Difference Between Shopify Visitors Vs Sessions

Looking at your Shopify analytics or acquisition reports for the first time, you might be a little confused. There’s a lot of information to take in and it can be hard to know where to start – you’ll have more questions than answers! One of the most common questions people ask is: What exactly is the difference between Shopify Visitors vs Sessions?

What Is The Difference Between Shopify Visitors Vs Sessions?

Visitors and Sessions are different types of data recorded by cookies on Shopify. But what, exactly, is the difference between Shopify Visitors vs Sessions?

What does Visitors mean in Shopify?

One of the cookies that reports back to Shopify analytics is a record of the device that’s accessing the store.

This device is referred to as a ‘Visitor’, and one device equals one visitor.

This cookie will identify the device for future visits too, so you can see when and how often a particular customer on a particular device returns to your store!

Visitors data may help you draw conclusions on your most popular store format. For instance, do you have the most visitors from mobile, desktop, or tablet devices?

Utilizing visitor data will help you adjust your website to best fit your customer base. Depending on what format is the most popular, you may optimize the shop for iPhone users or desktop browsers, for example.

What does Sessions mean in Shopify?

Sessions data tracks the nature of a visitor’s interaction with the store.

Variables such as length (time spent in the store), location of visit, and source of referral are collected by sessions cookies and presented to you via Shopify analytics.

Session data stops being collected after 30 minutes of zero in-store activity from a visitor. Alternately, sessions stop at midnight UTC.

The number of Sessions recorded is usually higher than the number of Visitors, which is due to the fact that many visitors have multiple sessions.

The types of Session data and the benefits can be garnered from them are listed below:

• Sessions by time: Session data can be organised by time, showing the amount of visitors over a specified time range.You can use this data over time to measure the effectiveness of any promotion you run, to see what peak shopping hours are for your business, or to find the average time a customer spends on your site.
• Sessions by location: Location is restricted to the country of visit. With this data you can do market research on the popularity of your business worldwide, and discover where you are (and aren’t) selling.
• Sessions by source: Source in this context means the location of referral. In layman’s terms, this data shows exactly how visitors are coming to your store, i.e. directly, through a search, or a referring link. Analyzing this data will provide valuable insight to your store’s online presence, and the effectiveness of any outreach you have done.

Tips To Increase Visitors On Your Shopify Store

Here are some of the best tips to increase visitors to your Shopify store:

1.  Create SEO-Friendly Content

To increase visitors on your Shopify store, creating SEO-friendly content never hurts.

If content surrounding your product pages (such as blog posts) are well-optimized for SEO purposes, it can result in an increased amount of visitors.

Conduct keyword research, implement the best on-page SEO methods, and apply these to your store!

2. Carry Out Social Media Marketing

From instagram ad campaigns and promoted content on Facebook, to blog posts which foster organic conversions and increased domain authority, a huge amount of beneficial strategies are covered under the umbrella of Social Media marketing.

When it comes to the internet: When people aren’t shopping, they’re probably on social media! Utilize this to your advantage.

Create as many appealing avenues back to your store as possible, across all relevant social media platforms.

3. Start a Customer Loyalty Program

Even if your product and your store are the best on the market, the sheer volume of similar products available online make it hard for any retailer to make an impact.

To increase the amount of visitors to your store, start a customer loyalty program.

Not only will it create return visitors out of satisfied customers, but if the benefits of such a program are worth it, word will get around amongst your user base. More will want in on the loyalty bonus!

Tips To Increase Session Time On Your Shopify Store

1.  Create a User-Friendly & Mobile-Friendly Shopify Store

Besides having goods and services to sell, the most essential aspect of a Shopify store is its usability or user-friendliness.

If session times are low, chances are users may be having difficulty navigating your store or finding what they want.

Lengthen the average session time by making sure your site is user-friendly across a variety of platforms- particularly those that users use most to access your site.

You can find out what they are by analyzing your Session data.

2. Enhance Your Shopify Product Pages' Readability

Perhaps users are ending their sessions early due to your product pages being difficult to read.

Increase readability by making a user-friendly layout so that product descriptions and info sections are easy to read.

Do your best to reduce confusion or eye-strain on behalf of the shopper with simple layouts and well-sized fonts, and they’ll reward you with their hard-earned dollars!

3. Optimize Your Product Page Images

People love pictures!

Often, a picture of your product will do more work than the most well-written product description ever could.

Increase session time on your Shopify store by making all product page images clear, informative, and search engine-optimized with relevant meta-tags and alt-text.

4. Enhance Customer Engagement & Conversions With Shoppable Videos

Demonstrate your product and enhance both customer engagement and conversions with shoppable videos.

By showing your product in use, as well as providing video-based content that supports its use, you will increase consumer trust.

In turn, you’ll be able to convince those who don’t like written descriptions (or even pictures) to purchase your products!

Capture the attention of all potential customers by creating shoppable videos for your store.

The Bottom Line

The difference between Shopify Visitors vs Sessions is simple.

‘Visitors’ refers to the number of separate devices that visit your store. Meanwhile, ‘Sessions’ refers to the time they spent there, where in the world they’re from, and how they came to your store.

It’s an excellent idea to utilize both Session and Visitor data to optimize your Shopify store experience for increased visitor numbers and longer, more productive session times!