Overview

ShopMy links follow the format go.shopmy.us/p-<pinId>
Clicks go to our backend where we track the click and redirect to the Pin’s link
Integrated merchants also include our click tracking script which pulls click details from the URL and stores as a first-party cookie for order attribution
Because our clicks are tracked server-side, they are more complete than data from client-side solutions like Google Analytics which are easily blocked by private browsing and ad blockers

Why is ShopMy’s data different than other platforms like Google Analytics, Northbeam, and Triple Whale?

ShopMy data differs for two primary reasons:

Differences in tracking methods
Differences in click and order attribution models

ShopMy’s platform is built differently from other platforms and is meant to serve different goals. This is why ShopMy’s metrics differ from other platforms, and why metrics generally differ between analytics platforms as well.

Click tracking

ShopMy tracks clicks on the server side to ensure attribution is not affected by private browsers, ad blockers or network issues. This means ShopMy clicks will be higher than other platforms, as ShopMy does not wait for the product page to load before tracking the click.

Additionally, ShopMy separately tracks every click, even repeat clicks. Some platforms combine multiple clicks into a single user session metric.

Lower clicks in your analytics platform could be caused by the following.

Different click tracking models, such as tracking only the first click from a unique user
Users navigating away from your product page before your analytics scripts can load and process the click
Users utilizing ad blockers or private browsers
Incorrectly processing the UTM parameters ShopMy provides

Order attribution

ShopMy attributes orders in two ways:

Via our click tracking script placed on product pages which stores attribution data in first-party cookies
By matching customer IP addresses as a fallback within the attribution window, a maximum of 1 time

ShopMy connects orders to the most recently clicked ShopMy link, which connects to a ShopMy creator. Other platforms might attribute orders to other sources like ad impressions if they happened more recently than the ShopMy click. ShopMy only tracks clicks from ShopMy links and so always attributes orders to the appropriate creator if a purchase happens within the attribution window. Our attribution window is configurable but defaults to 30 days, which is larger than many other platforms.

Different order numbers could be caused by the following.

Different attribution models, such as attributing orders to an ad network if an ad impression happened during the order flow
Different attribution windows
Users utilizing ad blockers or private browsers
Incorrectly processing the UTM parameters ShopMy provides

Common issues

To ensure as accurate data as possible in your analytics platforms, confirm the following points.

Your analytics platforms are correctly capturing UTM data. ShopMy will redirect with a utm_source of shopmy by default. This value is configurable in settings.
Your pages do not redirect or clear UTM parameters from the URL. If they do, your analytics platforms may not correctly capture and track them.
If applicable, confirm the ShopMy click tracking script is properly installed and is loaded on every page request. You can view a confirmation in your browser console. Please test multiple browsers and devices to confirm the script is loading in all cases.