Shopify Server Side Tracking: The ultimate setup
Ate Keurentjes | 22 July 2024 | Last updated: When you have a Shopify store, it is important to measure all user interactions on your website for optimal campaign results. Data-driven campaigns perform better, but the quality and quantity of available data are decreasing due to adblockers, tracking prevention mechanisms and the phasing out of third-party cookies. More data leads to better algorithms for platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. Therefore, it is essential to have your data tracking in order. Server side tracking is the best way to accomplish this.
What is Server Side Tracking and what are its benefits?
Server side tracking is a method in which data is collected directly from the server rather than through the user's browser.
Advantages:
- More data for your campaigns: Collecting data through the server provides a more complete picture of user behavior.
- Accurate data: Server side tracking reduces the risk of data loss and errors.
- AVG-compliant: Data can be stored and processed more securely and in compliance with privacy laws.
- Faster website: Less reliance on external scripts allows for faster load times, which is beneficial for conversion rates.
- Longer cookie duration: Server side cookies have a longer lifespan than browser cookies.
- Bypassing Adblockers: Server side tracking is not blocked by adblockers, allowing you to collect more data.
See all the benefits of Server Side Tracking
Difference between client side and server side tracking
Maybe you are already used to working with Google Tag Manager and already have a setup there. This most likely works through the client side way. Client side tagging is a method where data is collected through the user's browser and sent to the server.
The challenging part is that everything has to be set up slightly differently with Server Side Tracking (server container). Where you might be used to setting up the Facebook pixel, in the server container it becomes the Facebook Conversion API.
As you can see, this setup is structured a little differently.
Not used to working with Google Tag Manager yet? Doesn't matter! Our templates and guides will help you figure it out on your own.
How much additional data am I generating with Shopify server side tracking?
Use case 1: Facebook - Additional data in dashboard
In the graphs to the right, you can see two events measured through the Meta Ads pixel. You can clearly see the difference between the measurements via the browser and the measurements via the server. The green line represents the server events and the blue line the browser events. In this example, this leads to 22% additional data.
Use case 2: TAGGRS - Additional data in dashboard.
TAGGRS offers a range of server side tracking analytics features that are important for anyone who wants to measure and analyze the effects of server side tracking. Within the TAGGRS Analytics dashboard, you can measure the impact of Server Side Tracking across all the platforms you measure.
Use case 3: Google Ads - Additional data in dashboard
For testing, it is recommended that you first run your new server side tracking configuration in parallel with your current setup in the web container. Server side conversion often reports fewer conversions in the first two weeks because it does not yet have historical data. Once server side tracking measures correctly, you can set server side tracking conversions as primary and remove the web container conversions or set them to secondary.
You can then see the difference in the number of conversions measured in the Google Ads dashboard.
Implement Shopify Server Side Tracking with Google Tag Manager
Now that you know what server side tracking is and its benefits, it's time to set it up.
To get off to a good start, we've created a handy checklist you can follow
Before you can begin Server Side Tracking, the following points must be set up:
- Create a GA4 account and link it to your Google Tag Manager account
- Add a Shopify Datalayer to your website.
Tip: Download the free TAGGRS Shopify Data Layer app for a fully compatible and efficiently working data layer on your website.
Then you need to create an account and container on TAGGRS. If you want to work with server side tracking, you need a hosting provider. This will ensure that the data can flow through the servers (Server Side).
Setting up platforms in Google Tag Manager
After covering the above points, you need to set up the platforms in Google Tag Manager that you want to measure. You have two options for this:
- Configure manually
- Using preconfigured templates.
For complete control over your tracking setup, you can choose to configure everything manually. This is ideal for companies looking to migrate or refine their existing tracking infrastructure. You can find these configuration guides within your TAGGRS Dashboard.
The quickest way is to use TAGGRS Templates. TAGGRS offers an extensive template gallery of pre-configured Server side tracking templates for popular content management systems, including Shopify. These templates speed up the implementation process and are fully customizable to your business needs.
In this case, we are going to use the templates. We are going to set up Server Side Tracking for the following platforms:
- GA4
- Google Ads
Shopify Template Download and Import
To get started, within the TAGGRS Dashboard, go to the template gallery. Here you search for the desired Shopify template and download the JSON files.
Next, extract the downloaded zip file and import the server and web container file into Google Tag Manager. You need to do this on a container-by-container basis.
Once the files are imported, it is time to pause or remove all unnecessary tags. In this case, we want to measure Facebook, GA4 and Google Ads, so we pause the rest of the tags.
After pausing the redundant tags, enter the codes you need for the different platforms under Variables. These codes are then dynamically added to all tags. For example, you can add the TAGGRS Container ID variable to complete the configuration.
This is what a configuration might look like. TAGGRS offers much more than just server side tracking. For example, you can also set up profit tracking, but for most people the basics are sufficient.
Once configured, it is important to test and debug your setup. Since this can sometimes be tricky, we've written a comprehensive testing roadmap. To enter preview mode, you need to add your subdomain URL to the container URLs in the server container.
What to watch out for:
- Make sure you have a working data layer on your website. Without a functioning data layer, you can't measure many e-commerce events.
- Make sure there are no other direct links on your website. Another direct GA4 integration (not through Google Tag Manager) can cause problems because requests go through the additional integration and not through Google Tag Manager. This causes not all requests to be received correctly.
- Remove or pause all tags and triggers that are not being used. This helps prevent configuration errors. For example, if you don't use the Cookiebot tag, leaving it on may result in no more data coming in.
View the step-by-step configuration guides within the TAGGRS dashboard or consult our support platform if you are experiencing problems with the templates.
Additional tools to optimize your tracking
To further optimize your tracking, you can use specific TAGGRS tools. For example, if you suffer from tracking prevention by Apple, such as with the iOS 16.4 update, you can install our cookie-recovery tool and a Server Side CDN. These tools will help you reduce tracking problems and improve the quality of your data.
