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- 01 Shopify sessions reset at midnight UTC, GA4 sessions only end after 30 minutes of inactivity; this directly affects session counts
- 02 Shopify offers 5 attribution models (default: last non-direct click), GA4 uses data-driven; the same order can be attributed to different channels
- 03 Checkout sandbox blocks GA4 cookie access; purchase events are recorded in a different session or lost entirely
- 04 Shopify calculates revenue including tax and shipping, GA4 typically records subtotal; this creates 5-15% variance
- 05 With standard client-side GA4, 10-20% revenue gap is expected; server-side tracking can reduce this to 0-10%
+ Why do Shopify and GA4 show different session counts?
Shopify sessions reset on two triggers: 30 minutes of inactivity and midnight UTC. GA4 only resets on 30 minutes of inactivity. Additionally, since GA4 works client-side, it never sees sessions from visitors using ad blockers. Also, multiple purchases can happen in a single session, causing converted session count to be lower than order count.
+ Why does GA4 miss Shopify purchase events?
The checkout sandbox (Customer Events) runs in a separate iframe. Requests from this iframe to external servers cannot carry cookies, so GA4 records the purchase event in a different session or loses it entirely. If the thank-you page is closed before fully loading, the event never fires.
+ Does Shopify Plus solve these problems?
Shopify Plus provides checkout customization through Checkout Extensibility, but the sandbox cookie restriction applies to all plans. Server-side tracking integrations (Littledata, Elevar, Analyzify) largely solve these issues.
+ How much revenue difference is acceptable?
With standard client-side GA4, 10-20% is within normal range. Server-side tracking can reduce this to 0-10%. 20-30% warrants investigation. 30%+ indicates a setup problem.
