How it Works: Shopify source for Segment
Updated on 2023-09-19
Littledata's Shopify to Segment connection uses a combination of client-side (browser) and server-side tracking to ensure 100% accurate data about your Shopify store in Segment. Littledata automatically integrates with Shopify and Shopify Plus sites to capture every customer touchpoint, including sales, marketing, customer and product performance data. You can send this data to a connected data warehouse like Snowflake; email and customer communications tools like Klaviyo, Iterable and Braze; analytics destinations such as Mixpanel and Kissmetrics; and many more destinations.
Client-side (device mode) tracking
During the installation process:
- Segment's analytics.js V2 library is loaded on all pages, except for the checkout
- Includes a LittledataLayer data layer for all pages
- Loads a minified tracking script, hosted on a content delivery network (CDN)
- Enables sending of device-mode ecommerce events to all Segment destinations
- Segment's anonymous ID and Google Analytics' client ID is passed to our servers to ensure consistent user journey tracking
Server-side (cloud mode) tracking
During the Segment connection setup, Littledata also adds a set of webhooks to your Shopify store. When a customer interacts with your store these changes are relayed server-side from Shopify to Littledata to Segment. The advantages to this approach are:
- 100% event capture for adds to cart, checkout steps, sales and refunds/returns
- Customer data (e.g. email) securely relayed server-side
- No extra scripts on the sensitive and secure checkout pages
- Accurate marketing attribution, even when customers use ad-blockers or cookie opt-outs
- Supports cloud-mode destinations such as Facebook Conversions API
Using a headless Shopify setup? Follow the setup steps for headless Shopify tracking with Littledata.
What can you track
These are the events that Littledata sends from Shopify to Segment. These events will show up as tables in your warehouse, and as regular events in your other Segment destinations.
Looking for complete property and event details? Don't miss the complete tracking schema in Google Sheets. Note: this can be uploaded directly into Segment Protocols.
Device-mode events
Below is a table of events that Littledata sends to Segment through the analytics.js library. These events will show up as tables in your warehouse, and as regular events in your other device-mode Destinations.
| Event Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Cart Viewed | User has viewed the /cart page |
| Page Viewed | User has viewed a page |
| Product List Viewed | User has viewed a product as they scroll down the collection page |
| Product Clicked | User has clicked a product within a product list |
| Product Viewed | User has viewed a product page |
| Product Image Clicked | User has clicked a product image |
| Product Shared | User has shared a product via social links |
| Products Searched | User has searched for products (with search query) |
| Registration Viewed | User has viewed the /account/register page |
| Thankyou Page Viewed | User has viewed the thank you page after completing an order * |
* This is less reliable than the de-duplicated Order Completed event sent from Littledata's servers, but you can use it in device-mode destinations to trigger a conversion. payment_method and shipping_method properties are not available with this event.
You can opt out of device-mode pageviews or events in the data pipeline settings.
The source also respects GDPR-compliant cookie consent via a cookie banner, or popular consent management platforms such as OneTrust and TrustArc.
Server-side events
Server-side events are tracked by Littledata servers from Shopify and passed onto any destination in cloud mode.
| Event Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Product Added | User has added a product to the cart, and left it in the cart for more than 10 seconds |
| Product Removed | User has removed a product from the cart |
| Checkout Started | User has started checkout |
| Checkout Step Viewed | User has viewed a step in the checkout |
| Checkout Step Completed | User has completed a step in the checkout |
| Customer Created | User added as a customer |
| Payment Info Entered | User has entered payment info |
| Coupon Applied | Sent with Checkout Step Completed or Order Completed when user has applied a coupon |
| Order Completed | Customer has completed an order ** |
| Post Purchase Upsell | Customer accepts the upsell. Will contain only the newly added products. |
| Order Cancelled | Admin has cancelled an order (including the cancel_reason) |
| POS Order Placed | User has placed an order via Shopify POS |
| Payment Failure | User completed checkout step 3 but the payment method failed (i.e. the card details were valid but the charge did not succeed) |
| Customer Enabled | User has confirmed their email address and created a Shopify customer account with verified_email set as true |
| Fulfillment Created | Order fulfillment is created (including status, tracking_numbers and tracking_urls where the shipping integration allows) |
| Fulfillment Updated | Order fulfillment status has changed (including status, tracking_numbers and tracking_urls where the shipping integration allows) |
** Order Completed event may be delayed by up to 40 seconds to wait for tags applied after the order was created
User identity
In Littledata's app you can choose which of the following fields you want to send as the userId for known customers:
- Shopify customer ID (default) - Recommended if you have a simple Shopify setup with minimal integrations.
