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Chat analytics overview

ShopGuide's merchant dashboard (Analytics → Dashboard in the app) reports on your chat's real usage, computed live from your store's conversation data — there is no separate analytics pipeline or delayed batch processing. This guide explains where the numbers come from and what each metric means.

Where the data comes from​

Every chat conversation is stored as a thread (one browsing session's chat) made up of messages (individual turns). The dashboard's numbers are derived directly from these records:

MetricHow it's calculated
Unique usersDistinct visitors (visitor_id), based on Shopify's own first-party identity cookies
SessionsDistinct browsing sessions (session_id), a 30-minute rolling window tied to Shopify's session cookie
InteractionsSessions that included at least one customer message
User messagesTotal messages sent by customers
Chat orders / revenueOrders where a webhook matched the purchasing customer to a prior chat session, recorded on the thread

Visitor and session identity come from Shopify's own first-party cookies (logged-in customer ID, then the _shopify_y/_shopify_s cookies). If a visitor hasn't consented to tracking, their visit isn't counted — the same behavior as Shopify's own analytics, so the numbers stay comparable.

Dashboard funnel cards​

The dashboard's ratio cards read from the same thread/message data:

  • Chat View Rate — sessions where the chat widget was opened, divided by total sessions
  • Session Interactions — sessions with a real chat exchange, divided by total sessions
  • User Interactions — unique visitors who engaged with chat, divided by all unique visitors
  • Chat Conversion — chat sessions that ended in a purchase, divided by all chat sessions
  • Session to Order — total orders, divided by total sessions
  • Chat Share of Orders — chat-attributed orders, divided by all store orders
  • Sessions per User — how many sessions the average visitor has
  • Avg. Interactions / Session — average messages exchanged per chat session

Shopify vs. ShopGuide session counts​

The dashboard has a toggle between two ways of counting "sessions":

  • Shopify (default) — pulled from Shopify's own bot-filtered Analytics via the Admin API. This matches the session count Shopify shows the merchant, but requires the read_reports scope and Shopify's Protected Customer Data approval. If your store hasn't granted these, session-based ratios show n/a rather than a misleading number.
  • ShopGuide — derived from ShopGuide's own thread data. Always available, but counts differently than Shopify's bot-filtered figure.

Chat-based rates (Chat Conversion, Chat Share of Orders) don't depend on this toggle since they don't use total sessions as a denominator.

Breakdowns and date range​

The dashboard also includes:

  • Device breakdown (mobile vs. desktop)
  • Input method breakdown (button clicks vs. typed text vs. voice)
  • A custom date-range picker so any of the above can be viewed for a specific period, not just the default window

What isn't included​

ShopGuide's dashboard does not include sentiment scoring, NPS/CSAT surveys, churn prediction, or usage heat maps — none of these exist in the app today. For a closer look at individual conversations and where customers hit dead ends, see Conversation insights.

Next steps​