Is activity saved before being identified

I ran into the same issue and was able to solve it using some custom code added to the Order Status page “Additional scripts” in Shopify settings → Checkout. Posting below in case it helps others.

To clarify, the issue is in the situation where the user does NOT enter their email into a klaviyo email box on the site and ONLY enters their email during the shopify checkout flow. In that situation, Klaviyo is not able to use the email provided during checkout to apply it back to the anonymous events that were tracked locally prior to checkout. This results in those anonymous, pre-checkout, events being lost. The code below will take the customer email that’s applied during checkout and apply it to a Klaviyo “identify” call that’s executed on the order “thank you” page. This allows Klaviyo to link the pre checkout anonymous events back to that email address.

<!-- Klaviyo script to link actions prior to checkout -->
<script
  async type="text/javascript"
  src="//static.klaviyo.com/onsite/js/klaviyo.js?company_id=YOUR_KLAVIYO_PUBLIC_API"
></script>

<script>
  !function(){if(!window.klaviyo){window._klOnsite=window._klOnsite||[];try{window.klaviyo=new Proxy({},{get:function(n,i){return"push"===i?function(){var n;(n=window._klOnsite).push.apply(n,arguments)}:function(){for(var n=arguments.length,o=new Array(n),w=0;w<n;w++)o[w]=arguments[w];var t="function"==typeof o[o.length-1]?o.pop():void 0,e=new Promise((function(n){window._klOnsite.push([i].concat(o,[function(i){t&&t(i),n(i)}]))}));return e}}})}catch(n){window.klaviyo=window.klaviyo||[],window.klaviyo.push=function(){var n;(n=window._klOnsite).push.apply(n,arguments)}}}}();
  klaviyo.push(['identify', {
    '$email' : '{{ checkout.email }}'
  }]);
</script>

@Brian Turcotte 

Curious why is everyone saying there isn’t a way to track events prior to the user being identified, only events after the users has been identified? Isn’t there the anonymous visitor activity backfill feature in Klaviyo? 

I see that this help article was last updated in August 2023 (way before @dougj’s comment), so doesn’t that accomplish exactly this? 

I’m so confused. 

The problem is, unless you run the code I posed above, Klaviyo is never given the identifier (aka email) that it should link the pre checkout events to. The anonymous pre checkout events and the identified (email) checkout events live in two separate worlds until you join them together. My code links them together so that Klaviyo can join them into a single identified profile. Klaviyo themselves seem oblivious to this important Shopify use case. I spoke to their support about it and they were of no help, which was mind blowing since this is such an important use case for their customers (knowing your new customer flow).

Thanks @dougj, appreciate the explanation.

I have added your script into my store’s checkout page, really appreciate your openness is sharing the custom script you wrote for this. I sure it’ll help many

Just want to make sure I understand it correctly, the anonymous visitor activity backfill feature in Klaviyo backfills activities as long as 1) the visitor eventually puts their email into a sign up form using the browser while anonymous Klaviyo cookie is still active or 2) the visitor clicks on a Klaviyo email tracking link which opens onto the browser while the anonymous Klaviyo cookie is still active; however it does not backfill activities if a visitor doesn’t do any of those but does put in their email during checkout. And this is where you custom script will come in. Did I understand that correctly? 

Correct. The Shopify checkout flow is on a shopify owned domain (eg “shop.app/...”), not your shopify store’s domain. The Klaviyo cookie on your store’s domain that tracked the anonymous session events cannot connect it to the email entered on the shopify checkout domain. My thank you page script, which runs on your store’s domain, gets the customer’s email from the shopify liquid variable (“checkout.email”) and then applies it to the Klaviyo identity attribute which allows Klaviyo to connect those prior anonymous events to that identity.

<!-- Klaviyo script to link actions prior to checkout -->
<script
  async type="text/javascript"
  src="//static.klaviyo.com/onsite/js/klaviyo.js?company_id=YOUR_KLAVIYO_PUBLIC_API"
></script>

<script>
  !function(){if(!window.klaviyo){window._klOnsite=window._klOnsite||[];try{window.klaviyo=new Proxy({},{get:function(n,i){return"push"===i?function(){var n;(n=window._klOnsite).push.apply(n,arguments)}:function(){for(var n=arguments.length,o=new Array(n),w=0;w<n;w++)o[w]=arguments[w];var t="function"==typeof o[o.length-1]?o.pop():void 0,e=new Promise((function(n){window._klOnsite.push([i].concat(o,[function(i){t&&t(i),n(i)}]))}));return e}}})}catch(n){window.klaviyo=window.klaviyo||[],window.klaviyo.push=function(){var n;(n=window._klOnsite).push.apply(n,arguments)}}}}();
  klaviyo.push(['identify', {
    '$email' : '{{ checkout.email }}'
  }]);
</script>

Doug thank you so much! I tried to set up this but with the “Additional Scripts” in the Checkout section being deprecated and not having shopify plus I don’t know where and how to add this script to make it work. I tried in customer events and with some apps but maybe I didn’t do it right. Could you help me?