GA4 Issues & How to Fix Them

GA4 Hiccups? No Problem, Here's the Fix!

Is your Google Analytics 4 (GA4) not performing well, taking hiccups, and not generating quality results? If the answer is yes, rest assured, you're not alone. We all are navigating in the same ship. 

Identifying and addressing issues in GA4 is crucial for all of us, and finding effective solutions is our shared goal. This blog aims to pinpoint the common issues you may face in GA4 and provide insights on tackling them.

GA4 itself is working on its performance making it a better place for gathering insights about user behaviors and user interactions. 

Get in touch with us if you are looking for an audit of your current analytics.

Common Issues and their Solution:

We all know that GA4 is a powerful tool for understanding buyers' journeys, and interactions, optimizing campaigns, and lifting the online experience. 

However, like any other tool, GA4 also comes with its issues. From tracking discrepancies to conversion complexities, these hurdles can impact the accuracy and effectiveness of your analytics insights. 

But don’t worry we bring solutions for you to overcome these hurdles and make your analytics insights dancing in this digital world. 

Here are some common issues

Missing Reports:

In GA4, missing reports can be a problem for users who attempt to gain comprehensive insights about their website or app. 

This absence of essential reports can hinder analysis and decision-making. Let's assume an example: 

Consider an e-commerce business that fails to track the "purchase" event in GA4. Without a purchase report, analysts won't be able to assess the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, understand the conversion funnel, or optimize the user experience for better sales.

Missing this report may lead to lost revenue opportunities and trouble spotting buying process issues.

How to Fix?

To address this issue, it is crucial to ensure that all relevant events are properly tracked and configured in GA4. The following steps can help fix the missing report problem:

• Event Configuration: Review and verify that all important events, such as clicks, form submissions, and transactions, are correctly configured in GA4. Use the GA4 interface or update the tracking code on the website to include the necessary event tracking. 

Learn more about How to create events in GA4 through the user interface, Click here:

https://www.analyticodigital.com/blog/how-to-create-events-in-ga4

• Debugging Tools: Leverage debugging tools provided by Google Analytics, such as the GA Debugger Chrome extension, to identify and resolve tracking issues. These tools can help pinpoint errors in event tracking and provide real-time feedback on data collection.
• Real-Time Monitoring: Use the real-time reporting feature in GA4 to verify that events are being recorded as expected. This allows for immediate detection of any gaps in tracking, ensuring that data is collected in real-time.

Not Generating Revenue:

In GA4, missing or incorrect currency values can indeed impact revenue reporting. It is seen when the currency value is missing or incorrect, potentially twisting eCommerce reports. Despite the default currency setting in GA4, due to misconfigurations, it may not reflect in the eCommerce reports.

Revenue reporting can also not be shown due to its event-based tracking system. The absence of a dedicated "e-commerce" section and the reliance on events for tracking user interactions can make revenue tracking less straightforward compared to Universal Analytics.

How to Fix?

The default currency of GA4 is in USD, but it does recognize and use the currency setting you've configured. In case of any wrong currency display, check and ensure that your currency settings are correctly configured.

To address event tracking issues, users can implement custom event tracking for e-commerce transactions. By creating a custom event like "purchase" and attaching relevant transaction details, users can bridge the gap between events and revenue. 

Setting up custom parameters, such as transaction ID and value, allows GA4 to associate events with monetary value accurately. This ensures that the revenue data is captured and can be analyzed effectively in GA4 reports.

Not Showing Conversions:

GA4 may not show all conversions due to various issues such as implementation errors, misconfigurations, or sampling limitations. 

For example, if the GA4 tracking code is not correctly installed on all relevant pages, certain conversions may go untracked.

We have seen that when switching from Universal Analytics, many crucial conversion data gets lost. The issue may be incomplete event tracking. In GA4 events need to be explicitly marked as conversions to be reflected in the conversions report.

How to Fix? 

Ensuring that essential events, such as 'email click,' 'form submission,' and 'phone click,' are marked as conversions is crucial for tracking and reporting on these important actions. Additionally, there is a potential delay of up to 48 hours for the changes to reflect in the Conversions report as GA4 data processing may take some time.

