Enabling Google Analytics Ecommerce Tracking for Universal Analytics

*Note: This article is for enabling Ecommerce Tracking for Universal Analytics. If you are using Google Analytics 4, Ecommerce Tracking is enabled automatically and does not require any additional setup on your end. 

This article will walk you through how to track Ecommerce data in your Google Analytics account using Enhanced Ecommerce for Tag Manager and Universal Analytics. GA4 Ecommerce tracking is available by default when adding your GA4 ID to the platform and does not require any additional setup.  

Topics Include:

Prerequisites & Ticketing Settings

Before you get started, make sure you have the following setup:

  • Google Analytics Account & Google Tag Manager
  • Google Tag Manager Account with linked Universal Analytics GA ID
  • Added your Google Tag Manager ID to the ticketing platform

Google Analytics & Google Tag Manager Account

Get started with Google Analytics → https://accounts.google.com/
Get started with Google Tag Manager → https://tagmanager.google.com/

Creating Your Tag & Trigger

Linking your Google Tag Manager Account with linked Universal Analytics GA ID

All data is collected and linked through your Google Tag Manager ID. Your GTM ID will need to be added to the ticketing platform and your GA Account ID needs to be linked in your GTM Account. 

  1. Create or select the account you’d like to link your GA ID with. 
  2. Create a new Variable
    1. Set the Variable Type to ‘Google Analytics Settings’
    2. Set the Tracking ID to your GA ID
    3. Under ‘More Settings’, select Ecommerce and enable Enable Enhanced Ecommerce Features and Use data layer
    4. Now, let's create a Tag and Trigger

Tag Setup & Configuration

  1. Select Tag > New and choose a name like “Ecommerce Ticketing Platform Tracking”
  2. Edit your Tag Configuration and select the Tag Type Google Analytics: Universal Analytics
  3. Set Track Type to Page View
  4. Set Google Analytics Settings to the variable you created in Step 2

Trigger Configuration

If you want to record conversions for all events across your entire ticketing platform, continue and skip past the Trigger Configuration: Segment by Org section of this tutorial to Adding your GTM ID to the Ticketing Platform. If you want to limit recording data to certain orgs, view the next section.  

Trigger Configuration: Record Conversions for All Events

  1. Create a new Trigger 
  2. Set Trigger Type to Custom Event
  3. Set Event Name to gtm.dom
  4. Set 'This trigger fires on' to All Custom Events

Trigger Configuration: Segment by Org

If you only want to record conversion for specific orgs, we need to only fire the trigger when a conversion happens on an event hosted by a specific organization. The common use case is if you have multiple GA accounts that record data for different organizations on your ticketing platform. 

You'll need to create one new trigger per organization you want to filter by. 

  1. Create a new Trigger 
  2. Set Trigger Type to Custom Event
  3. Set Event Name to gtm.dom
  4. Set 'This trigger fires on' to Some Custom Events. From the Variable drop down on the far left, select New Variable
  5. Click the Variable Configuration and select Data Layer Variable
  6. The event's organization ID is included in the Data Layer information so we'll need to create a variable based on this value. Create the Variable with the following settings:
    1. Set the overall name to something like "Data Layer OrgId Variable"
    2. Set the Data Later Variable Name to orgId 
    3. Leave the Data Layer Version as 2
    4. Hit Save and you should be returned back to your Trigger setup 
  7. Back on your Trigger, make sure Data Layer OrgID Variable is now selected on the left
    1. Set your trigger as the following to only fire when an order is placed for a specific org: Fire when the Data Layer Org ID Variable equals your org ID
    2. You can find your Org ID in the URL when editing an organization: 
  8. You're now finished filtering your conversions by organization and can move on to the next step. However, if you need to filter by multiple organizations (but not all), you can repeat this setup process for the trigger & variable per organization. 
    1. Back on your tag, you will want to add ALL the triggers (one per org) so that data is recorded for each conversion
    2. Your tag will look something like this where there are multiple triggers separated by OR:

Added your Google Tag Manager ID to the Ticketing Platform

Select your use case to learn how to add your GTM ID:

  • I’m a Partner managing all organizations and events across the entire platform
    • In Platform Settings, add your GTM ID in the ‘Analytics & Opt-In’ section
  • I’m an organization user or event user managing specific events
    • On the event you’d like to record data, add your GTM ID in Event Settings under the ‘Analytics & Tracking’ tab

Enabling Enhanced Ecommerce on Google Analytics

Now that you have your Google Tag Manager setup to record ecommerce data, we need to enable Enhanced Ecommerce Tracking on your Google Analytics account. 

  1. When logged in to Google Analytics, select Admin and choose the correct Account > Property > View
  2. Select Ecommerce Data & turn on Enable Ecommerce and Enable Enhanced Ecommerce Reporting

Understanding Enhanced Ecommerce Data

Google Analytics’ terminology is very focused around ecommerce based stores (think a clothing store selling different products with various brands, sizes, variations, etc). This section will help you to understand different ecommerce data and terminology. 

  • Google Product: Ticket Types 
  • Google Product List: Event Name
  • Google Affiliation: Ticketing Platform Name

We recommend viewing data in the following way:

  1. Ecommerce Product List Performance (Event Performance)
    1. From the left menu, select Conversions > Ecommerce > Product List Performance
    2. Each event will be listed with ecommerce data 
  2. Marketing Campaign Performance
    1. From the left menu, select Acquisition > Campaigns > All Campaigns
      1. Revenue data will be available for each campaign

Standard net revenue (ticket/product value excluding fees, taxes, etc) is recorded for the revenue figure in Google Analytics, NOT gross sales. For example, if an order summary contained the following:

- Tickets Subtotal: $40.00
- Promo Code Discount: -$5.00
- Service Fees: $1.25
- CC Processing: $1.32
- Total: $37.57

$35 would be recorded as the revenue in Google Analytics ($40-$5). All individual products are also recorded as their paid net price excluding fees.

For more information, visit the Google Enhanced Analytics Help Article 

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