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

The free of charge edition of Google Analytics, Common Analytics, is the most broadly employed internet analytics solution. The platform is so well-known that it dominates 86% market share, earning Google the market leader. But even nevertheless many consider Google Analytics the standard, there are explanations to check with if it is the perfect selection for your promoting setup—especially due to the fact Google declared the sunset of Universal Analytics.

On July 1, 2023, Common Analytics attributes will prevent processing new hits, forcing buyers to change to its successor, Google Analytics 4. While this could feel like a organic development, marketers ought to not be fooled.

The discovering curve will be steep—Google Analytics 4 is practically an solely new system and nonetheless developing. On best of that, Google Analytics dangers dropping the users’ trust owing to grey locations all-around the likes of privateness and info possession.

With a privateness-targeted future in advance, now is the time to seek choices that better harmony knowledge selection with compliance. With a correct analytics platform, marketers make your data collection as it must be: predictable and sustainable. Just after all, entrepreneurs and analysts want to procedure person-level data although developing belief with their site visitors.

In this write-up, we will dive into the difficulties with Google Analytics 4 from a user standpoint and from a privacy and compliance standpoint, so you can make an informed conclusion ahead of switching platforms.

Consumer viewpoint: Google Analytics 4 is a phase in the wrong way

 Google Analytics 4 introduces an altered reporting and measurement know-how that is neither perfectly understood nor greatly recognized by the marketing and advertising community.

From a person experience point of view, several find GA4 complicated to navigate. But over and above that, there are a host of problems with the attribute sets. Let us dig further into these limitations: 

There is no basic way to migrate your information

 Migration is a complicated process and should be prepared diligently. Unfortunately, Google Analytics 4 does not make it any simpler. Without having knowledge or tag migration, all historic information from Universal Analytics will not be transferred to the new platform.

The challenge only grows with the organization’s size—you can have hundreds of tags to go. So, if marketers should start off gathering details from scratch, they could possibly as nicely switch to a new analytic software package.

Not-so-intuitive person interface

The most outstanding challenge entrepreneurs and analysts will possible encounter with Google Analytics 4 is the unfamiliarity with the new interface.

A new dashboard has a number of promptly apparent differences from what marketers are made use of to running. Strike forms are critical to how Universal Analytic homes tackle all stats. Strike sorts involve webpage hits, occasion hits, eCommerce hits, and social conversation hits.

GA4 does not have any concept of a hit type like Common Analytics works by using. All the things in Google Analytics 4 is classified as an “event.” This is a enormous difference.

In order for entrepreneurs to have achievement on the new system, they will have to adapt quickly to retain the identical momentum they experienced with this former platform.

Limits on personalized proportions

A tailor made dimension is an attribute that entrepreneurs can configure in their analytics resource to dive further into their facts. It gives the possibility to pivot or segment this information to isolate a distinct viewers or visitors for deeper investigation.

GA4 in fact makes it possible for for custom dimensions to segment stories, but there is a rigid restrict. You can only have up to 25 consumer-scoped tailor made proportions and up to 50 function-scoped customized proportions for each home.

Deficiency of custom made channel grouping

Channel groupings are rule-based groupings of marketing channels. When personalized, these groupings let marketers to monitor the efficiency of those channels successfully.

Contrary to Universal Analytics, GA4 does not permit you to develop custom made channel groupings in the new interface. In its place, marketers will only be equipped to use their default channel groupings.

Motivations behind the short 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 include:

1. Google may have been let down with the pace of adoption for Google Analytics 4 and decided to act decisively.
2. Google circumventing some of the authorized heat that Universal Analytics is going through in the EU.
3. Google seeking to slice expenses and rid alone of specialized financial debt affiliated with countless numbers of internet websites with legacy answers put in. Given that GA4 is made to support Google’s advertising network, it ensures more revenue than the level of competition.

Now there is a concrete deadline to make the change, entrepreneurs will require to decide whether or not they want to start off adjusting to Google Analytics 4 or commence afresh with a new platform.

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

If a company operates in numerous nations, advertising and marketing groups will need to have to be aware of the a lot of troubles ensuing from the obligations of both local knowledge privacy legislation and intercontinental rules.

Information security legislation frequently transforming and tight security restrictions only complicate things more. Studying the tea leaves, we believe GA4 will not last extensive in Europe. Here’s why:

Google Analytics violates European law

Google helps make it hard to collect info in line with the Basic Knowledge Protection Regulation (GDPR), which aims to restore control of personalized information to buyers and prospects. The regulation calls for you to obtain specific consent when processing own information. Failure to comply with this provision can result in hefty fines or even prosecution.

The recent conclusion of the Austrian Facts Security Authority (DSB), states that the use of Google Analytics constitutes a violation of GDPR. This indicates that corporations engaged in collecting, storing, and processing information about EU citizens have to modify their insurance policies and introduce critical technological changes to be GDPR-compliant.

There is no crystal clear guideline in which the data is linked through Google Analytics

A Google guidebook implies details is transferred to the closest Google Analytics server hub. However, the details may be stored in a geographic location that does not have satisfactory privacy defense to the EU.

Recently launched attributes in GA4 partially deal with this problem by enabling the initially part of facts collection (and anonymization) on European servers. Nevertheless, facts can, and most likely will, be sent to the U.S.

 The potential of promoting involves users’ consent

Irrespective of whether it be the facts quality, software restrictions, absence of privacy-friendly attributes, or transparency in dealing with data, we believe that entrepreneurs will most likely take into account switching platforms.

Piwik Professional excluds the privacy and compliance problems linked with Google Analytics, allowing for marketers to gather details predictably and sustainably. The person interface and characteristic sets are similar to Common Analytics, so entrepreneurs and analysts come to feel at property when switching to our platform.

If you would like to learn a lot more about Google Analytics alternatives or get extra info on the Piwik Professional Analytics Suite, visit piwik.pro.

Nevertheless undecided? Check out out our write-up on addressing the issues about switching to an different analytics answer and the analytic attitude you should be using: Switching from Google Analytics—here’s what you want to know.