We use Easy Digital Downloads to sell our own products.
PixelYourSite sells WordPress plugins with different license levels, renewals, upgrades, and expirations. So we know that the first purchase is only one part of the story.
For a software business, license actions matter.
A new license means a new customer relationship has started.
A renewal means the customer decided to stay.
An upgrade means the customer has become more valuable.
An expired license means there is a chance to bring the customer back.
That’s why PixelYourSite Pro now has dedicated events for Easy Digital Downloads Software Licensing.
Instead of tracking everything only as Purchase, you can also track license creation, renewals, upgrades, and expirations as separate events.
These events are for Easy Digital Downloads stores using the Software Licensing extension.
With PixelYourSite Professional, license actions can be tracked as dedicated events:
LicenseCreatedLicenseRenewalLicenseUpgradeLicenseExpired
This gives you a cleaner view of what happens after the sale.
How to enable EDD license events
These features are available starting with PixelYourSite Professional 12.5.0.
To use them, update PixelYourSite Professional to the latest version.
Then go to:
PixelYourSite Professional → Easy Digital Downloads
Enable Track Licenses.
After you enable it, expand the option to see the supported destinations and select where you want to send these events.
Before relying on the events, make sure the selected destination has its server-side connection configured:
- for Meta, configure Meta Conversion API
- for GA4, configure Google Measurement Protocol
- for other supported tags, configure the available API/server-side option when available
LicenseCreated
Triggered when a license is created.
This usually happens after a customer buys a product that generates a license key.
Important detail: this event is triggered for each license created.
So if one order creates multiple licenses, PixelYourSite can send multiple LicenseCreated events.
That means LicenseCreated is not the same as Purchase and should not be used as a direct order count.
How to use it
Use LicenseCreated to understand how many software licenses are created, which products generate licenses, and which campaigns bring licensed customers.
It can also be useful for onboarding audiences.
Example use cases:
- show setup tutorials to new licensed customers
- exclude new customers from acquisition campaigns
- promote documentation, onboarding videos, or best-practice content
- analyze which campaigns bring actual licensed users, not just visitors
A good way to think about it:
Purchase tells you an order happened. LicenseCreated tells you a license was issued.
LicenseRenewal
Triggered when a license is renewed.
This is a retention signal.
A renewal means the customer decided to keep using your software.
How to use it
Use LicenseRenewal to:
- separate renewal activity from first purchases
- understand which campaigns bring customers who renew
- exclude renewed users from renewal reminder campaigns
- build retained-customer reports in GA4
- compare renewal activity by product, source, or campaign
Example:
If you run reminder ads for expired or almost-expired licenses, exclude users who already triggered LicenseRenewal.
This helps avoid showing renewal ads to people who have already renewed.
LicenseUpgrade
Triggered when a customer upgrades a license.
This is an expansion signal.
An upgrade usually means the customer became more valuable: more sites, a higher plan, a bigger package, or better access.
How to use it
Use LicenseUpgrade to:
- understand expansion revenue
- identify products or campaigns that bring upgrade-ready customers
- exclude recent upgraders from upgrade ads
- build high-value customer audiences
- report upgrades by source, medium, campaign, or landing page
Example:
If someone already upgraded, you can remove them from the current upgrade campaign and move them to a different audience.
A good way to think about it:
LicenseUpgrade helps you see which customers grow after the first sale.
LicenseExpired
Triggered when a license expires.
This is not revenue.
But it is one of the most useful events for follow-up campaigns.
An expired license can mean the customer is inactive, forgot to renew, or needs a reason to come back.
How to use it
Use LicenseExpired to build a renewal reminder or comeback audience.
Then exclude users who later triggered:
- LicenseRenewal
- Purchase
- LicenseUpgrade
Example messages:
- “Your license expired. Renew to keep updates and support.”
- “Reactivate your license.”
- “Come back and continue using the latest version.”
- “Renew now and keep access to updates.”
This is more precise than targeting all past customers with the same message.
A good way to think about it:
LicenseExpired is not a conversion. It is a reactivation signal.
Use these events in GA4
In GA4, mark the positive license events as key events:
- LicenseCreated
- LicenseRenewal
- LicenseUpgrade
Keep LicenseExpired for reports, audiences, and reactivation analysis. It is useful, but it is not a positive conversion.
Recommended custom dimensions:
license_name— to see which product or license level triggered the eventpayment_method— if you want to compare Stripe, PayPal, etc.currency— if you sell in multiple currenciescontent_name— useful for product-level reportscontent_category— useful if you want category-level reports
Avoid using license_id as a GA4 custom dimension for normal reports. It is too specific and can create too many unique values. Keep it for debugging.
Useful GA4 audiences:
- LicenseExpired but no LicenseRenewal
- LicenseCreated but no LicenseUpgrade
- LicenseRenewal users to exclude from renewal reminder campaigns
- LicenseUpgrade users for high-value customer analysis
Use these audiences for Google Ads remarketing when GA4 is linked to Google Ads.
Keep Purchase as your main revenue event
Do not replace Purchase with license events.
Purchase still matters. It tracks revenue.
The license events add context.
Use them for:
- GA4 reports
- Meta audiences
- Google Ads remarketing audiences
- renewal reminders
- upgrade campaigns
- exclusions
- retention and expansion analysis
If your EDD store also uses Recurring Payments, PixelYourSite Pro can track the subscription lifecycle too, so you can connect license activity with renewals, cancellations, expirations, and subscriber value.