Data Management

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Browse our other resources

Glew has been paramount to the success of our business. As an ecommerce company, our data is tored in a countless number of siloed repositories.

FAQs

Frequently asked questions about your account, integrations, data and features in Glew.

How is ad spend attributed to Facebook versus Instagram?

Ad spend in Glew is pulled in directly from Facebook Ads Manager and will default to Facebook, Instagram, Messenger or Audience Network, depending on your campaigns.

How does attribution work in Glew?

Glew uses a process called channel mapping to identify the correct source, medium and campaign for purchases in order to attribute them to the correct channel.

Channel mapping works through UTM tagging, using the unique identifiers added to a URL to indicate the referring source, medium and campaign for purchases made through that URL.

Most channel mapping models work by simple exact matching based on medium – for example, if the medium contains exactly “facebook,” “google,” or “email,” it will match it to the correct channel.

Glew's model takes a few extra steps to ensure we’re matching channels accurately and capturing and attributing all the purchases we possibly can:

  • Glew uses a waterfall model to identify and attribute all possible orders. First, we try to exactly match medium or source to our predefined channels. If that’s not possible, we try to find the best match to our predefined channels – like “affiliates” and “affiliate.” Finally, if that’s not possible, we’ll take your medium or source and add it as a channel in Glew, even if it’s not in our predefined list.
  • Glew’s model can account for non-web orders (including marketplaces like Amazon, Facebook and Google, subscriptions from ReCharge, retail point of sale and draft orders) for Shopify by defaulting to the order source from Shopify
  • Glew’s channel mapping doesn’t rely on exact match – we capture close match and common variations (like “video” and “videos”) – and isn’t case sensitive, so we’ll understand that “Facebook” and “facebook” are the same thing
  • Glew breaks out paid advertising into separately rather than bucketing them into one channel, including Facebook, Google, Instagram and AdRoll

Click here to see our full channel mapping model.

What attribution model does Glew use?

There are many different attribution models in ecommerce. Glew uses first-order attribution, which means that the lifetime value of a customer is attributed to the original channel that led them to purchase from you. For example, if a customer buys from you three times and the first sale came through paid search, while the second and third came from direct traffic, Glew would attribute the revenue from all three sales to paid search.

We believe first-order attribution is the most relevant for ecommerce, because it highlights how you gained a new customer, where they initially came from and how much that channel is worth to your store in the long run.

How do I set up my UTMs for accurate attribution tracking in Glew?

In order to get the most value from our channel and attribution reporting, you'll want to make sure that your UTMs follow our channel mapping model. You can reference the full model here.

How often does my data update in Glew?

Most data in Glew updates every hour, importing automatically from the data sources you have integrated. You can see the date and time of your last import beside each integration in Store Settings.

The exceptions to hourly imports are customer and inventory data, which is generally updated nightly.

If you're a Glew Plus customer, you can customize the rate at which your data refreshes - please reach out to your account manager or support@glew.io for more information.

One of my data sources isn't updating. What happened?

If one of your data sources isn't updating, check Store Settings and make sure an import isn't in progress for that integration. If an import is currently in progress, we halt hourly updates until the full import is complete. Your data will be current once the full import is finished.

If an import is not in progress and your data is still not updating, please reach out to us at support@glew.io.

Why is my data showing all 0's?

If one of your data sources is showing all 0's, check Store Settings and make sure an import isn't in progress for that integration.

If an import is currently in progress, we halt hourly updates until the full import is complete. Your data will be current once the full import is finished.

My Facebook channel data isn't displaying as "Facebook" under Channels on the Performance tab. What's happening?

If your Facebook channel data isn't properly displaying as "Facebook" under Channels, check how your order sources are tagged. If you're using "fb" as an order source rather than "Facebook," these orders may not be attributed correctly in Glew. Use "Facebook" to ensure they are mapped correctly. The same is true for "ig" versus "Instagram."

A similar problem can occur if you use a tag like "referral" for Facebook orders - Glew will not be able tell whether they should be associated with paid or organic traffic. Use tags like "paid" or "paid social" to ensure they are mapped correctly to the "facebook-paid" channel.

How do I update my cost of goods?

Good question! You can use our Cost Manager page, under Products, to update costs for variant-level products. If you’d rather update costs in bulk, you can import them as a CSV on the same page – just click “Import CSV File” and follow the instructions.

