Why Business & Data Leaders Are Looking for Alternatives to Google Analytics V4
Much has been said about the new GA4 (Google Analytics Version 4), most around its new event-centric philosophy, features (or lack thereof), and UI.?
I haven't seen what GA4 means for business and data leaders, so here are my thoughts.
Don't get me wrong; GA4 follows great principles but is entirely inadequate for most organizations currently using Google Analytics Universal and is about ten years late (Snowplow, Segment, etc.).
People have used Google Analytics for over a decade, and it did/does the job very well; changing is unnecessary in the eyes of its users.
An organization that adopts the new Google Analytics V4 will require training, reimplementation, and the definition of new metrics. It will also need a different mindset, more resources, and increased governance, not to mention patience while Google iterates on the product.
Here are six reasons business and data leaders are looking for alternatives to Google Analytics V4.?
Control
Over time Google has discontinued data points like network domain and ISP; it doesn't allow you to collect something as trivial as a visitor IP address or a complete user agent string. How can you extract all the value from your behavioral data if you have no control over it?
Data Quality
Google Analytics collects data as a third party (from the google-analytics.com domain), and its data collection is blocked or limited by Safari, Firefox, Brave, and some Chrome extensions.?
GA may have "data-driven" marketing models, but if the data is incomplete, those models will be inaccurate, and you pay the bill.
Business & Data Continuity
In the last ten years, we had Google Analytics Classic, Universal, and now GA4, with mandatory upgrades and loss of historical data.?
New implementations are costly and disrupt data continuity. You need a future-proof platform.
Compliance
Google is under a microscope; They have offered data centers in the EU for companies that need to comply with the GDPR, but that may not be enough. As an organization, you need to control the environment in which your data is processed and stored.
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Transparency
The rules for processing data and calculating metrics are highly opinionated, hard to understand, and opaque. Furthermore, changes to metric calculations are common and cause numerous misunderstandings and confusion. Science must be reproducible.
Complexity & Governance
The new event-driven GA4 approach is excellent from a developer perspective (let me shove some properties that marketing/product is asking for). In the medium/long run, organizations will struggle with data consistency, which will lead to confusion, extra data modeling work, and ultimately a lack of trust in the data.?
Conclusion
Business and data leaders can't trust Google to provide a stable analytics product that lets them fully control data collection and offer data continuity, and many are switching.?
What should you move to then??
Here are some tools to consider depending on your organization:
Smaller operations, no data team, low traffic looking to self-serve.
Modern organizations, looking at data as a competitive advantage, are well equipped with a budget for tools and people to drive data culture and expect to scale to millions of events:
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PPC Specialist | Google Ads Specialists| Facebook Ads Specialist | Transforming Clicks into Clients: Your Gateway to Quality Leads in 90 Days! ?? Helping B2B ,B2C Business Generate Sales through Digital Advertising
1 年Hey great list their in the blog . But I use https://usermaven.com/ its web and products analytics tools for marketing team of any size and Saas Product owners , it's really easy to use and and we are able to make quick decisions with its really simple to understand analysis and data that we get from it. Do give it a try they have free trail also
SEO manager (because ‘wizard’ isn’t an official job title) ?? at Cisco (Splunk) | B2B | SaaS
1 年Absolutely insightful breakdown of the challenges and considerations surrounding GA4! As organizations navigate the landscape of analytics tools, it's important to have a solution that provides both flexibility and control over data collection and interpretation. This is where Smartlook, an advanced analytics tool, steps in. With its user-centric approach, Smartlook empowers businesses to gain in-depth insights by capturing and analyzing user interactions through session recordings and heatmaps. This complements your data strategy, enabling you to fine-tune your decision-making process while ensuring data continuity and transparency. Consider Smartlook as a strategic addition to your analytics toolbox! ??
Senior Digital Analytics Consulting, Data Engineer. Upmize founder. Creator of GA4 Classic Mode.
2 年I loved the article, but not the alternatives. Open-source data stack, in my opinion, is the way to really own your data. That’s what I see mature large enterprises, with good data teams, use.