Tracking subscription orders in the Shopify checkout

Updated on 2023-09-05

Littledata tracks all major subscription apps on Shopify, including Recharge, Stay Ai, Smartrr and Loop Subscriptions. Benefits include:

  • Capture every conversion and recurring order
  • Complete marketing attribution, including organic channels like email and SMS
  • Checkout funnel tracking
  • Send the data back to Google Analytics (GA4), Segment, Facebook Ads and more

Supported Shopify subscription apps

Littledata's tracking is designed to work with all subscription apps in the Shopify checkout, and we have continued to support a number of "legacy" subscription apps as well. We currently support merchants using the following apps to power subscriptions:

* Littledata also tracks Recharge subscription lifecycle events

** For Skio and Upscribe's legacy checkouts (outside of the Shopify checkout), Littledata will automatically track subscription orders but cannot track checkout steps. We also support tracking for legacy Bold and Recharge checkouts.

Which subscription events do you track?

For subscriptions in the Shopify checkout, Littledata tracks:

  • The checkout funnel: how users and products progress through the Shopify checkout steps
  • First-time subscription orders which are tagged by the checkout app *
  • Recurring orders generated by the terms of the subscription contract

Our app stitches sessions together for unbiased marketing attribution, user path analysis, LTV analysis, CRO and conversion tracking in Google Analytics and other tools. Learn more about how Littledata works behind the scenes to ensure 100% accurate conversion tracking and robust marketing attribution without the need for GTM.

* Currently Recharge and Ordergroove tag their subscription orders to distinguish them from one-time orders. Littledata picks up these order tags added up to 20 seconds after the order is created.

Where can I send the data?

Google Analytics (GA4)

Littledata's GA4 connection sends browsing behavior, marketing, order, payment, refund and subscription data directly to Google Analytics. You can see complete subscription data directly in GA4 as well as any connected reporting tool (eg. Glew, Daasity, Looker Studio, Tableau, PowerBI). Littledata's robust Google Analytics integration also enables subscription audience building and retargeting across Google Ads networks.

Facebook Ads and Instagram Ads

Littledata's Facebook Conversions API connection sends checkout steps, LTV, order and subscription data back to Meta for audience building and remarketing in Facebook Ads and Instagram Ads.

Twilio Segment

Littledata's Segment connection sends complete subscription data back to your Segment workspace. From there you can connect to data destinations like Mixpanel and Amplitude, engagement platforms like Klaviyo and Braze, and data warehouses like Snowflake.

How can I see the orders in Google Analytics 4?

You can see the different order types in Google Analytics 4 by first creating the Affiliation custom dimension and then using it to create an Exploration report with Affiliation as the main dimension and any combination of metrics (Purchase revenue, Conversions or Sessions).

tip:

You can use this Affiliation dimension to create a segment of subscription customers. See our video guide

The main order types that are included in the Affiliation dimension are:

  • Shopify - one time purchases
  • Subscription First Order - the first order that starts a subscription
  • Subscription Recurring Order - recurring orders

The affiliation dimension is a comma-seperated list of order tags passed from the Shopify order. For example, to create a filter for only first orders you would filter by Affiliation includes Subscription First Order.

Using Recurring Purchase in Meta Ads

For Meta Conversions API we send the recurring orders as a seperate Recurring Purchase event, which can be used to retarget only subscription customers - or build lookalike audiences from them.

  • One-time purchase & Subscription First Order will register as a Purchase
  • Subscription Recurring Order will register as a Recurring Purchase

Compatibility with subscription apps

We've tested with all of the apps above, and the tracking of recurring orders works for all apps using the Shopify checkout. Please contact Littledata to check if the app you use is not on that list.

The affiliation dimension depends on order tags set by the checkout app:

  • Subscription First Order - if an order tag contains the word First Order
  • Subscription Recurring Order - if an order tag contains the word Recurring Order

We additionally pass through further tags set by the subscription app - see these app support docs for more order tags: