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Resolving descrepancies between Klaviyo analytics and Google Analytics

  • 9 February 2021
  • 9 replies
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Klaviyo is reporting that one of my campaigns has generated 16 orders resulting in $518.30 in revenue. The same campaign in Google Analytics is reporting 15 transactions resulting in $455.38 in revenue.

Klaviyo is reporting 1 more order and $62.92 more than Analytics.

My first thought was that a user didn’t get redirected to the thank you page or the user may have opted out of Google Analytics tracking them. I don’t think this is actually the case as I don’t have an order in Shopify totally $62.92.

How have you reconciled analytics been Klaviyo and Google Analytics? Are you resigned to the fact that the two will never match? Is there a percentage of error that you’re willing to accept between the two? Any ideas how where the $62.92 discrepancy could be coming from?

Thanks in advance!

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Best answer by David To 16 April 2021, 21:39

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Userlevel 5
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Hi @browntown,

 

So not sure if you’ve come across the information provided below, but the likely reason for the discrepancy is because Google Analytics uses pixel tracking and Klaviyo uses data directly from your database, it's likely the analytics between both services won't exactly align. In general, Klaviyo is much more accurate than Google Analytics.

Here are a few common scenarios where Google Analytics and other pixel-based tracking systems will not record a conversion:

  • A subscriber receives an email, reads it, does not click on a link, but goes to your store and makes a purchase. Google Analytics doesn't know they read your email, but Klaviyo does.
  • A subscriber receives an email, reads it, clicks on a link from their phone. They wait until later to complete their purchase and they complete the purchase from their laptop instead of their phone. In this case, Google Analytics does not record a conversion because they read and click the email on their phone, but not on their laptop. Klaviyo does see the conversion by stitching together the customer's activity and noticing which email they read before making their purchase.

Because of this fundamental difference, we recommend deferring to Klaviyo's conversion analytics as the two will not be an exact match.

Hope that provides additional insight.

 

 

 

Userlevel 1
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Hello @browntown,

Great question! Just to chime in with @Paul S - It is very much expected that the revenue/number of orders Klaviyo attributes to a Flow or Campaign will not match up to what Google Analytics reports due to differences in how conversions are tracked in both systems.

GA uses pixel-based tracking, while Klaviyo uses data directly from your database (for example, because your e-commerce platform - like Shopify - sends us data when someone places an order). The documentation for Paul's reference above on the common scenarios where Google Analytics and other pixel-based tracking systems will not record a conversion can be found here.

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This is very helpful. Thank you! As I’ve been digging deeper, I’m also noticing that Shopify’s internal analytics often times don’t match with what Klaviyo is reporting. Do you have any thoughts to why that could be happening?

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate the help.

Userlevel 1
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Hi @browntown - you are very welcome! Regarding your new question, can you please provide any specific examples of Shopify Analytics/data points where you’re seeing a discrepancy?

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Absolutely. 

I have a campaign that was sent on Monday that is reporting 7 orders that generated $312.22 of revenue so far. When I look for that campaign in Shopify, I see 9 orders that contributed to $416.76.

I’m running a sales report on the Shopify side that looks for call campaigns that are “email”. From there, I find the UTM campaign name and compare against Klaviyo.

Userlevel 7
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Hey @browntown


Building on top of what @alison.gori and @Paul S had highlighted, this variance you are seeing can also be credited to how both Klaviyo and Shopify use different attribution models.  

By default, Klaviyo has a 5-day last interaction (open or click) attribution model whereas your Shopify account/Google Analytics may be using a different attribution model as highlighted in the Marketing Attribution: Seeing the Customer Journey More Clearly Shopify article. Due to the difference in these models, a customer may have received the Klaviyo email, clicked and/or opened the email and converted, thus resulting in the 7 orders generating $312.22 of revenue being displayed within Klaviyo.

However, on the other hand, if your attribution model was set to a different method in Google Analytics such as Position Based, the first and last touch points of an email received would be counted as the attribution revenue generator within Google Analytics. This can be confusing since Klaviyo is only based on Last Interaction, open or click of an email; meaning that only the last point of contact before a sale would be attributed to Klaviyo while Google is going to attribute the first and last emails touched within a specific timeframe the revenue.

This could potentially be leading to inflation by some of these attributions within Google Analytics. For example, the original email received within Klaviyo that generated $312.22 and a secondary email the customer received was clicked and open on prior to a sale. Google would attribute revenue within GA to both of these emails touched while Klaviyo would only give the credited email to the subsequent email since it was last touch; thus accounting the first email with 7 sales despite seeing 9 sales for this email within Google Analytics.

 

You can learn more about Klaviyo’s attribution model and how it different from Google’s from the Understanding Conversion Tracking Help Center Article.

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Hi I am also experiencing issues with reporting accuracy. Klayvio is also calculating in store Shopify POS sales as campaign sales when this should not be attributed for. Anyway to stop this?

Userlevel 7
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Hey @Ella Saleh,

At present it would not be possible to exclude certain conversions from being included as part of Klaviyo’s attribution model. I’ve previously shared this feedback with our product team as detailed in some of the below Community post below that may be helpful to review:

David

Yes, I’m having the same issue. Klaviyo is reporting $1697 more than Shopify for my Total revenue. 

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