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Part 5 of 10 in Starting a Shopify store: the money side.
In the first months, almost every new store owner guesses where customers come from, and most guesses are wrong in the same direction: they credit whatever they spent the most time or money on.
Asking is cheap. One question after checkout, one tap to answer.
Keep your own circle out of the numbers
The first 20 or 30 orders of a new store are often people who know you: friends, family, colleagues, your Instagram followers from before the store. That’s great for sales and terrible for measurement. If they answer “Instagram” or “Friend or family”, your channel numbers are mostly your social circle.
Add one answer that’s just for them:
I know the owner
Put it near the end of the list. Now “Friend or family” means a friend of a customer, which is real word of mouth, and “Instagram” means strangers who found you there.
The question to start with
Keep it simple: “How did you hear about us?”, with 8 to 10 answers in plain words. A good starting list for a new store:
- TikTok
- Google search
- Friend or family
- A market or event
- I know the owner
- Other (please specify)
Remove channels you’re nowhere near. Add any you’re actively working on (a podcast you were on, a local shop that stocks you).
Reading the first 100 answers
Small numbers swing wildly. One enthusiastic customer who tells three friends can make “Friend or family” look like your best channel for a month.
| Answers so far | What you can say |
|---|---|
| Under 30 | Which 2 or 3 channels show up at all. Nothing about their size |
| 30 to 100 | Rough ranking of the big channels. Watch the typed “Other” answers for surprises |
| 100+ | Share per channel is fairly stable. Start comparing sales and average order per channel |
| 30+ in one channel | Enough to judge that channel on its own, for example before renewing an ad budget |
Look at sales and average order per channel, not just the count. A channel with fewer answers but bigger orders (word of mouth often is) can be worth more.
What to do with what you learn
- One channel brings most buyers: do more of exactly that before trying something new.
- “Other” keeps naming the same thing (a blog, a subreddit, a shop): add it as an answer, and go talk to them.
- A channel you pay for barely appears: give it a few more weeks with the survey running, then cut or change it.
- “Friend or family” is high: customers are recommending you. A simple referral reward may pay off.
HearAbout by Centubo. Ask “How did you hear about us?” on the Thank you page, tag every order, and see sales by channel. Free during launch.
Install on ShopifyNext in the series: your first discount: quantity breaks, percent off or a free gift?
Questions people ask
Why not just use Shopify's analytics?
Use it too. But early on, most orders show up as direct or search, because people heard about you somewhere first and typed your name later. The question fills that gap.
When can I trust the answers?
Treat the first 30 as a rough picture. Around 100 answers the big channels are clear. For small channels, wait until each has at least 20 to 30 answers before cutting or doubling down.
My friends and family buy a lot. Does that skew the results?
Yes, and that's normal for a new store. Add an answer like “I know the owner” so those orders don't inflate “Friend or family”, which is the real word-of-mouth channel you want to measure.