Скачать или смотреть How to Set a Cookie and Redirect in WooCommerce to Prevent Multiple Analytics Transactions

Learn how to set a cookie in WooCommerce to redirect users and avoid multiple transaction records in Google Analytics from page refreshes.
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How to Set a Cookie and Redirect in WooCommerce to Prevent Multiple Analytics Transactions

If you’re running a WooCommerce store on WordPress, you may have encountered a frustrating issue: customers refreshing the thank you page, which can lead to Google Analytics recording multiple transactions. This can skew your data, leading to confusion about your actual sales performance and affecting your marketing decisions.

In this guide, we will cover a simple yet effective solution to this issue by setting a cookie or a session, and redirecting users before the analytics tracking code runs.

Understanding the Problem

When customers complete an order, they land on a thank you page, typically looking something like this:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

If they refresh this page, Google Analytics might mistakenly log additional transactions, leading to incorrect analytics. The key is to stop this re-processing of the transaction.

The Solution

Step 1: Extract the Order ID

The first thing we need to do is get the Order ID from the URL. WooCommerce makes this straightforward with a built-in function. Here’s how you can do it:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

This line of code extracts the Order ID from the key parameter in the URL.

Step 2: Use a Session Instead of a Cookie

While cookies can serve your purpose, using a session can be a better approach for this scenario. Sessions are more secure and easier for this kind of temporary tracking. Here’s how you can implement it:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Breakdown of the Code

Check if the session exists: The code checks if there is already a session variable set for this specific order. If it exists, it means the order has already been processed.

Redirect if session exists: If the session is set (meaning this order has been processed), the user is redirected to another page (/where-you-want), thus preventing Google Analytics from recording another transaction.

Set the session variable: If the session does not exist, a new session variable is created, marking that this order has been processed.

Important Note

Make sure to initialize sessions or set cookies before any output on the page. This means you should add this code at the top of your PHP file, executed before any HTML output. This is crucial to avoid any headers already sent error.

Conclusion

By implementing this simple solution, you can safeguard your Google Analytics data from being distorted by multiple transaction records. Setting up a session (or a cookie if you prefer) ensures that users who refresh the thank you page don’t trigger additional transaction records.

If you're new to coding or WooCommerce, don't hesitate to reach out to the community or a professional for help. Happy selling!