- Hashed email - The MD5 email hash is useful if you have other marketing platforms sending traffic where you know the email of the visitor (e.g. email marketing like Bronto or Marketo), but not their Shopify customer ID. We use an unsalted MD5 hash (
createHashmethod) to match your other sources. - Email - The email identifier is recommended when other platforms use the email and can’t hash it, and you are comfortable with the privacy implications.
- None (no identifier) - Choose “none” if user identity is already handled by your Segment implementation and you only need the extra events powered by Littledata's Shopify source.
For Segment Unify we also send shopify_customer_id as an externalID for advanced matching.
Identify calls
For every event where there is an identifiable Shopify customer (from both the client and the server) we also send an Identify call to build a customer profile in Unify and trigger updates in CRM systems connected to Segment. This identification happens when the customer logs into the storefront, on the last step of the checkout, with the order, and also after purchase with any customer update in Shopify admin.
This is especially helpful for identity resolution in common destinations such as Klaviyo and Braze.
Littledata includes the following traits with an Identify call:
| Property Name | Description | Property Type |
|---|---|---|
| userId | Chosen user identifier, defaulting to Shopify Customer ID | Double |
| createdAt | Date customer record was created | Date |
| customerLifetimeValue | Total spend of customer on the Shopify store | Double |
| default_address.street | The customer's default street address | String |
| default.address.postalCode | The customer's ZIP / post code | String |
| default_address.state | The customer's state address | String |
| default_address.country | The customer's country | String |
| description | Customer notes | String |
| Customer's email address | String | |
| email_consent_state | If the user has consented to email marketing (mapping to EmailMarketingState) | String, Null |
| email_opt_in_level | Level of user's opt in email marketing (mapping to MarketingOptInLevel) | String, Null |
| firstName | Customer's first name | String |
| lastName | Customer's last name | String |
| phone | Customer's phone number | String |
| purchaseCount | Number of orders by this customer | Integer |
| sms_consent_state | If the user has consented to SMS marketing (mapping to SmsMarketingState) | String, Null |
| sms_opt_in_level | Level of user's opt in to SMS marketing (mapping to MarketingOptInLevel) | String, Null |
| state | Shopify customer state - enabled, disabled, invited to create an account or customer declined | String |
| tags | Custom tags applied to the customer | String |
| verified_email | Whether the customer has verified their email | Boolean |
Support for email marketing destinations
Email marketing platforms such as Klaviyo, Iterable and Hubspot require an email property with any server-side event in order to associate then with a customer (they cannot use an anonymous ID). Littledata's adds that email property whenever an email address is set in the user traits() object (in device-mode) or from the Shopify customer record (in cloud-mode).
Alias calls
To support seamless customer tracking in analytics destinations such as Mixpanel, Vero and Kissmetrics, Littledata ensures the pre-checkout anonymousId is added as an alias of the userId (used from checkout step 2 onwards).