If you use Shopify, BigCommerce or Magento, you can also automatically add costs from your ecommerce platform. You will need to clear out your existing cost data before importing new costs from your ecommerce platform. See our Cost Manager tool for more instructions.

How many years of historical data can I import into Glew?

Great news! You can import unlimited historical data from all your data sources into Glew, which is helpful for historical comparisons, evaluating seasonality and trends and more.

What do different colored metrics indicate in Glew?

Good question! We use different colors to indicate how your performance is trending for different metrics in Glew. Green indicates that metric is trending in a positive direction, while red indicates that metric is trending in a negative direction. Additionally, green can represent your best-performing channel, while red can represent your lowest-performing channel.

What order statuses are excluded in Glew?

The order statuses we exclude depend on your ecommerce platform. See below for excluded order statuses by platform:

BigCommerce:

  • Pending
  • Awaiting Payment
  • Cancelled
  • Declined
  • Incomplete

Magento:

  • Canceled/Cancelled
  • Fraud

Shopify:

  • Canceled/Cancelled
  • Failed
  • Voided
  • Refunded

WooCommerce:

  • Canceled/Cancelled
  • Failed
  • Pending
  • On Hold

Salesforce Commerce Cloud:

  • Canceled/Cancelled
  • Failed

How do you calculate active, at-risk and lost customers in Glew?

We calculate active, at-risk and lost customers based on Lapse Point, a Diamond Metric calculated in Glew that refers to the number of days that can pass before a customer is likely to never make a purchase again. Each business has a different lapse point depending on their products and expected customer behavior. For example, a cosmetics brand would have a significantly shorter lapse point than a company that sells high-end speakers.

Active: Customers who actively purchase on your site and are well within your store’s Lapse Point.

At-risk: Customers who are within 20% of your Lapse Point and are at risk of not buying from your store again. For example, if your lapse point is 100 days, everyone at 80+ days since their last purchase would be At Risk.

Lost: Customers who have surpassed the Lapse Point since they last bought from your store. For example, if your Lapse Point is 100 days, everyone who hasn’t purchased in 100+ days would be considered Lost.

You can find more information about your store’s Lapse Point in Glew under Customers > Future Value page.

How do I create custom segments?

It’s easy to build custom segments from your customers and products in Glew, and you can create them in a few different places.

Customers: You can create custom customer segments at Customers > Segments (click “Create Segment), and on your customer table (just filter the table and click “Save as segment”).

Products: You can filter products at Products > Product List (similarly, just filter the table and click “Save as segment”).

Many of the other tables in Glew, including Inventory and Orders, are also available for segmentation. Remember that you can export customer segments directly to your email or marketing automation platform as lists.

How do I filter data?

You can filter any table or data set in Glew. To filter tables and channels, click "Filter" at the top left or right of each section, and choose from the available filters. Note that available filters may differ depending on the data set.

To access different views for performance metrics and other visualizations, you can choose to group the data differently (i.e., by day, week, month, time of day, day of week, etc.). You can also use our date picker at the top of each page in the app to choose a specific date range.

I'm looking for a specific filter and I don't see it. What's happening?

Good question! While all data is filterable in Glew, the available filters you see on each table will differ depending on what the data is. For example, there are product-specific filters on the Product table and order-specific filters on the Order table.

How do I export data?

You can export any data table or segment in Glew as a CSV. Just look for and click the blue "Export as CSV" button - your data will automatically download.

Why do I see a different order count on All Orders?

You may see a different order count on the All Orders tab than you do elsewhere in the app – that’s normal. On All Orders, we display every order from your ecommerce platform for the selected date range. We do not exclude orders on this page based on order status like we do in other areas of the app.

How do you calculate new vs. repeat customers?

Glew defines new customers as those who made their first purchase during the timeframe selected in the date picker. They may have made multiple purchases or just one, but their initial purchase must have been in the timeframe selected.

The repeat customer calculation is based on customers who made a repeat purchase in the timeframe selected in the date picker, but whose first purchase did not happen in that timeframe. Their first purchase must have been made prior to the timeframe selected.

A customer can only be counted as a new or a repeat customer during a given timeframe - not both. Even if a customer has made multiple purchases during a selected period, if they made their first purchase during that period, they will be counted as a new customer, not a repeat customer.

Glew also has the ability to tie initial purchases to later purchases, even when the customer account was created at a later purchase. For example, if a customer places an order but does not create an account at the time, and then comes back later to make a purchase and does create an account, Glew will tie those purchases together and consider that customer a repeat customer, depending on the timeframe selected.

