Shopify’s Analytics tab shows you valuable metrics that help you set goals, review performance, and grow your business. When you know what to look for, site metrics are great for measuring the effectiveness of your marketing and increasing your return on investment. To do this, you need to keep track of sessions. What are sessions on Shopify, and what do they tell you?
What Is a Session in Shopify?
Each time someone visits your store, Shopify counts it as a session. Sessions last as long as the person is engaging with your site. Users can perform many actions during each session:
- Landing on your site
- Scrolling down the page
- Reading a blog article or watching a video
- Clicking on a link
- Adding a product to the cart
- Making a purchase
Whether the person spends 30 seconds or 30 minutes on your site, the analytics dashboard defines it as a session.
What Is the Difference Between Visitors and Sessions on Shopify?
Shopify’s analytics dashboard also shows you the number of unique visitors to your store in a time period. Every user who lands on your site gets counted as a visitor, whether it’s the first time or the person is a returning customer.
But isn’t that the same thing as a session? Not quite.
It’s easier to understand Shopify’s definition of sessions and visitors with an example. Imagine that a woman named Lisa visits your site after seeing your sale ad. She browses a few of the discounts, and adds a laptop to her cart, but ultimately leaves without making a purchase.
Later that day, Lisa returns. She can’t stop thinking about the laptop and the discount. Lisa spends more time on the product page and reads a few reviews. But she leaves again, not quite ready to bite the bullet on such a large purchase.
A few days go by, and your sale is almost over. With a few hours to spare, Lisa finally decides to buy, adding her payment details and checking out.
How many visitors and sessions was that? Shopify counts one visitor but three different sessions. A session starts when a user arrives and ends when they leave or become inactive (for at least 30 minutes).
What Do Sessions Mean for Your Website?
Comparing visitors and sessions in Shopify Analytics can reveal several valuable insights about your site:
- How many people visited your site compared to the same month last year
- Which times, days, months, and dates generally have the most traffic
- How many sessions it takes for visitors to convert
- How effective your content is at holding the attention of visitors
- Which pages and products are trending
For example, if you see 200 sessions and 75 visitors, you know that many users are coming back multiple times. This may mean that your product pages need to be more convincing or that potential customers are having trouble finding the right product.
You Know What Shopify Sessions Are — Do This Next
Analytics are most helpful when you use the data to make changes. Combine what you know about Shopify sessions with other metrics to improve the user experience and boost conversions. At StayTuned Digital, our Shopify app integrations can help you grab attention with better sales, discounts, bundles, and customized products. See the difference today.