How to track (and increase) your transactions in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

Wondering which products are your best sellers? Or perhaps you're eager to understand the source of your revenue? Tracking Google Analytics transactions does more than just quantify numbers—it unlocks a treasure trove of insights into your sales funnel.

This guide gives you a solid understanding of Google Analytics (GA4) transactions and shows you how to use this data to increase your sales and propel your ecommerce store to new heights. 

We cover what transactions are in GA4, how to view transactions in your account, and 4 ways to increase your ecommerce transactions—which, after all, is the ultimate motive behind measuring them. 

What are transactions in GA4?

In previous versions of GA—notably Universal Analytics—transactions were a key ecommerce metric. However, in GA4, the platform also uses the term ‘ecommerce purchase’. Comparing Google’s definitions of these metrics, we see they can be used interchangeably:

• Transaction = the number of completed purchases on your website

• Ecommerce purchases = the number of times users completed a purchase

Therefore, when looking for ‘transactions’ in your GA4 reports, remember that it could also be written as ‘ecommerce purchases’.

3 metrics related to transactions you should know about 

It’s helpful to track your total number of transactions/purchases, but as per all metrics, it’s more fully understood in context. That’s why GA4’s transactions report tracks 3 other metrics alongside it. 

1. Transaction ID: is a unique identifier that you create for each transaction, to differentiate between purchase events, in cases where one user makes multiple purchases. It’s usually a mix of numbers, letters, and special characters. You could, for example, use the order confirmation number for your transactions. 

2. Ecommerce purchase quantity: the number of items included in an ecommerce event. For example, if someone came to your store and bought a spoon, a whisk, and a cheese grater, the ecommerce purchase quantity would be 3. 

3. Purchase revenue: the sum of revenue from purchases made on your website or app, minus any refunds given. Purchase revenue = purchases + in-app purchases + subscriptions - refunds.  

2 ways to find transactions in GA4 

Here are a couple of ways you can find your transaction data in GA4 and start understanding it in the context of related metrics. 

Method 1: with a standard report, in the ‘Reports’ tab 

To find your transactions data in the ‘Reports’ tab of GA4, follow these steps: 

• Head to the sidebar on the left of your GA4 dashboard and click on ‘Reports’ ( 📊)

• Select ‘Monetization’ and click on ‘Transactions’

• You’ll now see a graph with your transaction data, including transaction IDs, ecommerce purchases, and ecommerce purchase quantity. Use the calendar icon in the top right corner to change the date range to a relevant time period. 

GA4 has a dedicated Transactions report for you to filter and explore

Method 2: with a custom report, in the ‘Explore’ tab 

To find your transaction data in the ‘Explore’ tab of GA4, follow these steps:

• Head to the sidebar on the left of your GA4 dashboard and click on ‘Explore’ ( 📈)

• Go to the ‘Template gallery’, scroll down to the ‘Industries’ heading, then click on ‘Ecommerce’. This will automatically bring up an ecommerce report for you to customize. 

• Scroll down to the bottom of the ‘Settings’ column in the middle, and find the heading that says ‘Values’. Click on ‘+ Drop or select metric’, then click on ‘Transactions’. 

• This will add transactions to your existing table, on the furthest right column. If you’d like to rearrange this table to make the ‘transactions’ column more visible, slide the metric up in the list of ‘values’. Note: you should see here that your number of ‘purchases’ and ‘transactions’ are the same. 

Continue tweaking the settings in your Explore > Ecommerce report to create the perfect report for your use case.

4 ways to increase your ecommerce transactions

Now that you know how to track transactions in GA4, you can report on your sales and access important metrics about your customers’ purchasing behaviors, preferences, and patterns. But how can you generate more transactions?

While GA4 provides a wealth of quantitative data, enriching those insights with qualitative data offers a holistic view of your customer experience. By understanding not just the ‘what’ but also the ‘why’, you can implement effective conversion rate optimization strategies and improve your sales.

1. Identify popular products or categories with heatmaps

Knowing which parts of your store customers are most drawn to helps you make informed decisions about your website design and marketing campaigns.

Tools like Contentsquare Heatmaps shows you where website users click, scroll, engage, rage click, and move across a page. They’re a simple, visual way to understand which parts of your site attract the most attention and which parts customers overlook or aren’t interested in.

Use Contentsquare’s Heatmaps tool to see how users interact with your ecommerce website

If a certain category generates significant attention on your heatmap, you might consider making it more prominent on your homepage or creating special promotions around it. Similarly, if high-performing products are nestled deep within your site, use this data to rearrange your layout and make these products more accessible to potential buyers.

2. Recognize and address potential barriers in the sales funnel

Every ecommerce store's sales funnel is a series of steps guiding a visitor from the initial discovery of your product to the final transaction (the purchase). Potential blockers—like unclear product descriptions, unintuitive site navigation, or complex checkout processes—can hinder this journey and cause drop-offs.

Use Funnel Analysis to see how users move through your conversion flow, how long it takes them, and where they may be getting sidetracked

Tools like Contentsquare’s Funnel Analysis help you spot exactly where these drop-offs happen and why. Click through on your diagram to view Session Replays of high drop-off pages—video-style replays of user sessions—that reveal exactly how users behaved in the moments before exit. 

Identifying and addressing pain points helps you create a more user-friendly shopping experience that drives up your conversion rates.

3. A/B test to improve under-performing pages

By comparing 2 versions of a web page, you’re able to determine which one encourages more purchases. Use data from GA4 to identify pages with potential for improvement. For example, if you notice a product page with high traffic but low conversions, this could be a prime candidate for testing.

Using an A/B testing tool like Optimizely or Omniconvert, create a variant of the page—perhaps with a clearer call to action, different product images, or revised pricing—and divert a portion of your traffic to this new version. As the test progresses, monitor which version yields higher sales. Once you've gathered enough data, implement the changes that show the best results for maximum sales.

💡 Pro tip: your A/B testing tool tells you which version of your site performs better, but it doesn’t tell you why. 

Use Contentsquare’s Session Replay capability to watch real customer interactions with each version so you can see where people get lost or frustrated and use those insights to create more user-friendly pages.

Contentsquare integrates with many major A/B testing tools, so you can watch session replays of users interacting with your test variants 

4. Gather direct feedback with surveys

While GA4’s transaction data shines a light on purchasing patterns in your ecommerce store, harnessing your customers’ feedback holds the keys to true optimization. By asking ecommerce survey questions like, "What other information would you like to see on this page?" or "What stopped you from making a purchase today?", you uncover valuable insights you wouldn’t get with transaction tracking alone. 

Direct feedback reveals areas of improvement and empowers you to tailor the shopping experience to your audience’s needs. Not sure what to ask? Contentsquare's AI-driven Surveys tool helps you tap into the most valuable insights for your online store.

Simply enter the goals for a survey into Contentsquare's AI survey tool, and it’ll come up with effective questions for you  

Master transaction tracking and hit your ecommerce goals

Tracking your sales is essential for driving ecommerce success. By monitoring ecommerce purchases, you identify which products are your top performers, recognize seasonal trends, and adjust your marketing strategies accordingly. However, sales figures only provide half of the story.

Integrating Contentsquare with GA4 enables you to visualize customer behavior and understand the nuances behind each transaction. Leverage both tools to create a customer-centric shopping experience that’s primed for conversions and growth.

FAQs about transactions in GA4