Efficiently investing in marketing is challenging and overwhelming. We get it. Increased ad costs, more competition, endless channel options, and tighter budgets have created the perfect storm for marketers. So what is the survival kit in this storm? It’s data.
It’s no surprise then that companies who effectively use data to guide their marketing can increase sales productivity by 25%. With crunched budgets and less to spend on marketing than ever, quality marketing insights are critical to maximizing your spend and marketing return on investment (ROI).
Shopify offers multiple marketing reports to simplify and elevate your marketing data so you can not only survive the storm, but grow with efficient investment. The best part is: these reports are included in your Shopify plan.
With marketing insights from Shopify, you can take advantage of data that is:
- More accurate. Data in Shopify is the closest to the customer experience, with the clearest view into their behavior. Shopify’s data is also unbiased toward ad effectiveness.
- More insightful. Get new aha moments with a holistic view of your marketing investment. Look at data for traffic, sales, and channels in one place.
- More actionable. Easily take action on your marketing data from a central workstation and use direct paths to apply learnings in Shopify or third-party ads and marketing campaigns.
Let’s explore each new report to learn what questions they can answer and how they can help you get more out of your marketing budget.
Marketing Summary: Insights at a glance
The Marketing summary at the top of the Marketing page allows you to quickly review key performance indicators (KPIs) and visualize month-to-month results, from driving traffic to converting to sales, as part of your daily routine.
Use this report to:
- Get a daily snapshot of your marketing’s effectiveness
- Track sessions and sales over time
- Drill down into each data point
Top Channel Performance: Analyze your channel mix
Scroll down the Marketing page to see your top five marketing channels sorted by sales. Get metrics such as cost, ROAS, sessions, orders, conversion rate, and average order value (AOV)—for any specified timeframe.
Use this report to:
- Get a snapshot of your best-performing channels
- Assess which channels perform best for different metrics
- View sales and sessions data together for key channels
Channels report: Put marketing insights to work
From your Top Marketing Channels report, click “View channel report” to visualize your top channels over time and better understand where all of your traffic is coming from, all in one place. Deepen your analysis with attribution model options and filter/sort your table by the metrics you care about most, from ROAS to AOV to sales.
Use this report to:
- See all your marketing channels, including organic and paid, in one place
- Uncover high-performing and low-performing channels (by sales, sessions, orders, conversion, AOV, first-time customers, and assisted orders)
- Compare conversion points across the customer journey by switching between attribution models
Campaigns report: Get granular
Drill down to learn about how your individual campaigns are performing for each of your channels; and be able to compare and optimize them against each other.
Use this report to:
- See a complete list of marketing campaigns running across your various channels
- Validate which activities perform best
- Prioritize which activities to repeat or increase investment in
Tactic report: Get granular
Learn about the role each of your marketing tactics play across the entire purchasing journey—from that first store visit to purchase. Click into the Tactic report to understand its impact on sales, orders, sessions, and conversions.
Use this report to:
- Measure the performance of each campaign tactic
- Understand how individual tactics are contributing to your overall campaigns
- Optimize tactics based on sales, orders, sessions, and conversion data
Attribution models: Understand the customer journey
Lean into being a data-nerd with new Attribution Models—the dropdown options found on the top left of the Channels report. They provide a holistic understanding of your customers’ journey to conversion.
You can modify the Channel Performance report using three different attribution models:
- Last click: Gives 100% of the credit to the last channel the buyer clicked before they purchase.
- Last non-direct click: Gives 100% of the credit to the last channel the buyer clicked before they come to your store to make a purchase.
- First click: Gives 100% of the credit to the first channel the buyer clicked before they purchase.
- Any click: Gives 100% credit to each channel the buyer clicked before they purchase.
- Linear: Gives equal credit to each click in the purchasing journey.
Use these models to:
- Uncover when and where across the customer journey buyers are converting
- Determine which assets (medium, channel, etc) are most useful at each stage of the journey
- Guide investment in the most effective channels for your funnel goals
How data is populated in marketing reports
Shopify automatically collects data on your marketing campaigns based on UTM parameters from your site visitors, so you get unbiased reporting across all your campaign traffic.
Data is also connected across user devices, which helps give you a more complete picture of your customers' purchase journey as they toggle between devices—like a laptop or mobile device—in their purchasing journey.
An example of a cross-device customer journey:
- A customer clicks an ad on Instagram from their mobile device.
- Then, they browse your online store with their mobile device and provide their email, but leave without making a purchase.
- A few days later, the customer receives an email from your store.
- The customer opens the email from their laptop, visits your online store, and purchases a product.
Without cross-device data, the Instagram ad wouldn't receive any credit for the purchase the customer made on a different device. Knowing which channels support your top purchase paths can help you to better understand your marketing spend, so that you can make more informed decisions and deliver the right message to your customers at the right time.
Let’s get to work
Log in to your Shopify admin now and discover the power of new and improved marketing insights and attribution to drive your business forward. Covert more, spend less, and do it all in one place—with accurate, insightful, and actionable marketing data.
