Why does GA report more revenue than my database?

We’ve found that it’s more common for Google Analytics to overreport orders and revenue compared to an eCommerce database. This isn’t always a bad thing. Your database is the definitive record of transactions made on your website, and there are several reasons Google could be reporting high even when you have set it up perfectly:

  • eCommerce tracking is capturing duplicate button clicks only registering as a single order in your database.
  • You have a high number of cancelled, refunded, or frauded orders, which is a state change that happens after eCommerce tracks the data.
  • Your Revenue and Orders metrics deliberately exclude test or internal orders, which Google cannot differentiate.
  • Orders are failing to be placed in your database under certain circumstances.
  • Google eCommerce tracking is not aware of coupons and discounts on the order.
  • Your database timestamp is in a different timezone than your Google Analytics timestamp.

Remember, even if Google is reporting a higher number than your database, it is still likely missing some orders for the reasons detailed in the section above.

Troubleshooting

  • Create a clone of your Revenue metric with no filters restricting the result. The Orders We Count or Customers We Count filters are important, but Google has no equivalent filter.
  • Audit a small recent period, such as a span of a few hours earlier this week.
  • Once you have Google eCommerce tracking set up in MBI, use Filter or Group-By to audit a single Source, Medium, or Campaign. Then do the same in Google. A source with less traffic/revenue will be better, as it is like to have less margin for error.
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