Google Analytics Audit Test #

68

Irregularly High Checkout To Transaction Rates

Why It Matters:

Critical to understanding website behavior.

Industries:

Ecommerce

Checks For:

Accuracy

How accurate is your recent data?

Insight Category:

Behavior

Can you tell what visitors are doing?

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Background

A GA4 audit is essential for uncovering missing insights—key data points that organizations don't yet know and can act upon. A well-done audit evaluates both behavioral tracking and traffic attribution, ensuring each is accurate and useful. It also assesses whether the data collected truly supports business decisions and reporting.

Test Detail

This test identifies cases where the ratio of purchase events to begin_checkout events is abnormally high—indicating that almost everyone who starts checkout is recorded as completing it. While high conversion rates are good, an unrealistically high checkout-to-purchase rate can indicate:

  • Missing begin_checkout tracking
  • Duplicate or inflated purchase events
  • Checkout being skipped in tracking entirely
  • Backend or server-side implementation errors

The result is misleading funnel metrics and a false sense of conversion success, which can hurt optimization and lead to wasted ad spend or missed UX opportunities.

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Google Analytics audit test results.

How to Conduct This Test

Basic Tests

  • In Google Analytics > Explore, build a funnel or Free-form report:
    • Dimensions: Event name
    • Metrics: Event count
    • Compare the number of begin_checkout events to purchase events
    • Calculate the checkout-to-purchase conversion rate (e.g., 90%+ is often suspicious)

Advanced QA

Use BigQuery to compare session IDs with both events using this query:

SELECT
  COUNT(DISTINCT CASE WHEN event_name = 'begin_checkout' THEN session_id END) AS checkouts,
  COUNT(DISTINCT CASE WHEN event_name = 'purchase' THEN session_id END) AS purchases
FROM `your_dataset.events_*`
  • If your conversion rate from checkout to purchase is abnormally high (e.g., above 80–90%), that’s a red flag worth investigating.

Automated, Free Audit

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How To Fix

  • Review Google Analytics implementation to confirm begin_checkout is:
    • Triggered on all checkout flows
    • Firing only once per session when the user initiates checkout
  • Review purchase tracking for:
    • Duplicates from reloads, redirects, or page refreshes
    • Server-side events that may be firing multiple times or outside the user session
    • Missing funnel stages such as add_shipping_info or add_payment_info
  • Use Google Analytics DebugView to test the full funnel and confirm correct event order and count
  • Hire a pro to test and tune your funnel tracking—so your metrics reflect reality and your optimization efforts drive real results.

Tips from a Google Analytics Consultant

Focus on Insights

Every Google Analytics audit should result in a plan for more insights.

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An insight is:

  • something you don't know
  • and can act on to improve performance

The Goal

Identify and remove insight blockers. Don't get tempted to track things you can't act on!

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