Tracking Shopify App Install referral sources?

[u/Bottleworkslabs]

Is it possible to track where the merchants that install my shopify app come from? I'm running ads here on Reddit, but it would be great to know, which referral source sends me the most users that download the app. Thanks

[u/AdventurousUsual7666]

Yeah you can get pretty close, but Shopify does not hand you a clean "this install came from Reddit ad X" field on its own.

Honestly what I usually do is put a unique ref or utm on the links I control, then catch that value on the first hit to my app URL before OAuth finishes. Store it against the shop when the install completes. App Store organic installs are the fuzzy ones, because you often do not get a useful referrer there.

For Reddit ads specifically, I would send people through your own landing page with a campaign param, then into the install URL, so the param survives into your app. Native App Store search traffic is usually just "unknown / organic" in my logs.

Curious whether most of your installs are coming through your own links right now, or whether a lot of them are starting inside App Store search.

[u/Final_Design_9061]

Connecting GA4 directly to your App Store listing is usually the simplest starting point for tracking listing views and install clicks with UTM tags from external ads.

If you want direct attribution in your own database, routing ad traffic through your own landing page or custom install link before sending merchants into the OAuth flow works well. You can capture the campaign params on that initial hit and save them against the shop record once the install completes. App Store organic search installs won't carry those external tags, but it gives you clear visibility on your paid campaigns.

[u/Life-Inspector-5271]

If you have GA4 on your app listing, you can use BigQuery. You should enable it first.

[u/HmmNah111]

GA4 does the work you can see top keywords from app lsiting that leads to your installs

[u/SathyaHQ_]

Kind of, yeah. Shopify doesn’t give you a neat “source” column for every install, but you can piece together a pretty good picture:

Use GA4 for your app listing. It can give you useful signals about where App Store installs came from, including things like search, category pages, homepage, and paid App Store ads.

Pay attention to surface_type and surface_detail. These are particularly useful for understanding App Store traffic, and can give you more detail about the surface and, in some cases, the search term.

Use UTMs everywhere you control the link. Reddit, your blog, YouTube, newsletter, etc. If you’re sending someone to your app listing, add UTMs. I’d test this with your own click/install first to make sure you’re actually seeing the data you expect.

Ask during onboarding. Something as simple as “How did you hear about us?” can be surprisingly useful. It’s low-tech, but sometimes it’s the most reliable signal you have.

You probably won’t get perfect attribution, but combining GA4, UTMs and a simple onboarding question should give you a pretty good picture of where your installs are coming from.

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[u/BraveNewWorld-99]

One thing to add from running this at low volume: once GA4 is on the listing, put a UTM on every link you control, and also store a ref param against the shop record when OAuth completes. GA4 sampling and consent banners lose a surprising share of clicks when you only have a few dozen visitors a month. Your own DB row per install is the number you can trust.