Moreover, ensure that the GA4 tracking code is correctly implemented on all relevant pages and that events triggering conversions are accurately defined. 

Regularly audit and update the implementation to catch any discrepancies. 

Consider adjusting sampling settings in GA4 or upgrading to a premium plan if sampling is a persistent issue.

Regularly monitor your GA4 data for anomalies and consult Google Analytics documentation and forums for updates on best practices. 

Regular maintenance and attention to detail in implementation can ensure accurate tracking and reporting of conversions.

Referral and Campaign Tracking:

Referral tracking and campaigns running in (GA4) can be challenging due to changes in tracking mechanisms and user behavior. For instance, direct traffic, cross-domain tracking, and incomplete UTM parameters may lead to inaccurate attribution.

Let's take an example where a user initially discovers a website through a Facebook ad that lacks proper UTM tagging, leading to the attribution of the visit to direct traffic. Later on, the same user converts after finding the website through organic search. In this case, the absence of accurate source tracking can result in incorrect attribution, potentially skewing the analysis of the Return on Investment (ROI) for the Facebook ad campaign. This highlights the importance of precise tracking methods for a more accurate assessment of marketing efforts.

How to Fix?

To address this, ensure consistent UTM parameter usage across all campaigns. Implement cross-domain tracking to capture user journeys across multiple domains accurately. 

Additionally, leverage GA4's enhanced measurement features, such as user-centric event tracking, to better understand user interactions beyond traditional pageviews.

Cross-Domain Tracking:

Cross-domain tracking is the process of tracking user activity across multiple domains in GA4. In GA4, cross-domain tracking can be challenging due to changes in how user data is collected and processed compared to the previous version, Universal Analytics (UA). 

• User Identification:

In GA4, the primary identifier is the user ID, which is a unique string assigned to a user. Unlike UA, GA4 does not use client IDs by default. This shift in identifier can complicate tracking across domains, especially if the user ID is not consistently passed between domains.

• Event Model:

GA4 uses an event-driven data model, where all interactions are recorded as events. Events include page views, button clicks, form submissions, etc. This model can be different from the pageview-centric model of UA. When tracking users across domains, ensuring that events are linked to the same user is crucial.

Let's take an example of two domains. One is example.com which is the main website with information and content, and the other is an example.co which is the subdomain or an online store associated with example.com. 

Without cross-domain tracking, analytics might miss connections between the main site visit and the store purchase considering both domains as a different website. 

In this case, when a user goes from example.com to example.co, a special code is added to the link. Both sites are configured to recognize this code, linking the two sessions together.

How to Fix?

To address cross-domain tracking issues in GA4, you can follow these steps:

• Configure cross-domain tracking using G tag () with specified domains.
• Ensure consistent user ID transfer between domains during authentication.
• Use GA4 DebugView for debugging.
• Thoroughly test in a controlled environment.

Conclusion:

In short, optimizing your Google Analytics 4 (GA4) experience requires proactive troubleshooting and strategic implementation. 

Missing reports can impede insightful analysis, but by meticulously configuring event tracking through the GA4 interface, employing debugging tools, and conducting real-time monitoring, you can ensure comprehensive data collection.

Revenue reporting discrepancies, often stemming from currency misconfigurations, demand swift resolution. Verify and adjust currency settings in the configuration section to accurately reflect revenue in your chosen currency. 

Conversion tracking issues can arise from implementation errors or delays in reflecting marked events. To address this, explicitly designate essential events as conversions, ensure accurate GA4 tracking code implementation, and stay vigilant for discrepancies through regular audits and updates.

Referral and campaign tracking challenges necessitate consistent UTM parameter usage, cross-domain tracking implementation, and leveraging GA4's enhanced measurement features. This ensures accurate attribution despite user behavior complexities.

Cross-domain tracking in GA4 demands meticulous configuration, emphasizing the importance of consistent user ID transfer and event linkage. Debugging using GA4 DebugView and thorough testing in controlled environments are crucial steps.

In navigating the evolving landscape of GA4, attention to detail, proactive monitoring, and adherence to best practices will empower you to overcome challenges and extract valuable insights for informed decision-making in the digital realm.

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