Why do I see zero repeat customers in the total, but some repeat customers in the New vs. Repeat Customers visualization?

Depending on the timeframe and grouping you have selected, you may see fewer or no repeat customers in the total on New vs. Repeat Customers, but still see some or more repeat customers in the visualization. This is because of the way Glew calculates new vs. repeat customers.

Glew defines new customers as those who made their first purchase during the timeframe selected in the date picker. They may have made multiple purchases or just one, but their initial purchase must have been in the timeframe selected. Repeat customers are those who made a repeat purchase in the timeframe selected in the date picker, but whose first purchase happened prior to the timeframe selected.

A customer can only be counted as a new or a repeat customer during a given timeframe – not both. Even if a customer has made multiple purchases during a selected period, if they made their first purchase during that period, they will be counted as a new customer, not a repeat customer.

If you have a longer time period, like a full year, selected in the date picker, it can cause a mismatch between what you see in the new vs. repeat customer totals and what you see in the visualization (like in the image below). That’s because the totals are counting customers only for the period, while the visualization includes all orders. For example, a customer who made their first purchase during the time period selected would be counted as a new customer in the total. But if they made subsequent purchases within that period as well, those purchases would show up in the visualization as repeat customers, since that visualization includes their repeat orders.

How do you display Return on Ad Spend?

Return on Ad Spend, or ROAS, can be calculated as either a revenue amount or as a ratio.

In Glew, we display ROAS as a ratio on the Facebook performance tab (Performance > Advertising > Facebook), since that is the standard for Facebook. We display overall ROAS as a revenue dollar amount elsewhere in the app.

Here's an example: If you spent $1,000 on advertising in one month and generated $5,000 in revenue, your return would be $5,000/$1,000, or a 5:1 ROAS ratio. A return on ad spend of 5:1 indicates that for every dollar you spend in advertising, you gain $5 in revenue.

What's the difference between returns and refunds?

If you use Shopify, you may see a difference between your returns and refunds in Glew. That's because returns and refunds are considered as two distinct metrics in both Shopify and Glew.

A return is when goods pass from a customer back to you after a customer has made a purchase but decided not to keep it. A refund occurs when you pass the value of those goods back to the customer. A return deals with the purchased items, whereas a refund deals with the monetary value of the purchased items that you will issue the customer when you process a return.

Why am I seeing a discrepancy between data in Facebook and in Glew?

If you’re seeing a discrepancy between the Facebook performance data you see in the Facebook Ads Manager and in Glew as it relates to orders, revenue, conversion or ROAS, there could be a few reasons:

  • Attribution window: For Facebook metrics, we use Facebook’s standard attribution model (7-day click, one-day view). That means Glew will display data for purchases that happened within one day of someone seeing a Facebook ad or within 7 days of someone clicking on a Facebook ad. We used first-purchase attribution throughout most of the rest of the app, meaning that all purchases will be attributed to the channel that originally drove them to purchase from you.
  • Actions: Glew counts Actions taken off your ad, which are counted as action type = “purchase” on your website.

All other data relating to ad spend, impressions, and clicks should match what you see in your Facebook Business Manager account.

If you are looking at the correct attribution window, counting the same action type and still seeing a disparity in your data, please get in touch with us at support@glew.io.

What is the timeframe and comparison for purchase frequency on the Lifetime Value tab?

Our purchase frequency visualization on the Lifetime Value tab is a cumulative lifetime calculation that compares against the previous period and the previous year. This is the same comparison used for LTV.

Why don't I have products showing up in Top Sellers in my Daily Snapshot?

If you are seeing revenue in your Daily Snapshot but no products are appearing in the Top Sellers module, there could be an easy answer: total number of orders. In order for a product to display under Top Sellers in your Daily Snapshot, it needs to have at least 2 orders. If your products don't have > 2 orders, you won't see them under Top Sellers.

I'm having trouble reporting on product data because of default product names. How do I change them?

Glew includes data for both variant and configurable products - variants are just different versions of a configurable, or parent, product. Some stores make variants products for each size, color, fit, etc. for each configurable product they sell.

However, even if your store is only utilizing configurable products, Shopify automatically creates invisible variant products for each configurable. Since you haven't named those invisible variants, Shopify gives them the name "Default Title," which can get in the way of reporting. To ensure you can create accurate product reports, make sure your product lists always show the configurable products rather than the variants, using the toggle at the top right of the Product List table.

