Why Most Store Owners Get Analytics Wrong
Most Shopify store owners either ignore analytics entirely or obsess over vanity metrics that do not matter. The key is focusing on the handful of numbers that directly impact revenue and growth.
This guide cuts through the noise and shows you exactly what to track and why.
The 5 Metrics That Actually Matter
1. Conversion Rate
What it is: The percentage of visitors who make a purchase.
Why it matters: Conversion rate is your store's efficiency metric. Doubling your conversion rate has the same effect as doubling your traffic -- but it is usually much cheaper and easier to achieve.
Where to find it: Shopify Admin > Analytics > Overview
Benchmarks:
If your conversion rate is low, focus on product page optimization and social proof before investing in more traffic.
2. Average Order Value (AOV)
What it is: The average amount customers spend per order.
Why it matters: Increasing AOV means more revenue from every customer without acquiring new ones. Even a $5 increase in AOV can significantly impact monthly revenue.
How to increase AOV:
3. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
What it is: How much you spend to acquire each new customer.
Why it matters: If your CAC exceeds your profit per customer, you are losing money on every sale. Track CAC by channel to identify your most efficient acquisition sources.
Formula: Total marketing spend / Number of new customers = CAC
Organic traffic from SEO typically has the lowest CAC once established. This is why investing in SEO-optimized content pays off long-term.
4. Returning Customer Rate
What it is: The percentage of orders from repeat customers.
Why it matters: Acquiring a new customer costs 5-7x more than retaining an existing one. Healthy ecommerce stores see 25-35% of revenue from returning customers.
Where to find it: Shopify Admin > Analytics > Reports > Customers > Returning customers
5. Traffic by Source
What it is: Where your visitors come from (organic search, paid ads, social media, email, direct).
Why it matters: Understanding your traffic mix helps you allocate marketing budget effectively. Over-reliance on paid traffic is risky -- if ad costs rise, your business suffers.
Healthy traffic mix targets:
Use our ecommerce SEO audit to identify opportunities for growing your organic traffic share.
Setting Up Proper Tracking
Shopify Built-In Analytics
Shopify's analytics dashboard is your daily command center. Make these your routine checks:
Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Set up GA4 for deeper insights Shopify analytics cannot provide:
Google Search Console
Track your organic search performance:
Pair Search Console data with our Shopify SEO checker for a complete SEO picture.
Reading Your Shopify Dashboard
Sales Overview
The sales overview shows total sales, orders, and AOV. Look for:
Online Store Sessions
Sessions tell you how many people visit your store. But sessions alone are a vanity metric. Always pair sessions with conversion rate:
Fewer visitors who convert better is more valuable than a flood of unqualified traffic.
Top Products and Landing Pages
Identify your top performers and double down:
Optimize your top-performing pages first using our product title SEO guide and image optimization guide.
Creating a Weekly Analytics Routine
Build a simple 15-minute weekly analytics review:
Document your findings and use them to inform your content strategy. Our content marketing guide covers how to use analytics data to plan better content.
From Data to Action
Analytics are only valuable when they lead to action. Pair your data insights with the right tools and strategies to drive improvement.
Obsess AI helps you act on your analytics by identifying content gaps and generating SEO-optimized blog posts targeting the keywords your customers are searching for.
Ready to turn analytics into action? Try Obsess AI free for 7 days and start creating data-driven content.