Event properties
These are the properties which may be included in the events listed above. See the Track (eCommerce) tab of the event schema for exactly which properties are sent with which events.
| Property | Description | Property Type |
|---|---|---|
affiliation | A comma-separated list of order tags. Untagged orders use Shopify | String |
cart_id | The ID of the Shopify cart | String |
checkout_id | The ID of the checkout session | String |
context\['Google Analytics'].clientId | The user's Google Analytics Client ID | String |
context.ip | The user's IP address | String |
coupon | Comma-separated string of discount coupons used, if applicable | String |
currency | The currency of the order | String |
discount | The discounted amount | Float |
email | Shopify email address (after checkout step 2), or email submitted on a storefront form | String |
lifetime_revenue_littledata | Lifetime revenue of the customer in Shopify | String |
location_id | Location ID of the Point of Sale | Integer |
order_id | The ID of the order is by default the Shopify order name | String |
payment_gateway_littledata | The payment gateway used by the customer | String |
payment_method | The payment method chosen for checkout | String |
presentment_currency | The user's local currency | String |
presentment_total | The order total in local currency | String |
products | A list of all the product at that step of the funnel | Array |
purchase_count_littledata | Total purchase count for the customer | Integer |
revenue | Product revenue (excluding discounts, shipping and tax) * | Float |
sent_from | Unique property to identify events sent by Littledata | String |
shipping | Shipping cost | Float |
shipping_method | Shipping method chosen for checkout | String |
shopify_customer_id_littledata | Shopify’s identifier for the customer | Integer |
source_name | The source of the order (e.g. web, android, pos) | String |
step | Checkout step | Integer |
subscription_revenue | The revenue associated with a Subscription Event | Float |
subtotal | Total after discounts but before taxes and shipping | Float |
tax | The amount of tax on the order | Float |
total | Total value of the order | Float |
userId | Chosen user identifier, defaulting to Shopify Customer ID | String |
* revenue is available only with the Order Completed event, and only if the store opts in via the Littledata application. Revenue is a reserved property in many Segment destinations. Opting in will override the total property sent to Google Analytics.
Product properties
Each product in the products array, or Product Viewed and Product Added events, will have the following properties:
| Property | Description | Property Type |
|---|---|---|
brand | The brand of the product (Shopify vendor) | String |
category | The category of the product (defaults to all) | String |
compare_at_price | The product price before any discount | String |
coupon | Coupon code associated with the product | String |
image_url | The URL of the first product image | String |
list_id | The ID of the product collection (for List Views and Clicks) | String |
list_position | The product position in the collection (for List Views and Clicks) | Integer |
name | Product name | String |
price | The product price | Float |
product_id | Shopify product ID | String |
quantity | The quantity of this product | Integer |
product_properties | Custom properties of purchased products | Array |
shopify_product_id | Also Shopify product ID | String |
shopify_variant_id | The Shopify variant ID | String |
sku | The product SKU | String |
url | The URL of the product page | String |
variant | The product variant name | String |
Subscription Events
All recurring orders in the Shopify checkout, from any subscription app, are tracked as Order Completed events.
Additional subscription lifecycle events via Littledata's Recharge connection are available in cloud mode destinations. See the Track (custom) tab of the event schema.
| Event Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Subscription Created | A customer has created a subscription (with status, order_interval_frequency and order_interval_unit) |
| Subscription Updated | A customer has updated a subscription (with status, order_interval_frequency and order_interval_unit) |
| Subscription Cancelled | A customer has cancelled a subscription (with cancellation_reason and cancellation_reason_comments) |
| Order Processed | A recurring order in processed |
| Charge Failed | A recurring charge failed (with error_type) |
| Charge Max Tries Reached | Maximum tries to charge customer has been reached |
| Payment Method Updated | Customer has updated the payment method |
Advanced settings
You can customize Littledata's Shopify source from the data pipeline settings in the Littledata admin. The general settings affect how we handle details such as orders, products and pageviews. The more advanced settings include:
cookiesToTrack
Any cookie set on a landing page (e.g. a session identifier or marketing campaign name) can be sent on to Segment with an identify call.
CDNForAnalyticsJS
If you have a proxy CDN setup to load Segment's AnalyticsJS library from your own domain you can specify it here.
View all available data pipeline settings >>>