The view_item event is one of the starting points of the e-commerce funnel. This event occurs when the user clicks on a specific product in the product list and moves to the detail page. By sending item_id, item_name, price, item_category, etc. in the items array, you can analyze which products are frequently viewed and which products are often purchased after being viewed.
It corresponds to UA's Product Detail View action, and in GA4, product properties can be expanded with a more flexible items array structure. If you send item_list_name and item_list_id together, you can track which list led to the product detail view and compare product performance for each list.
In weballin practice, it is implemented by connecting view_item to the DOMContentLoaded or page view event of the product detail page. However, product data must be contained in the dataLayer in advance when the page is loaded to be retrieved from GTM.
GA4 Screen Path: Reports > Monetization > Ecommerce Purchases > Check the number of views by product in the ‘Viewed Items’ section.
Key takeaways
- This is a GA4 e-commerce standard event that occurs when a product detail page is viewed.
- Identify the level of interest for each product by including product ID, name, price, and category in the items array.
- Evaluate product page efficiency by conversion rate from view_item to add_to_cart to purchase.
- You can use the item_list_name parameter to track which list (recommendation, search, category) you entered the details from.
- It corresponds to UA's Product Detail View, and the event name was standardized to view_item in GA4.