photo challenge?

Oh and making some beautiful things. You know – the whole reason your shop exists.

Thank goodness for that coffee!

It’s hard work running a small business, especially when your online shop needs so much marketing and promotion to keep making sales. Sometimes it feels like you do more “business” than “making”.

So what I’m about to suggest might sound a little scary. We’re going to go even deeper into “business”.

The level of strategy and KPIs.

Key performance indicators? Really??!

Don’t worry, these aren’t the “awkward closed-door meetings with your boss” kind of KPI. These are the kind that focus how you measure your shop’s performance and tell you when to have a celebratory drink.

If you don’t know what success should look like, how will you know when you get there? How will you know when to crack that champagne?!

You need to figure out what your “success metrics” are, first.

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