Fix your reporting baseline
Shopify changed how it counts sessions on 21 September 2026, so conversion rate may have jumped without anything really changing. Stop anyone making decisions on the wrong numbers.
What to do
- Add a note to your Shopify AnalyticsAdd an annotation on 21 September 2026 saying “Shopify changed how sessions are counted”, so it shows on your charts.
- Switch your year-on-year comparisonsFor comparisons across that date, use orders and sales rather than sessions or conversion rate. Shopify says orders, sales and customer counts weren’t affected.
- Update any dashboards you shareAdd the same note to Looker Studio, spreadsheets or board reports that use Shopify sessions or conversion rate.
- Tell your agency and teamMake sure anyone reporting on the store knows the baseline moved before they draw conclusions about Black Friday.
Related: Shopify changed how it counts sessions · Add your own notes to Shopify Analytics
Your result
Send this to your director
Hi [name], Heads up before we review Black Friday: Shopify changed how it counts sessions on 21 September 2026, so our conversion rate and session numbers aren’t directly comparable with last year. Orders and sales weren’t affected. I’ve added a note to our analytics and updated [number] reports and dashboards, and I’ll use orders and sales for year-on-year comparisons. [Your name]
Share your result
Post it on LinkedIn with #EcomWireChallenge. We read every one and shout out the best results each month.
Did the #EcomWireChallenge reporting fix 📊 Shopify changed how sessions are counted on 21 Sept, so I updated a few reports before anyone celebrated (or panicked) over conversion rate. Took about 15 minutes. Your turn 👇 https://www.ecomwire.co.uk/challenges/reporting-baseline
Weekly digest
Get updates like this every week