Shopify by Littledata Source


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 touch point, including sales, marketing, customer and product performance data.

Littledata is available as an independent Shopify App.

Client-side (device mode) tracking

After the installation process:

  • Segment’s Analytics.js 2.0 library loads on all pages, except for the checkout.
  • All pages include a LittledataLayer data layer.
  • Pages Load a minified tracking script, hosted on a content delivery network (CDN)
  • Device-mode e-commerce events can send to all Segment destinations
  • Segment’s anonymous ID and Google Analytics’ client ID passes to Littledata’s 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 (for example, 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

Here’s an architecture diagram that shows how the Littledata app mediates data flow between Shopify and Segment.

Diagram showing how data is processed between Littledata, Shopify, and Segment.

Note

This integration is maintained by Littledata and isn’t supported by Segment directly. The Littledata app has been reviewed by the Segment team for conformance with Segment’s E-Commerce Spec, and is the recommended way of using Segment with Shopify. However, it does require a paid subscription with Littledata, who mediates the connection between Shopify and Segment. Contact the Littledata Support team with any questions.

Getting Started

  1. Log in to your Shopify Store account.
  2. Go the Shopify app store listing for Segment.com by Littledata. Screenshot of the Segment listing in the Shopify app store.
  3. Click Add app to begin the installation process.
  4. Choose a Littledata subscription suitable for your store’s volume of monthly orders.
  5. Add the Segment write key for the source that is going to send data in the input field. Add a Segment write key to Shopify.
  6. Choose either an Automatic, a Manual, or a Headless install. Automatic installs work in most instances, but if you choose to do a manual install, just follow this guide. Screenshot of the Shopify installation type.
  7. Segment’s Analytics.js library, Littledata tracking script and webhooks will be automatically applied to the store and the installation process will then be complete. Screenshot of adding AnalyticsJS to Shopify

Device-mode events

Below is a table of events that Shopify by 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 Destinations supporting device-mode.

Event Name Description
Cart Viewed A user has viewed the /cart page
Page Viewed A user has viewed any page
Product Clicked A user has clicked a product within a product list
Product Image Clicked A user has clicked a product image
Product List Viewed A user has viewed a product as they scroll down the collection page
Product Shared A user has shared a product through social links
Product Viewed A user has viewed a product page
Products Searched A user has searched for products (with search query)
Registration Viewed A user has viewed the /account/register page
Thank you Page Viewed A user has viewed the thank you page after completing an order*

*This is less reliable than the de-duplicated Order Completed event sent from the Littledata servers, but you can use it in device-mode destinations to trigger a conversion. The payment_method and shipping_method properties are not available with this event.

You can opt out of device-mode pageviews or events by setting disableClientSideEvents: true or disablePageviews: true in the LittledataLayer settings.

The source also respects GDPR-compliant cookie consent through Shopify’s cookie banner, or popular consent management platforms such as OneTrust and TrustArc.

Cloud-mode events

Below is a table of events that Shopify by Littledata sends to Segment from Littledata’s servers. These events appear as tables in your warehouse, and as regular events in your other Destinations that support cloud-mode. They include the anonymousId that links them to the device-mode events where the event was part of a previous user session, or associated with a userId that was previously linked with an anonymousId. See Littledata’s troubleshooting guide on attribution for more details.

Event Name Description
Checkout Started A user has started checkout
Checkout Step Completed A user has completed a step in the checkout
Coupon Applied Sent with Checkout Step Completed or Order Completed when user has applied a coupon
Customer Created User added as a customer
Customer Enabled (v2) A user has confirmed their email address and created a Shopify customer account with verified_email set as true
Fulfillment Created (v2) An order fulfillment status has changed (including status, tracking_numbers and tracking_urls where the shipping integration allows)
Fulfillment Updated (v2) An order fulfillment status has changed (including status, tracking_numbers and tracking_urls where the shipping integration allows)
Order Cancelled (v2) An admin has cancelled an order (including the cancel_reason)
Order Completed A prospect has completed an order
Order Refunded An order has been refunded
POS Order Placed (v2) A user has placed an order through Shopify POS
Payment Failure (v2) A user completed checkout step 3 but the payment method failed (for example, the card details were valid but the charge did not succeed)
Payment Info Entered A user has entered payment info
Product Added A user has added a product to the cart, and left it in the cart for more than 10 seconds
Product Removed A user has removed a product from the cart

User identity

In the Littledata application 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 (for example, email marketing like Bronto or Marketo), but not their Shopify customer ID. Littledata uses an unsalted MD5 hash (`createHash` method) 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.
  • Shopify customer metafield - If you have your own customer identifier, and can add it to the Shopify customer record as a metafield, you can send this to Segment.
  • 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 Engage, Littledata also sends shopify_customer_id as an externalID for advanced matching.

