Why is my conversion rate here different from the one Shopify analytics shows?
Because each figure divides by something different. The calculator divides conversions by ad clicks, while store analytics in Shopify and similar platforms usually divide orders by sessions or visits, which cover every traffic source and never match ad clicks one for one. Both figures are right; they measure different things.
Why clicks never equal sessions
- Some people who click leave before the page loads, so the platform counts a click and the store never records a session.
- The same visitor may come back later without a new click, adding sessions but no clicks.
- Store analytics mix search, email and direct visits with ad visits unless you filter by source.
- Orders in the store can differ from the conversions the ad platform credits, because of attribution windows or cancelled orders.
Example: 600 clicks and 750 sessions from one campaign
Your campaign was shown 20,000 times and got 600 clicks for a spend of 900, recording 18 orders. Shopify analytics, filtered to this campaign, shows 750 sessions and the same orders.
Click based: conversion rate = 18 ÷ 600 × 100 = 3%, and CPC is 1.5.
With the 750 sessions typed into the clicks field: conversion rate = 18 ÷ 750 × 100 = 2.4%.
CPA is 50 either way, because it does not use clicks.
The 2.4% is close to what your store shows, and the 3% is what the calculator reports by its own definition. Neither is wrong. But note that once sessions sit in the clicks field, the box labelled CPC, 1.2 here, is really cost per session, and the CTR of 3.75% no longer means anything. Use the swap only to read conversion rate, and label the result as sessions based.
Which figure to use
- To judge the ad itself and compare campaigns inside the platform, use clicks and conversions from the platform report as they are.
- To judge the product page or the store, use sessions and orders from your store analytics, filtered to the campaign's source.
- Never compare a figure of the first kind with one of the second, and never switch the denominator from one month to the next.
- Enter the figures you chose in the Campaign performance calculator and keep the same definition every time.
Make sure your store knows where visits came from
Filtering sessions to one campaign only works if the ad's link says where it came from. Add UTM parameters to each link with the UTM campaign link builder and the campaign shows up by name in your store analytics, so you can pull its own sessions and orders instead of the store-wide total. From there, the ROAS calculator gives you the return on confirmed orders.
Remember that the calculator connects to neither your store nor the ad platform, so it has no idea which definition you mean. Whatever you type in a field is what gets divided, and labelling each number clearly is up to you.
Common questions
The two figures are far apart. Is something wrong?
Possibly. Check that the sessions are filtered to the same campaign and dates, not the whole store. A big gap usually means one of the figures includes other sources.
Can the calculator work on sessions directly?
There is no sessions field. You can put sessions in the clicks field to read conversion rate only, knowing that CPC and CTR then do not mean what their labels say.