Why isn't ecommerce tracking picking up all my conversions?

If you've activated Google's Ecommerce Tracking for Analytics on your website (by following the instructions in this help guide), you may find that it doesn't always pick up conversions (sales) on your website.

Ecommerce Tracking works by 'firing' some Javascript back to Google's servers once your customers is transferred to the checkout/complete page on your website (the page that tells them an order has been successfully placed). Unless the user visits this page, the conversion won't be recorded on Analytics.

During checkout, some payment gateways transfer the customer to the payment gateway's website to enter their card information.

For example, on our standard PayPal integration, the user is taken through to the PayPal website to login to their PayPal account or enter their card information. After payment is successfully completed, the user is shown a payment confirmation page on the PayPal website before PayPal transfer the user back to your website.

If the user closes the browser window before they have been transferred back to the checkout/complete page on your website, the Javascript code that sends the conversion to Analytics won't have chance to work, leading to the transaction not being recorded.

What you can do for PayPal transactions

If you find you are experiencing this problem with PayPal transactions you'll need to turn on 'auto return for website payments'. If you're unsure on how to do this, you should contact PayPal directly for support with this.

What you can do for other transactions

If you are experiencing this problem with other payment providers you should contact them and ask how it can be set so that the user is automatically returned to your website as soon as payment is made.

If you need any assistance with this please contact us.