Reading the Traffic Chart

Understanding Your Traffic Chart

The traffic chart on your Ultimate Social Proof dashboard provides a visual representation of how your social proof widgets are performing over time. This time-series visualization helps you identify trends, spot patterns, and make data-driven decisions about your widget strategy.

What the Chart Shows

The traffic chart displays two key metrics:

Impressions (blue line with shaded area) - The total number of times your social proof widgets were displayed to visitors
Session Exposures (green line) - The number of unique visitor sessions that saw at least one widget

These two metrics together help you understand both the volume of widget displays and the reach across your visitor base.

Timezone-Aware Data

All data displayed in the traffic chart uses your store's configured timezone. This means the hours, days, and time periods shown align with your local business hours rather than UTC or another arbitrary timezone. If you notice any discrepancies, check that your Shopify store timezone settings are correct.

Smart Data Aggregation

The chart automatically adjusts how it groups data based on the date range you select:

Single day view - Data is shown hourly (e.g., "9 AM", "10 AM")
Up to 7 days - Data is grouped by day (e.g., "Jan 15", "Jan 16")
8 to 60 days - Data continues to be grouped by day for detailed analysis
61 to 365 days - Data is grouped by week (e.g., "Week of Jan 13")
Over 365 days - Data is grouped by month (e.g., "Jan 2025", "Feb 2025")

This automatic aggregation ensures the chart remains readable regardless of the time period you're analyzing.

Hovering for Details

When you hover over any point on the chart, a tooltip appears showing:

The exact date and time for that data point
The precise impression count
The exact session exposure count

For hourly data, the tooltip shows the day and hour (e.g., "Mon, Jan 15 at 9 AM"). For daily aggregation, it shows the full date (e.g., "Monday, January 15, 2025"). For weekly views, it indicates the week starting date, and monthly views show the month and year.

Comparing Trends Over Time

Use the date range selector to compare different time periods. Here are some useful comparisons:

Week over week - Compare this week to last week to spot weekly patterns
Month over month - Track growth or decline in widget engagement
Before and after changes - Select custom date ranges to measure the impact of widget configuration changes

Patterns to Look For

Healthy Growth Patterns

Upward trend - Both impressions and session exposures growing together indicates increasing traffic and widget visibility
Consistent peaks - Regular daily or weekly peaks often align with your marketing activities or natural shopping patterns
Session exposures tracking impressions - When both lines follow similar patterns, your widgets are reaching visitors consistently

Patterns That May Need Attention

Flat or declining lines - May indicate reduced traffic or widgets not appearing as expected
Impressions high but sessions low - Could mean the same visitors are seeing widgets many times, consider adjusting frequency settings
Sudden drops - May indicate a technical issue, theme change, or widget configuration problem
Irregular spikes - Could be bot traffic or unusual activity worth investigating

Seasonal and Campaign Patterns

Weekend vs weekday differences - Common in many retail categories
Campaign-aligned spikes - Look for correlation between marketing activities and impression increases
Holiday patterns - Higher engagement during shopping seasons is typical

Filtering by Widget Type

Use the widget filter dropdown above the chart to focus on specific widget types. You can view data for:

All widgets - Combined data across all your social proof widgets
Toast - Only toast notification widgets
Inline - Only inline widgets embedded in your pages

Filtering helps you understand which widget types drive the most engagement and where to focus optimization efforts.

Analytics Date Range Limits

The date range available for your traffic chart depends on your subscription plan. If you need access to longer historical data, consider upgrading your plan from the Settings page.