Google Analytics

Analytics integration

Referral and affiliate marketing you can measure in Google Analytics

See how people move through your referral experience and which sharing channels send visitors back to your store. ReferralCandy adds the campaign context; Google Analytics gives your team a familiar place to read the traffic.

Try for free on Shopify

Not on Shopify? Try ReferralCandy for free.

Built for GA4 properties and Google tag IDs.

Why connect Google Analytics

Make word of mouth visible in the measurement stack.

Referral growth starts in private conversations, but it does not have to disappear from reporting. The Google Analytics setup helps you monitor visits to ReferralCandy campaign pages and identify traffic arriving at your store through personal referral links.

01

Measure campaign-page interest

Add a Google tag ID to ReferralCandy pages and monitor visits to referral or affiliate campaign experiences in a dedicated GA4 property.

02

Read referred traffic by channel

ReferralCandy uses source and medium parameters so your acquisition reports can show traffic from referral links and the channel used to share them.

03

Keep reporting familiar

Bring referral traffic into Google Analytics instead of asking the broader marketing team to learn a separate reporting language.

See it in your stack

Build the program around your customer journey.

Start with the integration you already run, then shape the campaign, reward, and message around the relationships your brand has earned.

Try for free on Shopify

Not on Shopify? Try ReferralCandy for free.

How it works

A clean setup for referral measurement

The recommended structure separates campaign-page visits from store activity, then uses referral traffic parameters to connect the story at the reporting level.

  1. 1

    Create a GA4 property

    Use a separate property for your ReferralCandy portal so campaign-page sessions are easy to distinguish from ecommerce sessions.

  2. 2

    Add the campaign URL

    Set the ReferralCandy portal domain as the web data stream URL, then copy the GA4 Measurement ID.

  3. 3

    Connect the Google tag

    Paste the Measurement ID into ReferralCandy’s Marketing Analytics integration and save the change.

  4. 4

    Read acquisition reports

    Review page views for campaign pages and use source and medium dimensions to understand referral traffic returning to your store.

Measurement model

Know what each view is designed to answer.

Clear measurement starts with clear questions. Use the campaign property for activity on ReferralCandy pages and your store property for visits the referral program sends to the ecommerce site.

Campaign property

Who visited the referral experience?

Track page views on the ReferralCandy portal and campaign pages with the Google tag connected inside ReferralCandy.

Store property

Which channels brought visitors back?

In store acquisition reports, ReferralCandy traffic can appear with referral-specific source values and the sharing network as the medium.

Scope

Plan around the current boundary

The native integration does not provide cross-domain tracking or custom event definitions, so treat the two properties as complementary reporting views.

Who it is for

For teams that want a practical referral view inside their existing analytics workflow.

This integration is useful when the goal is to understand campaign-page traffic and referral acquisition sources without designing a custom analytics implementation.

  • ✓Growth teams comparing referral traffic with other acquisition channels
  • ✓Analysts separating campaign-page engagement from store sessions
  • ✓Marketing teams that want channel context from personal referral links

Questions, answered

Google Analytics integration FAQ

Marketing overview first. When you are ready to configure the integration, the technical guide has the exact settings.

Read the Google Analytics setup guide
What can I measure with the ReferralCandy Google Analytics integration?

You can track visits to ReferralCandy referral or affiliate campaign pages and analyze traffic that personal referral links send to your ecommerce store.

Should I use the same GA4 property as my store?

ReferralCandy recommends a separate GA4 property for campaign pages so those sessions remain distinct from sessions on your store.

How does referred traffic appear in Google Analytics?

ReferralCandy traffic can use referralcandy or refcandy as the source and the sharing channel, such as WhatsApp or direct sharing, as the medium. Shopify uses its own referral and affiliate values.

How quickly will campaign-page data appear?

After the Google tag is connected, ReferralCandy notes that page views may take up to 24 hours to appear in Google Analytics.

Does the native integration support cross-domain tracking or custom events?

No. The current integration does not support cross-domain tracking or custom Google Analytics event definitions.

Let your strongest relationships bring the next customer.

Connect Google Analytics to ReferralCandy and make referral and affiliate growth part of the stack your team already runs.

Try for free on Shopify

Not on Shopify? Try ReferralCandy for free.