Quick and easy steps to take when there is a difference in reporting between our email reports and GA4.
First before reaching out: We may not have access to the advertiser’s Google Analytics account. Please ensure that 3461analytics6@gmail.com has administrator access to the client’s GA account. When doing so, please provide our team with the name of the account since it is common for the client’s GA account to have a different name than the name of the business, brand, etc.
Quick FAQ’s
- Why is there a discrepancy between GA4 reporting and our reporting?
- The send did not utilize UTMs in their email campaign, which could result in incomplete tracking of traffic from that campaign in the GA4 account. If UTMs aren't used in a campaign URL, GA4 may not fully track that campaign's traffic.
- Google Analytics does not count every click as a visit; due to the examples noted below:
Halted Browser: If someone clicks on an ad and then immediately stops the browser before the landing page is fully loaded, a publisher will report a click without a visit.
Pop-up Blockers: Some pop-up block work as follows: when a landing page pops up in a new window, the user clicks the ad, the window opens, and then the pop-up block might immediately close the window, The publisher will report the click, while an end user's analytics will show no visits.
No Tracking: This is becoming more and more common, as users can more easily opt out of tracking on their mobile devices. If a user has opted out of tracking by utilizing an add-on (Such as Ghostery or Do Not Track Me and numerous others even Google's Incognito Mode) or an out-of-the-box browser and site support, the analytics tool may miss some users. In most cases, the clicks will be counted while the end users' analytics tool will not collect the data.
- Our creative did contain a UTM, but is still showing differences in reporting, why could this be the case?
- The UTM link may be incorrectly set up or contain a typo. You can check to see if your UTM works with Google Analytics using this free resource here.
- NOTE: The most common typo we see is an extra space within UTMs. (Spaces display as: %20 within URLs)
- How does your reporting differ from GA4?
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- Our email reporting only records clicks on the email server and not sessions/impressions on a page. A session is different from a click so we cannot compare apples to apples here.
- In GA4, a session starts when a user lands on a website or app and ends after a period of inactivity (usually 30 minutes) or when the user leaves. It's akin to a visit or interaction that encompasses multiple actions, including clicks. During a session, a user can perform numerous clicks or interactions. For example, they may click on multiple links, buttons, or navigate through various pages on the site within one session.
Additional Factors to Consider
It's important to note that our campaign data tends to be more accurate than GA4. Here are some factors to consider regarding tracking discrepancies:
- Attribution Models: The DSP may utilize a different attribution model compared to GA4, affecting how conversions are credited across touchpoints in the user journey.
- Bot Traffic: GA4 filters out bot traffic, potentially leading to discrepancies if the DSP doesn't employ similar filtering methods.
- Data Sampling: GA4 might use data sampling, especially with larger datasets, which could influence session counts compared to the raw click counts from the DSP.
- Cross-device Tracking: Users interacting with ads on one device and converting on another might not be accurately attributed in GA4 if cross-device tracking isn't configured properly.
- Tracking Implementation: Discrepancies can arise due to tracking implementation issues, like missing or incorrect tracking codes, potentially resulting in underreported sessions in GA4.
- Privacy Settings and Ad Blocking: Privacy settings or ad-blocking software could hinder GA4's ability to track sessions accurately, leading to underreporting.