Google Analytics 4: drawbacks and limitations—is it worth sticking around?
The totally free variation of Google Analytics, Universal Analytics, is the most greatly applied world-wide-web analytics solution. The platform is so well known that it dominates 86% current market share, producing Google the industry leader. But even although numerous think about Google Analytics the normal, there are good reasons to inquire if it is the great selection for your advertising setup—especially given that Google introduced the sunset of Common Analytics.
On July 1, 2023, Universal Analytics homes will prevent processing new hits, forcing users to change to its successor, Google Analytics 4. While this may well feel like a all-natural development, entrepreneurs should not be fooled.
The finding out curve will be steep—Google Analytics 4 is pretty much an solely new platform and continue to creating. On major of that, Google Analytics risks losing the users’ have confidence in because of to grey parts about the likes of privacy and details ownership.
With a privacy-centered potential forward, now is the time to seek choices that much better harmony info collection with compliance. With a right analytics system, entrepreneurs make your info assortment as it really should be: predictable and sustainable. Right after all, marketers and analysts want to process person-stage facts while constructing have confidence in with their readers.
In this article, we will dive into the problems with Google Analytics 4 from a person viewpoint and from a privacy and compliance standpoint, so you can make an educated final decision ahead of switching platforms.
Consumer standpoint: Google Analytics 4 is a stage in the completely wrong route
Google Analytics 4 introduces an altered reporting and measurement technological know-how that is neither properly comprehended nor widely accepted by the advertising and marketing group.
From a consumer knowledge viewpoint, numerous discover GA4 difficult to navigate. But beyond that, there are a host of difficulties with the element sets. Permit us dig deeper into all those limits:
There is no very simple way to migrate your facts
Migration is a complicated method and should be planned meticulously. Unfortunately, Google Analytics 4 does not make it any less complicated. Without having info or tag migration, all historic facts from Universal 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 move. So, if entrepreneurs ought to begin amassing data from scratch, they may as nicely change to a new analytic computer software.
Not-so-intuitive consumer interface
The most distinguished challenge entrepreneurs and analysts will possible come upon with Google Analytics 4 is the unfamiliarity with the new interface.
A new dashboard has various straight away evident variances from what entrepreneurs are utilised to operating. Hit types are necessary to how Common Analytic homes manage all stats. Hit kinds incorporate site hits, occasion hits, eCommerce hits, and social conversation hits.
GA4 doesn’t have any principle of a hit kind like Universal Analytics uses. All the things in Google Analytics 4 is classified as an “event.” This is a large change.
In order for marketers to have achievements on the new system, they will have to adapt speedily to keep the similar momentum they had with this prior platform.
Limitations on personalized dimensions
A custom made dimension is an attribute that marketers can configure in their analytics resource to dive further into their data. It gives the selection to pivot or section this info to isolate a unique viewers or website traffic for deeper assessment.
GA4 indeed makes it possible for for tailor made proportions to phase reviews, but there is a rigid restrict. You can only have up to 25 consumer-scoped custom proportions and up to 50 party-scoped custom made proportions per property.
Deficiency of tailor made channel grouping
Channel groupings are rule-primarily based groupings of internet marketing channels. When customized, these groupings let marketers to monitor the overall performance of all those channels competently.
Compared with Universal Analytics, GA4 does not allow for you to make custom channel groupings in the new interface. Rather, marketers will only be in a position to use their default channel groupings.
Motivations at the rear of the shorter deadline
The deadline Google has still left the analytics group to act is startling. There are many speculations as to why this may possibly be, like:
- Google may have been let down with the velocity of adoption for Google Analytics 4 and resolved to act decisively.
- Google circumventing some of the lawful warmth that Universal Analytics is going through in the EU.
- Google wanting to cut costs and rid by itself of complex credit card debt related with countless numbers of internet websites with legacy methods installed. Due to the fact GA4 is built to assistance Google’s advertising community, it guarantees more income than the competition.
Now there is a concrete deadline to make the change, marketers will want to determine irrespective of whether they want to start changing to Google Analytics 4 or start out afresh with a new system.
Privacy and compliance: Google Analytics 4 has a lengthy way to go
If a company operates in numerous countries, promoting teams will have to have to be conscious of the quite a few problems ensuing from the obligations of each area facts privateness legislation and intercontinental rules.
Information safety legislation continually modifying and tight security polices only complicate points further. Looking at the tea leaves, we believe that GA4 will not past lengthy in Europe. Here’s why:
Google Analytics violates European law
Google would make it challenging to acquire information in line with the Common Information Safety Regulation (GDPR), which aims to restore manage of individual knowledge to users and clients. The regulation needs you to obtain explicit consent when processing personal data. Failure to comply with this provision can consequence in significant fines or even prosecution.
The current decision of the Austrian Data Defense Authority (DSB), states that the use of Google Analytics constitutes a violation of GDPR. This indicates that corporations engaged in gathering, storing, and processing data about EU citizens have to regulate their procedures and introduce severe technological variations to be GDPR-compliant.
There is no crystal clear guideline in which the details is related through Google Analytics
A Google tutorial implies information is transferred to the closest Google Analytics server hub. However, the details might be saved in a geographic area that does not have satisfactory privacy safety to the EU.
Freshly launched functions in GA4 partly tackle this worry by permitting the initially aspect of information collection (and anonymization) on European servers. However, details can, and most likely will, be sent to the U.S.
The long run of advertising and marketing demands users’ consent
No matter whether it be the data quality, instrument restrictions, lack of privateness-pleasant features, or transparency in dealing with details, we consider marketers will probable look at switching platforms.
Piwik Pro excluds the privateness and compliance issues connected with Google Analytics, letting marketers to obtain data predictably and sustainably. The person interface and function sets are related to Universal Analytics, so marketers and analysts feel at household when switching to our platform.
If you would like to discover much more about Google Analytics choices or get extra data on the Piwik Professional Analytics Suite, take a look at piwik.pro.
Nevertheless undecided? Examine out our post on addressing the problems about switching to an substitute analytics answer and the analytic mindset you should really be taking: Switching from Google Analytics—here’s what you require to know.