GA4kin’ Hell!

Full disclaimer: I fully appreciate that I’m going to revisit this post at some point, cringe, and add an addendum.

I’m very surprised that Google is holding strong to the depreciation of Universal(ly loved) Analytics in favor of GA4. As they were talking about waving goodbye to UA and encouraging the adoption of GA4 – it wasn’t fully integrated into Data Studio/Looker Studio, which is the primary reporting platform we use with our clients and agencies.

Last week, our biz dev guy, Sam, asked if we could get my Persona Modeling Tool back online. I created this tool with my own agency in 2018, but haven’t had the time or motivation to investigate what was and wasn’t working with it. With Sam’s request and my Digital Marketing Manager, Jessica’s assistance, we gave it a try. This time, we set it up to work with GA4 instead of UA.

Let me show you the previous version of the tool when it’s hooked up to Google’s sample UA data:

Now, it’s not important to know how this very cool and helpful tool works. At this point, we just want to acknowledge that it looks like a functioning dashboard.

Now, let’s look at the same tool when it’s being fed by Google’s sample GA4 data:

So, this is what progress looks like.

Without a developer who understands the API calls and SQL queries employed as part of our team, I find my very cool and insightful tool is very broken, and that’s frustrating. I can’t imagine what it must look like to lean marketing departments. The entire GA4 endeavor mostly favors programmers, while leaving marketing analysts as a secondary concern. This isn’t an awesome look for an analytics platform.

I don’t mean to complain about GA4. I think it’s going to be incredibly useful as the tool itself, use cases, and documentation surrounding it mature. The concern isn’t what it’s capable of, but that UA is a widely used and functional tool that’s being removed and replaced with something as complicated as it is customizable. It’s going to be the domain of button pushers or rare all-in-one marketers who can do everything and do it well. Is there really such a person, or does every organization need robust teams that include people asking questions and establishing theories, and a separate group of people gathering and parsing data to answer those questions? Maybe this is how agencies can continue to stay relevant. Hmmmm… excuse me… I think I need to have a quick conversation with my CEO.

In short, I wish Google should continue to offer and support UA but end its development. I’d love it if they would let it exist and remain functional for a few years while everyone gets up to speed and develops the resources needed to use GA4 to its potential. This, though, is a wish in defiance of what we’ve been told to expect. The future and change will inevitably be thrust upon us despite all protests, as the future and change are wont to do. Don’t cry for me, world, I’m already in the process of adapting. 🧐

I’d really love to bring the sandbox of my Persona Modeling tool back into the world.