How is product cost calculated?

Cost on a product level (for the individual product) will default to the cost value manually input in Glew. If there is no Glew cost value for that product, or if you have not manually entered costs for your products, product cost will default to the cost listed by your ecommerce platform for that product. If there isn't cost data for a product for a particular day you are reporting on, we will use the product cost for the current day.

Why am I seeing less revenue than I would expect from my retargeting platform?

If you use an ad retargeting platform like AdRoll, you may see sales or revenue data in Glew that doesn’t match up with the data you see in your retargeting platform. That’s because of Glew’s first-purchase attribution model, which assigns credit for all of a customer’s sales to the channel that originated their first purchase with you. Since retargeting platforms primarily target existing customers, their sales will be credited to the channel that originally drove them to make a purchase the first time – not the retargeting platform, even if that brings them back to make subsequent purchases.

I use Mailchimp and Shopify, and I'm missing some email performance data. What's happening?

Glew’s Email Marketing analysis, under the Performance tab, combines data from both your email platform and your ecommerce cart. If you use Mailchimp and Shopify, you may notice some metrics missing after May 2019, including revenue and orders. This is because we pull those metrics from Mailchimp – when Mailchimp and Shopify ended their partnership, those metrics were no longer automatically available.

In order to view revenue and orders for Mailchimp campaigns, you will need to have your revenue and order data imported from Shopify back into Mailchimp You can do this manually, or using a third-party app like ShopSync or Zapier.

From Mailchimp: “Once the integration (Shopify) is phased out, historical data will remain available in Mailchimp for up to 30 days. After that point, purchase data, and some customer information, will no longer be visible in Mailchimp. Your Shopify data will remain available through your Shopify account, and you can choose to import it back into your Mailchimp account.”

More information, including instructions for how connect your Mailchimp and Shopify accounts using a third-party app: https://mailchimp.com/help/shopify-solutions/

Why do the number of customers in a segment in Glew not match the number of customers from that segment pushed to my email platform?

If you enable Glew's automatic segment sync to push your customer segments to Mailchimp or Klaviyo, you may see that the number of customers in a segment in Glew is different than the number that ultimately gets pushed to your email platform. This is normal, and can happen for a number of reasons:

  • Our automated segment sync follows the email opt-in/unsubscribe rules of your email platform and ecommerce cart. Depending on which email platform and cart you use, we may not push customers who have not opted into receiving marketing emails or customers who have unsubscribed from your emails when you sync a segment. This would lead you to see a higher number of customers in the segment in Glew.
  • When you sync a segment for the first time in Glew, we push all customers who are in that segment for the last 365 days to your email platform (unless it is a date-based segment, like Three Months Since Last Purchase). Subsequent nightly syncs will update the segment for any customers who have been added or removed. However, if you are looking at a shorter date range than the past 365 days in Glew, you may see a much larger number of customers in the segment in your email platform. This would lead you to see a lower number of customers in the segment in Glew.
When I sync a segment with my email platform, which customers are pushed?

Enabling segment sync will push all customers in that segment for the last 365 days to your default list in Mailchimp or Klaviyo at 12:00 AM UTC (for all segments other than date-based segments, like Three Months Since Last Purchase, which will follow their own date ranges). After that, any new or updated contacts in each segment you sync will be added or removed daily at 12:oo AM UTC.

Glew does follow the email opt-in/unsubscribe rules of your email platform and ecommerce cart. Depending on which email platform and cart you use, we may not push customers who have not opted into receiving marketing emails or customers who have unsubscribed from your emails when you sync a segment. (For example, if you use Shopify, we will only push customers who have an "accepts marketing" flag). Keep in mind that this may cause you to see different numbers in your segments in Glew than are ultimately pushed to your list in Mailchimp or Klaviyo.

I uploaded my product costs via CSV but the values are missing. What's happening?

If you uploaded your product costs correctly via CSV in our cost manager, but aren't seeing any values for your costs, it may be because of how your product IDs are formatted in your ecommerce platform.

One common cause is when your product IDs are very long, causing them to get saved in scientific notation (for example, 2.25E+11). That means their numeric value in Glew will round to something like 225000000000, rather than saving the actual ID. This causes your cost values to go unsaved and can produce holes in your data.

