Is your conversion tracking telling the truth? A practical Shopify checklist

Tracking is the least glamorous part of ecommerce marketing and one of the most important. If your ad platform cannot see purchases accurately, it optimises towards the wrong people, and every report you read about which creative is working may be misleading. Here is the checklist we use.

Know which events matter

For most stores, four events tell the story of a purchase: someone views a product, adds it to the cart, begins checkout and completes the purchase. In Google Analytics 4 these are called view_item, add_to_cart, begin_checkout and purchase. Meta and TikTok use their own names for the same steps. You want each of these firing once, at the right moment, with the right value.

1. Use one connection per platform

A common cause of inflated numbers is the same platform being connected twice, for example through the official Shopify sales channel app and through code pasted into the theme. Check Settings, then Customer events in your Shopify admin, and your installed apps. Each platform should be connected one way only.

2. Place a test order and watch it arrive

Most platforms offer a test or debug view. Open it, then browse a product, add it to cart and complete a test purchase using a discount code or a test payment method. Confirm each event appears once, in order, and that the purchase value and currency are correct.

3. Compare a normal week

Take a recent week and compare orders in Shopify with purchases reported by each ad platform. Expect differences, because platforms attribute sales differently and some visitors decline tracking. What you are looking for is a consistent relationship. Sudden jumps or gaps usually mean something changed in the setup.

4. Check consent behaviour in your markets

If you sell in the UK, Ireland or the EU, your cookie banner affects what can be measured. Make sure your consent setup is working as intended and that you understand which data is collected before and after a visitor makes a choice. Take advice on the legal side if you are unsure.

5. Confirm checkout events still fire after changes

Shopify has moved checkout tracking to its customer events system, and older methods that relied on editing checkout code no longer apply. If your store was set up some time ago, or a developer added scripts in the past, confirm that purchase events are being recorded through the current method.

6. Write it down

Keep a short note of which platforms are connected, how, and when the setup last changed. The next time numbers move unexpectedly, you will know where to look first.

Why it matters for creative

Creative testing only works when results are measured reliably. A tracking problem can make a strong ad look weak or a weak ad look strong. Fixing measurement first means every decision about creative and product pages after it rests on something solid.

A tracking review is part of every conversion review we run.