Before you start
Skio and Shopify measure different things: Skio reports on subscriptions and subscribers. Shopify reports on all customers and all orders, including one-time purchases. Both are accurate for what they measure, so some difference is expected.
Skio's data starts at your migration date: Skio includes subscriptions that were active when you migrated, plus everything after. Orders, one-time customers, and cancelled subscriptions from before your migration aren't in Skio.
How do Skio and Shopify analytics differ?
The biggest differences are refunds, what each platform counts, and when its data starts.
Skio | Shopify | |
|---|---|---|
What it reports on | Subscriptions and subscribers | All customers and orders |
Refunds and other sales reversals | Not subtracted | Subtracted from net sales |
Data range | From your migration date | Since your store was created |
What starts a cohort | A customer's first subscription | A customer's first order of any type |
Why is my net sales lower in Shopify than in Skio?
Shopify subtracts sales reversals from net sales, and Skio doesn't. This is the most common reason the two numbers differ.
Skio net sales: Gross sales minus discounts.
Shopify net sales: Gross sales minus discounts minus sales reversals.
In Shopify, sales reversals include more than refunds. They also cover returns, cancellations, order edits, and adjustments to shipping, taxes, fees, and discounts.
To compare the two, use Net sales in a Shopify Sales report and Net on your Skio Overview dashboard (Skio Dashboard > Analytics > Overview). Any remaining difference usually comes from sales reversals.
How are gross, net, and total sales calculated in Skio?
Skio's analytics dashboards let you view revenue as Gross, Net, or Total. Only the Overview dashboard calculates all three.
Gross: Product price times quantity.
Net: Gross minus discounts.
Total: Gross plus shipping and taxes, minus discounts. Available on the Overview dashboard only.
On the Cohort and Products dashboards, Total shows the same number as Net, because shipping and taxes aren't included there.
Subscribe & Save discounts are built into the subscription price at checkout. They don't appear as a separate discount in Skio or Shopify. For example, a $10 product with 20% off for subscribers is recorded as an $8 sale with no discount.
Forecast revenue includes shipping but not taxes, and it predicts future orders rather than reporting past ones. It isn't meant to match any Shopify sales report.
Why isn't all my subscription revenue in the Skio sales channel?
In Shopify, the Skio sales channel only includes recurring orders that Skio processes. A subscriber's first order is placed through your store's checkout, so Shopify credits it to the Online Store channel.
Online Store channel: Includes every first checkout order, both subscription and one-time.
Skio channel: Includes recurring orders, plus all orders from subscriptions you migrated into Skio. One-time items added to a recurring order also count here.
To see all of your subscription revenue in Shopify, break your sales down by subscription vs. one-time products instead of by sales channel.
Why don't my Shopify customer cohorts match my Skio cohorts?
Shopify starts a customer's cohort at their first order of any type. Skio starts it at their first subscription. These cohorts won't line up, even if most of your customers subscribe on their first order.
For example, a customer who places a one-time order in January and subscribes in March is in Shopify's January cohort and Skio's March cohort.
In both platforms, a customer stays in the same cohort permanently, and the cohort's metrics keep updating as its customers place more orders.
FAQ
Why is my Shopify customer count higher than my Skio subscriber count?
Shopify counts everyone who has ever placed an order, including one-time buyers and customers from before your migration. Skio only counts subscribers.
Does "first order has subscription" in Shopify mean the customer is an active subscriber?
No. It only shows whether the customer's very first order included a subscription. It still counts customers who later cancelled, and it leaves out customers who bought one-time first and subscribed later.
Why does my retention chart spike at certain months?
Spikes usually line up with billing intervals. For example, if many subscribers in a cohort are on a 3-month plan, their renewals cluster at months 3, 6, and 9. This is expected and doesn't mean retention improved.
Should I use Skio or Shopify analytics?
Use Shopify for your overall business, including one-time sales and customer acquisition. Use Skio for subscription performance, such as churn, subscriber lifetime value (LTV), and revenue forecasting.
Why does another analytics tool show a different revenue number?
Each analytics tool defines revenue its own way. Check whether the tool reports gross, net, or total sales, and whether it subtracts refunds, before comparing it to Skio or Shopify.