If this happens to you, you'll need to re-upload your costs, starting with a fresh costs template export, which you can download in the instructions on our Cost Manager page. You'll need to ensure you format the cells before saving the file. To do this in Excel:

  • Highlight the column with your product ID and right click, then select Format Cells
  • Change the type to Numeric and select 0 decimal places
  • Then, save and re-upload your CSV to your Cost Manager in Glew

If this doesn't work, please reach out to us at support@glew.io.

Why does my refunds data look different on the Orders tab than it does on Highlights/Performance?

You may notice that your refunds data (number of refunds and amount refunded) looks different in the Orders tab than it does in the Highlights tab or Performance tab. This is normal, and happens because of the way we calculate refunds in both of these places.

In the Orders tab, refunds are calculated on an order level and related metrics are based on order date and grouped by order ID. In Highlights and Performance, refund metrics are based on the refunded date rather than the order date.

Why am I seeing a discrepancy between refunds in my Daily Snapshot and in the Orders tab in Glew?

You may notice a discrepancy between the refunds data you see in your Daily Snapshot email and the refunds data you see in your Orders tab (both in Glew and in your ecommerce platform). That's expected, and is because of how and when refunds are calculated.

Refunds in the Daily Snapshot are reported based on the refunded date - when the refund was processed. Refunds on the Orders tab in Glew (along with the Orders tab in your ecommerce platform) are reported based on order date - when the order was placed. For example, you may see a refund reflected in your Daily Snapshot that you do not see in your Orders tab, depending on what date range you have selected. Because refunds are often not processed the same day the order was placed, this can cause a discrepancy between these two areas.

I use discounts but I'm not seeing any discounted products in the Products tab - what's happening?

If you use discounts, you may notice discounts usage on your Orders tab, but not see discounted products in the Discounted Products segment in your Products tab. That may be expected, depending on what kind of discounts you are using.

Discounts may be one of two kinds: order-based (i.e., 10% off your entire order) or product-based (i.e., $5 off a specific item). The Orders tab will include order-based discounts, while the Discounted Products tab will include only individual items that are discounted.

If you use mainly order-based discounts, you will see discount usage reflected on your Orders tab, but you will not see discounted products in your Discounted Products segment.

I just switched ecommerce platforms, and now I'm missing historical product data. Why?

Glew groups product data on a product ID level. If you switch ecommerce platforms, it's important to make sure your product IDs are mapped correctly to ensure that product performance data carries over to your new platform. If product IDs in your new ecommerce platform do not match the product IDs you used in your previous platform, it can cause gaps or discrepancies in your historical data.

Typically, your products will receive new product IDs when you migrate to a new ecommerce platform. In order to map them correctly, you have two options:

1. Match your new product IDs to your old product IDs. You can do this when you upload products to your new ecommerce platform - just make sure you include the existing product IDs. This is what we recommend doing.

2. Match your old product IDs to your new product IDs. If you choose this option, you will need to use the new product IDs assigned when you upload your products, and also go back and attach those new product IDs to all historical order items in order to capture your historical data. We do not recommend this option, as it requires more work and can lead to data gaps and discrepancies if done incorrectly.

Please remember to always use your (old and new) ecommerce platforms for guidance when migrating data - they will be the best sources for specific information and best practices. Learn more about safely migrating ecommerce platforms.

Where can I find customer acquisition cost in Glew?

Glew tracks customer acquisition cost by taking into spend from paid advertising channels you have connected, including Facebook and Google Ads. You'll find customer acquisition cost data in the Lifetime Profitability by Channel table, which is located at Customers > Lifetime Value > LTV Profitability by Channel.

How do I remove a customer's data from Glew?

Since any data stored in Glew is pulled from other platforms, in order to delete data from Glew, you will need to first delete it from the source platform - in this case, your ecommerce cart.

To remove a customer record from Glew, first, delete the customer from your ecommerce platform. Their customer record will be removed from Glew on the next hourly data sync, and no new data will be added for that customer. However, to delete all of a customer's historical purchase data, you will need to do a complete resync of your data - please reach out to our team at support@glew.io to kick off a resync.

How can I use Dotdigital data in Glew?

When you integrate Dotdigital in Glew, you can view your overall email marketing performance data and drill down into individual campaign and survey performance to see what's working and what's not. You can also see your email and survey data in the same place as your ecommerce and other key data. View your performance through visualizations in Glew, download CSVs or create and schedule reports.

Get started with Glew.

Try a free trial of Glew Pro – no credit card or commitment required.