REQUEST: Better Default Analytics For Seasonal Businesses

[Ben31]

Hi There,

Over the past year, the iOS and web app changes to home screen data, have created a lot of extra taps/clicks and unnecessary loading times - especially if your business is seasonal. See below for why.

RECOMMENDED CHANGES...

1.

Add back a 'Compare' option on the home screen

2.

Allow us to set a home screen default so there's no extra tap/clicks

e.g. Set 'Month to date' compared to 'Previous year' as the default

3.

Allow us to set a Financial/Fiscal year that's shown as 'Fiscal year to date'.

4.

Add a bold total plus the comparison percentage to the top of the analytics screen, just like the home screen to reduce data hunting. See attached, the home page delivers that 'data glance' you need.

HERE'S WHY...

1.

In a seasonal business, you almost never compare growth to the previous month. Instead, you generally compare growth to the same month but from the previous year. This is because seasonal product changes and yearly sales events like Easter, Mothers Day etc, make month-to-month comparisons largely pointless.

We're almost always trying to improve seasons/quarters compared to the previous year, not different seasons within the same year. e.g. March has a bunch of 'change of season' product launches plus holidays like Easter that February will never have and vice versa. These differences can skew everything from total sales to sessions, cart value, conversion rate etc, so make Feb/Mar comparisons (and most other months) largely meaningless.

2.

The new, limited data screen across Shopify assumes you never want to compare to the previous year. So getting useful data requires more taps/clicks and loading times to find data that was previously at your finger tips.

3.

'Calendar year to date' and 'Fiscal year to date' (or Financial year to date depending on your country) are two critical date ranges and if anything, we require 'Fiscal year to date' much more often, especially as we get further into the year. Financially, the fiscal year is more meaningful which surely is the point of analytics? 

Top-line, financially critical data you check daily (or hourly sometimes) should be one click away - no?

4.

The analytics screen doesn't give you easy-to-find totals. Yes, even after extra tapping/clicking/loading, there's no bold total and percentage. Instead, you have to scroll and drill-down under the graph to find the comparison. See the attached image.

We're a seasonal business but the latest data streamlining has created more work to get that daily data which previously, was a tap away.

I hope that makes sense. Cheers, Ben

[Dirk]

Hey, @Ben31 

We really appreciate your input on suggesting the various changes to Shopify's analytics page. Although we don't have a timetable on this being considered to roll-out as a feature, we certainly appreciate the feedback. This helps us steer the direction of the Shopify to continue developing a feature rich platform. I'd be happy to pass this information on to our development team for potential future implementation. 

If there is anything else I can help you with, please let me know.

[Ben31]

Thanks for the reply Dirk, much appreciated. Cheers, Ben