Google Analytics Audit Test #

6

'purchase' Events Are Tracking

Why It Matters:

Critical to understanding the performance of your site.

Industries:

Ecommerce

Checks For:

Utility

How powerful is your current implementation?

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 checks whether the purchase event is being tracked correctly in GA4.

This event is the cornerstone of ecommerce measurement—it represents completed transactions and powers revenue reporting, ROAS analysis, and key marketing attribution.

If this event isn’t firing (or isn’t firing correctly), you’re flying blind on your sales performance.

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How to Conduct This Test

Basic Tests

  • In GA4, go to Reports > Monetization > Ecommerce purchases.
    • You should see data for items purchased, revenue, and transaction count.
  • Or go to Reports > Events and search for the purchase event.
    • Make sure it's listed and has recent activity.

Advanced QA

  • Use DebugView or Google Tag Assistant to simulate a test transaction and confirm:
    • The purchase event fires once
    • Required parameters are passed: transaction_id, value, currency, items, etc.

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How To Fix

Implementing 'purchase'

  • Use the recommended push to the dataLayer:
    gtag('event', 'add_payment_info', {
      transaction_id: "T_12345",
      currency: 'USD',
      value: 72.05,
      tax: 3.60,
      shipping: 5.99,
      coupon: "SUMMER_SALE",
      payment_type: 'credit_card',
      items: [{
        item_id: 'SKU_12345',
        item_name: 'T-Shirt',
        item_variant: "green"
        price: 10.01,
        quantity: 3
      },
      {
        item_id: 'SKU_12346',
        item_name: 'Women's Tee',
        item_variant: "gray"
        price: 21.01,
        quantity: 2
      }]
    });
  • Make sure the following parameters are included:
    • transaction_id (must be unique per order)
    • value (order total)
    • currency
    • items (with item IDs, names, quantity, price)
  • In Google Tag Manager , configure an event to trigger:
    • When a user completes a purchase
    • For SPA or headless setups, make sure the event fires after the purchase is finalized—not just on a page view.

QA Tips

  • Validate with GA4’s DebugView, Tag Assistant, or BigQuery to confirm clean and complete data.
  • Hire a pro to configure your purchase tracking so your GA4 revenue data is accurate and reliable.

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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