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Imagine you’re running an online store — users browse products, add items to a cart, check out, and come back to buy again. This guide walks through that full journey, showing which events to fire at each step, what data to capture, and how to use it to understand user behavior, trigger campaigns, and measure revenue.

Core E-commerce Events

1. Product Catalog Events

Product Viewed

When: User lands on product detail page
Analytics use cases:
  • Product performance: Views by product, conversion rate (viewed → purchased)
  • Browse abandonment: Users who viewed but didn’t add to cart
  • Inventory insights: High-demand products (views vs stock)
Query example (top viewed products this week):

Product List Viewed

When: User views category page, search results, or collection
Analytics use cases:
  • Filter effectiveness: Which filters lead to purchases
  • Sort behavior: Does “price low-to-high” convert better?
  • Zero-results search: Queries with no results (product gap analysis)

Product Searched

When: User submits search query
Analytics use cases:
  • Search effectiveness: Click-through rate by query
  • Failed searches: Queries with 0 results or no clicks
  • Search → Purchase attribution: Revenue by search query

2. Cart Management Events

Product Added

When: User clicks “Add to Cart”
Trigger campaign:

Product Removed

When: User removes item from cart
Analytics: Cart removal reasons, products frequently removed

Cart Viewed

When: User opens cart page or mini-cart
Analytics: Cart value distribution, abandoned cart value, time to purchase

3. Checkout Flow Events

Checkout Started

When: User clicks “Proceed to Checkout” from cart
Funnel definition:

Checkout Step Viewed/Completed

When: User progresses through checkout steps Step 1: Shipping Info
Step 2: Payment Info
Analytics: Drop-off by step, completion time by step, payment method conversion rates

Order Completed

When: Payment successful, order created
Critical: Update user profile attributes:
Trigger campaigns:
  • Post-purchase thank-you email
  • Product review request (7 days later)
  • Upsell campaign (complementary products)
  • Repeat purchase incentive (30 days later)

4. Post-Purchase Events

Order Fulfilled

When: Order ships (server-side event from fulfillment system)
Trigger: Shipping confirmation email with tracking link

Order Delivered

When: Carrier confirms delivery
Trigger: Review request email (product arrived, ask for feedback)

Product Reviewed

When: User submits product review
Analytics: Average rating by product, review completion rate

Order Refunded

When: Customer returns product
Update profile attributes:
Trigger: Follow-up email (offer size exchange, understand issue)

Advanced Analytics Queries

These SQL snippets are illustrative analytics patterns (how you might think about the data). You analyze events in Zixflow dashboards and APIs — not by querying an internal table directly.

Revenue Attribution by Channel


Product Affinity Analysis

Use case: “Customers who bought X also bought Y” recommendations

Cohort Retention by First Purchase Month


Implementation Checklist

Phase 1: Core Tracking (Week 1)

  • Product Viewed (PDP)
  • Product Added to Cart
  • Checkout Started
  • Order Completed
  • Set profile attributes on purchase

Phase 2: Funnel Optimization (Week 2)

  • Product List Viewed (category/search pages)
  • Product Searched
  • Cart Viewed
  • Checkout Step Viewed/Completed (all steps)
  • Product Removed from Cart

Phase 3: Lifecycle & Retention (Week 3)

  • Order Fulfilled (server-side)
  • Order Delivered (webhook from carrier)
  • Product Reviewed
  • Order Refunded
  • Cart abandonment campaign
  • Post-purchase email sequence

Phase 4: Advanced Analytics (Week 4)

  • Revenue attribution by channel
  • Product affinity analysis
  • Cohort retention analysis
  • LTV prediction model

Next: Mobile app event tracking patterns → Mobile App Tracking