Identify calls

For every event where there is an identifiable Shopify customer (from both the device-mode and cloud-mode) Littledata also sends an Identify call. This 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.

The following traits are included with an Identify call:

Property Name Description Property Type
userId The chosen user identifier. This defaults to the Shopify Customer ID. Double
createdAt The date the customer record was created. Date
customerLifetimeValue The total spend of the customer on the Shopify store. Double
default_address.street The customer’s default street address. String
default.address.postalCode The customer’s ZIP or postal code. String
default_address.state The customer’s state address. String
default_address.country The customer’s country. String
description The customer’s notes. String
email The 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 CustomerMarketingOptInLevel) String, Null
firstName The customer’s first name. String
lastName The customer’s last name. String
phone The customer’s phone number. String
purchaseCount The number of orders by the customer. Integer
sms_consent_state If the user has consented to SMS marketing (mapping to SmsMarketingState) String, Null
sms_opt_in_level The level of the user’s opt in to SMS marketing (mapping to CustomerMarketingOptInLevel) String, Null
state The Shopify customer state - enabled, disabled, invited to create an account or customer declined. String
tags The custom tags applied to the customer. String
verified_email Whether the customer has verified their email. Boolean

Support for Google Analytics destination

All events (device-mode and cloud-mode) contain the Google Analytics clientId field where known. This allows the Google Analytics destination to be configured in cloud-mode only, so all client side events are relayed through Segment’s servers - reducing the scripts needed on your website.

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 events with a customer (they cannot use an anonymousId). Littledata 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). Iterable can also receive cookie values with the Order Completed event.

Alias calls

To support seamless customer tracking the Mixpanel, Vero and KISSMetrics destinations, Littledata ensures the pre-checkout anonymousId is added as an alias of the userId (used from checkout step 2 onwards).

Subscription events

All recurring orders in the Shopify checkout, from any subscription app, are tracked as Order Completed events.

Additional subscription lifecycle events through Littledata’s ReCharge connection are available in cloud-mode destinations. See the Track (custom) tab of the event schema.

Event Name Description
Charge Failed A recurring charge failed (with error_type)
Charge Max Tries Reached The maximum tries to charge customer is reached
Order Processed A recurring order is processed
Payment Method Updated A customer has updated the payment method
Subscription Cancelled A customer has cancelled a subscription (with cancellation_reason and cancellation_reason_comments)
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)

Event properties

The list below outlines the properties included in most events. 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 A comma-separated string of discount coupons used, if applicable. String
currency The currency of the order. String
discount The discounted amount. Float
email The Shopify email address (after checkout step 2), or email submitted on a storefront form. String
lifetime_revenue_littledata The lifetime revenue of the customer in Shopify. String
location_id The 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 products at that step of the funnel. Array
purchase_count_littledata The total purchase count for the customer. Integer
revenue The product revenue (excluding discounts, shipping and tax) * Float
sent_from The unique property to identify events sent by Littledata. String
shipping The shipping cost. Float
shipping_method The 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 The checkout step number. Integer
subscription_revenue The revenue associated with a Subscription Event. Float
subtotal The total after discounts but before taxes and shipping. Float
tax The amount of tax on the order. Float
total The total value of the order. Float
userId Chosen user identifier, defaulting to Shopify Customer ID String

note “” *revenue is available only with the Order Completed event, and only if the store opts in through the Littledata application. Revenue is a reserved property in many Segment destinations. Opting in overrides the total property sent to Google Analytics.

Product properties

Each item 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

Import all orders

With an annual Littledata Plus plan you can import all Shopify orders and refunds from before you started using Segment, to sync with destinations that support timestamped events (for example, a data warehouse). This enables you to build a complete customer history in your chosen destination.

This data import includes all the event properties usually sent with an Order Completed event, including the customer traits.

Advanced settings

You can customize Littledata’s Shopify source from the data pipeline settings in the Littledata admin. The general settings affect how Littledata handles details such as orders, products and pageviews. The more advanced settings include: cookiesToTrack and CDNForAnalyticsJS.

cookiesToTrack

You can send any cookie set on a landing page (for example, a session identifier or marketing campaign name) to Segment with an Identify call. A common use is to set the array as ['iterableEmailCampaignId', 'iterableTemplateId'] to pass Iterable campaignId and templateId through to the Order Completed event.

CDNForAnalyticsJS

If you have a proxy CDN setup to load Segment’s AnalyticsJS library from your own domain, you can specify it here.

This page was last modified: 20 Mar 2024



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