As you can see in the screenshot, it says that about 81% of sessions, 97% of unique visitors, and 70% of sessions that completed checkout were credited with our own site as the referrer site. What may cause this? Our products are very expensive so the time it takes for a visitor to become a buyer is often long, possibly up to a month or so. Is it possible that this skews the referrer because of time lapses, like holding the website in a tab? Could it mark ourself as a referrer in cases of time lapses between website usage times?
The end result I’d like to know is what website FIRST referred our converted buyers. Like, what website referred their first session, before they purchased? Is there a way to view this in the analytics section?
This happens because Shopify tracks referrers per session, not the full journey. When customers return later (direct, bookmark, email), the original source is lost, so your site shows as the referrer. Long buying cycles make this worse. It’s not mainly from open tabs. To see the first source, use reports like “first referrer” or tools like Google Analytics 4 (User acquisition).
Yeah this is normal. Shopify tracks referrers per session, not the full journey. So when someone comes back later (direct, bookmark, email), it often loses the original source and shows your own site instead. Longer buying cycles make this worse. It’s not really from open tabs. If you want the first source, check “first referrer” or use Google Analytics 4 (User acquisition).
Yeah Shopify doesn’t label it super clearly, that’s why it’s hard to find.
Go to Analytics → Reports → Acquisition, then look for reports like “Sessions by first referrer” or “Customers by first source.” If you don’t see them, your plan/data might be limiting what shows.
Honestly though, Shopify’s version is pretty basic. If you really want accurate first-touch data, you’re better off using Google Analytics 4 → check “User acquisition.”
This behaviour is expected in Shopify and does not necessarily indicate an issue with tracking.
Shopify primarily attributes traffic at the session level, not across the entire customer journey. Because of this, when a customer returns later whether through a direct visit, bookmark or email, the original source that first brought them to the store is often not retained. As a results, conversion can appear as if they originated from the stores own domain.
This becomes more noticeable in cases where:
The purchases cycle is longer
Customers revisit multiple times before completing checkout
Attribution resets due to new sessions
The high percentage of self referrals in sessions, visitor and checkout data aligns with this limitations rather than indicating users simply leaving tabs open.
To better understand the true origin of converted customers, the following approaches are recommended:
Use shopify reports like " Sesssions by first refferer" or " Customers by first source"
Use Google analytics 4 (GA4), specificlly the User Acquisition report, which provides more reliable first-touch attribution.
In summary, shopify’s default analytics are useful for session-level insights but for deeper attribution specially first touch, external tool like GA4 or GTM provide a clearer picture of customer acquisition
