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

The free of charge version of Google Analytics, Common Analytics, is the most broadly employed website analytics answer. The system is so well-known that it dominates 86% market place share, generating Google the industry leader. But even although quite a few consider Google Analytics the normal, there are factors to question if it is the best decision for your promoting setup—especially considering the fact that Google announced the sunset of Common Analytics.

On July 1, 2023, Universal Analytics houses will quit processing new hits, forcing buyers to swap to its successor, Google Analytics 4. Whilst this may perhaps look like a all-natural progression, entrepreneurs need to not be fooled.

The mastering curve will be steep—Google Analytics 4 is nearly an solely new system and still creating. On best of that, Google Analytics challenges losing the users’ believe in owing to grey areas close to the likes of privacy and details ownership.

With a privateness-concentrated long run ahead, now is the time to find solutions that far better stability details selection with compliance. With a suitable analytics platform, marketers make your info assortment as it need to be: predictable and sustainable. Following all, entrepreneurs and analysts want to approach user-stage details even though setting up rely on with their readers.

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

User standpoint: Google Analytics 4 is a phase in the improper direction

 Google Analytics 4 introduces an altered reporting and measurement technological innovation that is neither nicely understood nor extensively accepted by the promoting group.

From a consumer practical experience viewpoint, several obtain GA4 complicated to navigate. But further than that, there are a host of difficulties with the function sets. Allow us dig deeper into all those limits: 

There is no straightforward way to migrate your facts

 Migration is a sophisticated process and should be planned carefully. Regrettably, Google Analytics 4 does not make it any a lot easier. With out knowledge or tag migration, all historical facts from Common Analytics will not be transferred to the new system.

The problem only grows with the organization’s size—you can have hundreds of tags to go. So, if entrepreneurs should get started accumulating info from scratch, they could as perfectly swap to a new analytic program.

Not-so-intuitive person interface

The most outstanding obstacle marketers and analysts will likely come upon with Google Analytics 4 is the unfamiliarity with the new interface.

A new dashboard has a number of immediately apparent distinctions from what marketers are used to functioning. Hit varieties are critical to how Universal Analytic qualities deal with all stats. Hit styles include web page hits, occasion hits, eCommerce hits, and social interaction hits.

GA4 does not have any strategy of a strike kind like Common Analytics utilizes. Every thing in Google Analytics 4 is classified as an “event.” This is a massive variation.

In purchase for marketers to have achievement on the new system, they will have to adapt promptly to retain the exact same momentum they experienced with this former system.

Limits on custom made dimensions

A tailor made dimension is an attribute that entrepreneurs can configure in their analytics tool to dive further into their information. It presents the alternative to pivot or phase this data to isolate a specific viewers or website traffic for further analysis.

GA4 in fact will allow for customized proportions to segment stories, but there is a demanding limit. You can only have up to 25 user-scoped custom made dimensions and up to 50 event-scoped tailor made dimensions per house.

Lack of personalized channel grouping

Channel groupings are rule-based groupings of marketing and advertising channels. When customized, these groupings allow for marketers to observe the effectiveness of those channels proficiently.

Not like Common Analytics, GA4 does not make it possible for you to develop personalized channel groupings in the new interface. As a substitute, marketers will only be able to use their default channel groupings.

Motivations powering the shorter deadline

 The deadline Google has remaining the analytics community to act is startling. There are lots of speculations as to why this may well be, like:

1. Google may perhaps have been let down with the velocity of adoption for Google Analytics 4 and made the decision to act decisively.
2. Google circumventing some of the legal heat that Common Analytics is experiencing in the EU.
3. Google wanting to slash expenses and rid itself of complex debt connected with thousands of sites with legacy remedies mounted. Due to the fact GA4 is created to aid Google’s promotion community, it guarantees more revenue than the competitors.

Now there is a concrete deadline to make the switch, entrepreneurs will need to have to make a decision no matter whether they want to start adjusting to Google Analytics 4 or start off afresh with a new platform.

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

If a business operates in several countries, marketing and advertising groups will need to have to be knowledgeable of the quite a few worries resulting from the obligations of each neighborhood knowledge privacy laws and global rules.

Info safety legislation consistently transforming and restricted security polices only complicate matters even further. Studying the tea leaves, we believe GA4 will not final prolonged in Europe. Here’s why:

Google Analytics violates European legislation

Google can make it tough to acquire details in line with the Normal Details Protection Regulation (GDPR), which aims to restore regulate of particular facts to users and customers. The regulation involves you to receive specific consent when processing individual data. Failure to comply with this provision can final result in hefty fines or even prosecution.

The recent conclusion of the Austrian Info Safety Authority (DSB), states that the use of Google Analytics constitutes a violation of GDPR. This implies that organizations engaged in collecting, storing, and processing facts about EU citizens have to adjust their policies and introduce severe technological alterations to be GDPR-compliant.

There is no apparent guideline where by the data is related through Google Analytics

A Google guideline indicates data is transferred to the closest Google Analytics server hub. However, the facts may perhaps be saved in a geographic location that does not have suitable privacy defense to the EU.

Recently released capabilities in GA4 partially address this concern by allowing the initial part of details assortment (and anonymization) on European servers. Nevertheless, info can, and most likely will, be sent to the U.S.

 The upcoming of promoting requires users’ consent

No matter whether it be the data quality, software limits, deficiency of privacy-friendly characteristics, or transparency in managing knowledge, we think entrepreneurs will most likely think about switching platforms.

Piwik Professional excluds the privateness and compliance challenges linked with Google Analytics, permitting entrepreneurs to collect knowledge predictably and sustainably. The user interface and aspect sets are similar to Common Analytics, so entrepreneurs and analysts feel at dwelling when switching to our platform.

If you would like to study far more about Google Analytics choices or get more details on the Piwik Pro Analytics Suite, visit piwik.professional.

Continue to undecided? Verify out our posting on addressing the issues about switching to an substitute analytics solution and the analytic mindset you need to be getting: Switching from Google Analytics—here’s what you require to know.