Google Analytics 4: drawbacks and limitations—is it worth sticking around?

The free model of Google Analytics, Common Analytics, is the most commonly utilized world wide web analytics option. The platform is so well-known that it dominates 86% market share, producing Google the current market chief. But even however numerous contemplate Google Analytics the standard, there are explanations to ask if it is the excellent selection for your internet marketing setup—especially considering that Google declared the sunset of Universal Analytics.

On July 1, 2023, Common Analytics houses will stop processing new hits, forcing people to swap to its successor, Google Analytics 4. Even though this might seem like a pure development, entrepreneurs need to not be fooled.

The studying curve will be steep—Google Analytics 4 is almost an entirely new platform and continue to creating. On best of that, Google Analytics threats dropping the users’ trust because of to grey places all over the likes of privateness and facts ownership.

With a privacy-concentrated potential ahead, now is the time to seek out alternatives that much better stability data collection with compliance. With a good analytics platform, marketers make your info selection as it should be: predictable and sustainable. After all, entrepreneurs and analysts want to course of action consumer-level facts when constructing belief with their visitors.

In this report, we will dive into the challenges with Google Analytics 4 from a user viewpoint and from a privacy and compliance standpoint, so you can make an educated conclusion right before switching platforms.

Consumer perspective: Google Analytics 4 is a stage in the wrong way

 Google Analytics 4 introduces an altered reporting and measurement know-how that is neither very well recognized nor commonly recognized by the advertising and marketing neighborhood.

From a user practical experience perspective, numerous discover GA4 tough to navigate. But beyond that, there are a host of challenges with the attribute sets. Enable us dig further into all those restrictions: 

There is no basic way to migrate your information

 Migration is a complicated method and must be prepared very carefully. Regretably, Google Analytics 4 does not make it any a lot easier. Without the need of data or tag migration, all historic data from Common Analytics will not be transferred to the new platform.

The obstacle only grows with the organization’s size—you can have hundreds of tags to move. So, if entrepreneurs need to start out accumulating details from scratch, they could as properly swap to a new analytic program.

Not-so-intuitive user interface

The most distinguished obstacle entrepreneurs and analysts will probably come upon with Google Analytics 4 is the unfamiliarity with the new interface.

A new dashboard has a number of right away evident discrepancies from what entrepreneurs are applied to working. Hit styles are essential to how Universal Analytic homes handle all stats. Hit sorts contain webpage hits, occasion hits, eCommerce hits, and social conversation hits.

GA4 doesn’t have any concept of a hit style like Common Analytics employs. Every thing in Google Analytics 4 is categorized as an “event.” This is a enormous variance.

In buy for marketers to have achievement on the new system, they will have to adapt rapidly to maintain the same momentum they experienced with this previous platform.

Restrictions on custom made dimensions

A personalized dimension is an attribute that marketers can configure in their analytics instrument to dive further into their data. It gives the possibility to pivot or section this knowledge to isolate a distinct audience or targeted traffic for deeper assessment.

GA4 certainly allows for personalized proportions to section experiences, but there is a strict restrict. You can only have up to 25 consumer-scoped custom proportions and up to 50 function-scoped tailor made dimensions for each assets.

Deficiency of customized channel grouping

Channel groupings are rule-primarily based groupings of marketing and advertising channels. When personalized, these groupings allow entrepreneurs to observe the effectiveness of people channels successfully.

Not like Common Analytics, GA4 does not allow you to create personalized channel groupings in the new interface. Instead, entrepreneurs will only be capable to use their default channel groupings.

Motivations behind the brief deadline

 The deadline Google has left the analytics group to act is startling. There are numerous speculations as to why this may well be, such as:

1. Google may perhaps have been upset with the pace of adoption for Google Analytics 4 and made a decision to act decisively.
2. Google circumventing some of the lawful heat that Common Analytics is going through in the EU.
3. Google wanting to lower prices and rid by itself of specialized credit card debt linked with countless numbers of web sites with legacy solutions put in. Because GA4 is built to aid Google’s advertising network, it assures far more revenue than the competition.

Now there is a concrete deadline to make the swap, entrepreneurs will want to choose whether or not they want to begin changing to Google Analytics 4 or start afresh with a new system.

Privateness and compliance: Google Analytics 4 has a prolonged way to go

If a enterprise operates in various nations, advertising and marketing teams will require to be conscious of the numerous issues resulting from the obligations of both equally neighborhood facts privacy rules and intercontinental laws.

Data safety legislation consistently modifying and limited security polices only complicate points even more. Looking through the tea leaves, we believe GA4 will not very last very long in Europe. Here’s why:

Google Analytics violates European law

Google can make it tough to gather info in line with the General Info Protection Regulation (GDPR), which aims to restore regulate of particular knowledge to customers and buyers. The regulation demands you to attain explicit consent when processing particular details. Failure to comply with this provision can result in significant fines or even prosecution.

The the latest conclusion of the Austrian Details Safety Authority (DSB), states that the use of Google Analytics constitutes a violation of GDPR. This suggests that businesses engaged in collecting, storing, and processing knowledge about EU citizens have to alter their procedures and introduce significant technological changes to be GDPR-compliant.

There is no crystal clear guideline where by the knowledge is connected through Google Analytics

A Google manual indicates details is transferred to the closest Google Analytics server hub. Nevertheless, the data may possibly be stored in a geographic locale that does not have suitable privacy defense to the EU.

Freshly launched options in GA4 partly tackle this issue by making it possible for the first component of data assortment (and anonymization) on European servers. However, knowledge can, and most possible will, be sent to the U.S.

 The upcoming of marketing and advertising needs users’ consent

No matter whether it be the info top quality, resource limits, absence of privateness-welcoming options, or transparency in dealing with facts, we consider entrepreneurs will probably take into consideration switching platforms.

Piwik Pro excluds the privateness and compliance troubles related with Google Analytics, enabling marketers to collect details predictably and sustainably. The consumer interface and aspect sets are comparable to Common Analytics, so marketers and analysts really feel at home when switching to our system.

If you would like to discover more about Google Analytics solutions or get much more facts on the Piwik Pro Analytics Suite, pay a visit to piwik.professional.

Even now undecided? Test out our posting on addressing the fears about switching to an alternative analytics alternative and the analytic attitude you need to be getting: Switching from Google Analytics—here’s what you want to know.