GA4 Events integration With BigCommerce
Hello everyone, how are you? I integrated my GA4 account with bigcommerce using their setup guide in BigCommerce. However, I am still not getting any events in the the monetization section such as purchases, add to cart, checkout, etc…
Anyone know why that would be the case?
Thanks,
The short answer is:
Your issue of missing monetization events like purchase and add_to_cart in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) with the native BigCommerce integration is a common challenge, typically caused by browser-side tracking limitations like ad blockers, browser restrictions, and issues with the checkout flow or custom themes failing to fire events consistently.
The robust, technical solution is to implement a server-side tracking architecture using BigCommerce webhooks or the BigCommerce API in conjunction with Google Tag Manager (GTM) Server Container hosted on a service like Stape or Google Cloud Platform (GCP), which ultimately sends data to GA4 via the Google Analytics Measurement Protocol.
This approach bypasses browser limitations, ensuring maximum data accuracy for all critical e-commerce events by securely sending them directly from your BigCommerce server to your GA4 property.
This method is highly cost-effective in the long run by providing a reliable foundation for accurate marketing attribution and optimization, making your advertising spend more efficient.
The long answer is:
The sporadic or missing e-commerce event data you are experiencing in GA4, despite using BigCommerce’s built-in integration, stems from the inherent unreliability of client-side tracking, where events like purchase, add_to_cart, and begin_checkout are dependent on JavaScript executing in the user’s browser, which can be easily disrupted.
To achieve a complete and dependable data stream, you must shift your most critical conversions, especially the purchase event, to a server-side model.
This involves leveraging the BigCommerce API or BigCommerce webhooks to capture transaction data the moment an order is finalized on the server, a process that is independent of the customer’s browser.
Specifically, a BigCommerce webhook for “Order – Created” is an ideal trigger, as it fires instantly and reliably from the BigCommerce server upon a successful order.
This webhook payload, containing all the essential e-commerce details like transaction_id, value, currency, and items, is then sent to a Google Tag Manager Server Container which you can host cost-effectively using Stape for a managed, production-ready server or by self-managing an instance on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
Within the GTM Server Container, a specific tag is configured to process the incoming BigCommerce data and then forward a clean, standardized e-commerce event payload directly to your GA4 property using the Google Analytics Measurement Protocol.
The Measurement Protocol is a key API that allows you to make direct HTTP requests to send raw event data to GA4, ensuring that purchases are recorded even if the user has left the confirmation page, is using an ad blocker, or has connectivity issues at the browser level, thereby solving your current data loss problem and significantly improving the integrity of your monetization reports.
Furthermore, once you have this accurate server-side data pipeline established in your GTM Server Container, you can easily use the same data stream to enrich your analytics by forwarding it to other services, such as connecting to the BigQuery API to export your raw event data for deeper analysis and integration with business intelligence tools like Looker Studio for comprehensive reporting dashboards, transforming your entire data infrastructure into a highly reliable and actionable system.
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