Google Tag Manager Shopify Integration: 2 Easy Methods

Google Tag Manager (GTM) is a free, popular, and widely used Tag Management Solution that numerous brands and individuals use to track their online E-commerce stores and websites. When anyone adds GTM on their online eCommerce platform such as Google Tag Manager Shopify Integration, Tag Manager allows them to set up tags and establish triggers.

Shopify is a Subscription-based Service for E-commerce businesses for selling digital and physical products. Whether you’re selling a single item or an array of products, Shopify offers many tools, apps, and themes to effectively manage your business.

As thousands of users create their online E-commerce store with Shopify, read on to learn how to set up Google Tag Manager Shopify Integration and its benefits. You will get to know the advantages of GTM integration, the benefits of Shopify for E-commerce stores, and two methods of building Google Tag Manager Shopify Integration by the end of this blog. 

Introduction to Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager is a Tag Management System (TMS) that allows website designers to manage and deploy marketing tags like Analytics, Marketing, and Testing without modifying the code. With Google Tag Manager, you can share information from one data source to another i.e. sharing data from your website to Google Analytics. 

Google Tag Manager is a simple and free tool that eliminates the tedious process of manipulating code for Website Tags and JavaScript code snippets. For example, using the Google Tag Manager Shopify Integration you can utilize tags to track visitor behavior or measure traffic on your website. They also make it easy for companies to leverage Remarketing, Target Audience and improve the website. 

Here is a basic vocabulary used in Google Tag Manager(GTM):

• Tags: Tags are code snippets that are used to send information for taking specific actions within a webpage. In other words, tags converse to GTM about what to do and how to do it.
• Triggers: Triggers determine whether a tag is active and functioning. 
• Variables: Variables are necessary informative values for Google Tag Manager to operate Tags and Triggers correctly.

Introduction to Shopify

Shopify is a powerful SaaS (software as a service) solution that offers a simple interface and an all-in-one Shopping Cart System. However, it may become a little confusing as you start using Shopify as it has multiple moving pieces like Marketing, Payment Processing, and Web Design. Though, with Shopify, you will have the access to basic in-built tools that are needed to run an online store. 

Shopify is a Website Builder for online stores with a shopping cart similar to purchasing a product on Amazon. You’ll also have access to payment processing tools for in-person businesses so you can collect payments at your offline retail shop. Anyone with a product, anything from furniture, electronics, jewelry, or even digital products like eBooks or music tracks, can sell it online with Shopify. 

A Shopify subscription includes Secure Site Hosting, 99.98% Uptime, and a free SSL certificate. You can choose your subscription level from these choices:

• Basic Shopify: Priced at $29/month. It comes with two staff accounts and up to four locations.
• Shopify: Priced at $79/month. This plan allows five staff accounts, up to five locations.
• Advanced Shopify: Priced at $299/month. It comes with 15 staff accounts and up to eight locations.

Prerequisites

• A Shopify Account.
• A Google Tag Manager Account.

Methods to Set up Google Tag Manager Shopify Integration

You can manually build the Google Tag Manager Shopify Integration by the 2 simple methods described below:

• Method 1: Google Tag Manager Shopify Integration Using Shopify GA Settings
• Method 2: Google Tag Manager Shopify Integration Using Theme Files

Method 1: Google Tag Manager Shopify Integration Using Shopify GA Settings

You can set up Google Tag Manager Shopify Integration within the Shopify admin, and it’ll run across the entire site, including all checkout pages. To do this, follow these easy steps:

• Step 1: Go to Google Analytics > Property > Tracking Info > Tracking Code and copy your Universal Google Analytics (GA) script.
• Step 2: Go to Shopify Admin > Sales Channels > Online Store > Google Analytics. Paste your Google Analytics script and click save. 
• Step 3: You’ll need to set up a Google Tag Manager account to get your tracking code. You can set up Google Tag Manager here. Go to GTM admin and copy your Google Tag Manager snippet. However, while copying the snippet, do it without the opening <script> tag and closing </script> tag. 

• Step 4: In your Shopify Account, go to Sales Channels > Online Store > Google Analytics > Additional Google Analytics Javascript and paste the copied script. 

Method 2: Google Tag Manager Shopify Integration Using Theme Files

You can’t add the GTM code to checkout pages unless you are a Shopify Plus user. Follow this method to add GTM tracking code to your website’s theme files:

• Step 1: To start building the Google Tag Manager Shopify Integration, Go to your Shopify store and click on the ‘Online Store’ button.  Next, click on ‘Options’ under the ‘Themes‘ section. Next, select ‘Edit Code’ and open the ‘theme.liquid‘ file. You’ll be adding the tag manager code so you can track all pages on your store. However, you won’t be able to track Checkout pages due to Shopify’s security.
• Step 2: Go to your Google Tag Manager account. Once you can access the dashboard, click on your tag to show your installation codes.

• Step 3: Copy the code of the first box in GTM and paste it directly below the <head> tag in your Shopify store. 
• Step 4: Go back to Google Tag Manager and copy the code from the second box. Go back to Shopify and paste it below the <body> tag. This completes your Google Tag Manager Shopify Integration process.

Limitations of Using Shopify

Shopify is a brilliant platform to efficiently design and customize your E-commerce Store Website according to your style. Although, while using Shopify you might encounter some challenges: 

• Some Add-ons Get Pricey: Although Shopify offers a vast majority of features for store management with its subscription plans, some premium themes and apps can run up your bill. You can always go for a free or relatively cheap alternative to help you complete marketing to social media tasks. But if you necessarily require these advanced Shopify apps, your monthly bill will go up by hundreds of dollars. 
• It’s Tough to Migrate Away from Shopify: Shopify is an “all-in-one” SaaS (software as a service) E-commerce platform, and you’ll face difficulty in migrating away from their system. You can download your database from Shopify, but the website design won’t migrate to a new platform. 
• The Coding Language Isn’t Universal: MySQL, PHP, HTML, and JavaScript are universal programming languages. They are used while making a Magento, WordPress, or Joomla site. Shopify also has MySQL, PHP, and JavaScript, but it also uses its template language, called Liquid. Essentially, it means that Shopify users have to hire Liquid developers. As it’s a less common skill, very few developers are well-versed in Liquid.

Conclusion

In this article, you learned how to successfully build Google Tag Manager Shopify Integration for your business. Shopify offers an excellent solution for individuals and brands to set up their online stores. You can sell digital and physical products, run a marketplace with multiple vendors, or link it to your point of sale system. Setting up Google Tag Manager Shopify Integration will provide you analytical insight into triggers and actions that cause a change in website activity. With GTM, you’ll get to know the key areas of improvement for your Website and better analyze your Shopify account to make more informed marketing decisions. 

As your E-commerce Website gains popularity using the Google Tag Manager Shopify Integration and the product demand rises in the market, the number of customers increases at an astonishing rate. This will in turn generate huge amounts of data associated with the growing Customer base and Orders. A similar effect can also be observed in the other applications in your firm related to Accounting, Customer Relationship Management, Human Resources, etc. Handling, Cleaning, and Transforming all that Data from different platforms can be a time-consuming task and would require you to assign a segment of your engineering bandwidth to solve it. All of this can be comfortably accomplished by using a Cloud-Based ETL Tool like Hevo Data.

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Share with us your experience of setting up the Google Tag Manager Shopify Integration. Let us know in the comments section below!