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

The free variation of Google Analytics, Common Analytics, is the most greatly applied internet analytics alternative. The system is so well known that it dominates 86% marketplace share, producing Google the current market chief. But even though lots of contemplate Google Analytics the typical, there are motives to question if it is the perfect choice for your advertising and marketing setup—especially because Google introduced the sunset of Universal Analytics.

On July 1, 2023, Universal Analytics houses will end processing new hits, forcing users to swap to its successor, Google Analytics 4. Even though this might appear like a organic progression, entrepreneurs must not be fooled.

The understanding curve will be steep—Google Analytics 4 is pretty much an completely new system and even now building. On top of that, Google Analytics pitfalls shedding the users’ trust because of to gray locations all around the likes of privateness and information ownership.

With a privateness-targeted long term forward, now is the time to find alternatives that improved harmony data selection with compliance. With a correct analytics system, entrepreneurs make your info assortment as it should really be: predictable and sustainable. Soon after all, entrepreneurs and analysts want to process consumer-level knowledge while developing belief with their readers.

In this article, we will dive into the issues with Google Analytics 4 from a consumer point of view and from a privacy and compliance standpoint, so you can make an informed final decision ahead of switching platforms.

Person perspective: Google Analytics 4 is a move in the mistaken direction

 Google Analytics 4 introduces an altered reporting and measurement engineering that is neither well comprehended nor greatly acknowledged by the internet marketing community.

From a consumer knowledge point of view, many locate GA4 challenging to navigate. But beyond that, there are a host of difficulties with the characteristic sets. Permit us dig deeper into those people limitations: 

There is no easy way to migrate your facts

 Migration is a advanced approach and ought to be prepared cautiously. Unfortunately, Google Analytics 4 does not make it any easier. With no knowledge or tag migration, all historic knowledge from Universal Analytics will not be transferred to the new system.

The challenge only grows with the organization’s size—you can have hundreds of tags to go. So, if entrepreneurs ought to begin collecting details from scratch, they could possibly as very well swap to a new analytic software program.

Not-so-intuitive user interface

The most distinguished obstacle marketers and analysts will likely face with Google Analytics 4 is the unfamiliarity with the new interface.

A new dashboard has numerous immediately clear variances from what marketers are employed to running. Hit styles are necessary to how Common Analytic homes manage all stats. Hit kinds involve page hits, celebration hits, eCommerce hits, and social interaction hits.

GA4 does not have any idea of a strike type like Common Analytics makes use of. Almost everything in Google Analytics 4 is classified as an “event.” This is a huge difference.

In buy for entrepreneurs to have good results on the new system, they will have to adapt speedily to maintain the exact same momentum they had with this prior system.

Limitations on custom proportions

A tailor made dimension is an attribute that entrepreneurs can configure in their analytics instrument to dive deeper into their facts. It gives the option to pivot or phase this details to isolate a particular viewers or targeted traffic for deeper analysis.

GA4 in fact lets for customized proportions to phase experiences, but there is a rigid restrict. You can only have up to 25 user-scoped tailor made proportions and up to 50 event-scoped customized proportions for each home.

Absence of personalized channel grouping

Channel groupings are rule-centered groupings of advertising channels. When custom made, these groupings let entrepreneurs to observe the overall performance of people channels proficiently.

Compared with Common Analytics, GA4 does not make it possible for you to make custom made channel groupings in the new interface. Instead, marketers will only be equipped to use their default channel groupings.

Motivations behind the shorter deadline

 The deadline Google has remaining the analytics community to act is startling. There are many speculations as to why this may possibly be, which includes:

1. Google may perhaps have been dissatisfied with the speed of adoption for Google Analytics 4 and made the decision to act decisively.
2. Google circumventing some of the legal heat that Universal Analytics is dealing with in the EU.
3. Google seeking to slice expenses and rid alone of technical financial debt linked with thousands of websites with legacy remedies set up. Because GA4 is made to support Google’s advertising and marketing network, it guarantees extra profits than the competition.

Now there is a concrete deadline to make the switch, entrepreneurs will will need to make a decision no matter if they want to get started modifying to Google Analytics 4 or start off afresh with a new system.

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

If a company operates in a number of nations around the world, internet marketing teams will have to have to be knowledgeable of the quite a few challenges resulting from the obligations of both regional info privacy legislation and worldwide rules.

Data protection laws continuously shifting and tight protection regulations only complicate matters further more. Examining the tea leaves, we think GA4 will not past long in Europe. Here’s why:

Google Analytics violates European legislation

Google will make it tricky to accumulate info in line with the Standard Data Security Regulation (GDPR), which aims to restore regulate of personalized data to users and consumers. The regulation calls for you to get specific consent when processing individual information. Failure to comply with this provision can end result in hefty fines or even prosecution.

The modern selection of the Austrian Info Protection Authority (DSB), states that the use of Google Analytics constitutes a violation of GDPR. This indicates that corporations engaged in accumulating, storing, and processing information about EU citizens have to regulate their policies and introduce really serious technological modifications to be GDPR-compliant.

There is no distinct guideline where the facts is related by means of Google Analytics

A Google guide implies details is transferred to the closest Google Analytics server hub. Having said that, the facts could be stored in a geographic place that does not have ample privacy protection to the EU.

Newly launched functions in GA4 partially tackle this concern by letting the initially aspect of facts selection (and anonymization) on European servers. Having said that, data can, and most likely will, be sent to the U.S.

 The foreseeable future of promoting calls for users’ consent

Irrespective of whether it be the info top quality, resource constraints, deficiency of privacy-helpful functions, or transparency in managing info, we imagine entrepreneurs will very likely think about switching platforms.

Piwik Professional excluds the privacy and compliance problems linked with Google Analytics, permitting marketers to acquire details predictably and sustainably. The user interface and characteristic sets are very similar to Universal Analytics, so marketers and analysts really feel at home when switching to our platform.

If you would like to master far more about Google Analytics solutions or get more information on the Piwik Professional Analytics Suite, pay a visit to piwik.pro.

Continue to undecided? Verify out our write-up on addressing the considerations about switching to an alternate analytics alternative and the analytic attitude you must be having: Switching from Google Analytics—here’s what you want to know.