Telr and tracking with GTM

[FrankvanBuiten]

Hi,

Does anybody have an experience with payment provider Telr? We're thinking of implementing it. We're a bit concerned with tracking purchases through GTM. If we choose for the customer to be redirected away, will the purchase automatically be attributed to the right channel? Or do we need to either use iframe method or have some complicated development?

Hope anybody has some answers.

[DaisyVo]

Hi @FrankvanBuiten 

It looks like you're considering integrating Telr as your payment provider and are concerned about how it affects purchase tracking in Google Tag Manager (GTM). Specifically, you want to know if transactions will still be correctly attributed to the right channel if customers are redirected to Telr for payment, or if you need to use an iframe or custom development to make it work smoothly.

Understanding the Issue

With redirection-based payment gateways like Telr, customers leave your Shopify store to complete the payment, then return to your order confirmation page after a successful transaction. The challenge here is that Google Analytics (GA) and GTM track transactions based on the session, and redirection can sometimes break this tracking, leading to:

• Loss of referral source (GA may see Telr as the referral instead of the original traffic source).
• Purchase attribution issues (transactions may not be credited to the right marketing channel).

Solution Options

1. Use GA4 with First-Party Cookies & Adjust Referral Exclusions

If you're using GA4, it's much better at handling cross-domain tracking compared to UA. But you still need to exclude Telr from the referral sources to prevent it from showing up as the traffic source.

Steps to fix in GA4:

1. Go to Admin > Data Streams > Your Shopify Stream.
2. Scroll down and click Configure tag settings > Show more settings.
3. Click List unwanted referrals and add telr.com to prevent it from overriding your original traffic source.

This helps ensure that Telr doesn’t hijack the session, so your conversions are still attributed to the original source (Google Ads, Facebook, Organic Search, etc.).

2. GTM and Server-Side Tracking

If GA4 still isn’t enough to solve your issue, you might need server-side GTM tracking. This requires setting up a server container where your store sends purchase data before redirection. This way, even if the session breaks, GTM has already captured the purchase.

Key steps:

1. Set up server-side GTM using Google Cloud or another hosting option.
2. Modify your Shopify checkout to send purchase data before redirecting to Telr.
3. Ensure Telr correctly redirects customers back to the "Thank You" page where GTM can finalize the transaction event.

This method requires custom development but is the most reliable way to prevent lost conversions.

3. Consider the iFrame Option (If Telr Supports It)

Some payment providers (like Stripe or PayPal) allow an iframe checkout where the payment happens on your site instead of redirecting. This keeps everything within Shopify and avoids tracking issues. However, iframe-based payment methods might not be fully supported by Telr, so you’d need to check with them.

Final Recommendation

• If you must use Telr with redirection, set up GA4 referral exclusions first and test if it solves the issue.
• If you still experience attribution problems, consider server-side tracking to capture transactions before the redirection happens.
• If Telr has an iframe option, use that to keep the session intact.

If you need any other assistance, feel free to reply and I will try my best to help.
Best regards,
Daisy