You are missing 20% of your website data with GA4

Yes this is a very bold title about your website, but I can back it up. In this article, i'll show a case study of using GA4 in combination with a mandatory cookiebanner. This creates a data gap.

TLDR:

• You legally need a consent banner for website visitors from the EU (among others)
• These visitors should be given the option to either accept or reject your consent banner
• If they reject, it means you can't trigger scripts like Google Analytics to collect data on their visit
• Studies show that around 20%-30% of visitors reject the consent banner
• So that is lost? No. CMPs (cookiebanner builders) still report the number of "rejects", so you still have the total amount. But this is useless, since you don't have any other data on these visits and you can't attribute or label them properly
• There is a solution: Use a privacy-first analytics tool that legally collects data on visits, even if the consent banner is rejected. Run it alongside your GA4 setup to have the most complete picture

Companies like Hearst Media, Cinch, KIA and many more use this setup to close the data gap.

Want to see how this works? Here is a real life case study of Hebban, a Dutch media production company. Lets dive in!

Cookie-based -vs cookie-less website analytics

Google Analytics has been the standard for tracking website visitors since ever. However, in the last few years, stricter privacy regulations and user behavior change impacted the accuracy of Google Analytics.

When you use a cookie banner, some visitors won’t consent to tracking, which means Google Analytics misses their activity. This, in combination with the increased use of ad-blockers, further widens this gap.

We ran the numbers to see how big the data gap is.

The results: A 20% data gap

Hebban is a Dutch media production company and publisher. Like most online media companies, it relies heavily on accurate data to serve the audience and generate revenue.

Their analytics setup consists of two analytics tools:

1. Google Analytics for “deep” visitor data that is activated once a visitor consents for the use of cookies.

2. Simple Analytics that “runs” in front of the cookie banner and accurately measure the total visitor numbers without the need for consent.

Here are the numbers:

As you can see from the image, when comparing pageview data between Google Analytics and Simple Analytics, there is a huge gap:

*pageviews numbers in GA4 are rounded.

That’s a 20% gap, meaning Google Analytics missed over 400,000 pageviews.

There is a side-note here: Most CMPs still report on the number of "rejects", so you do know the total amount of pageviews. However, it just records "the click". There is zero information available on the website visit, hence no attribution or proper labeling is possible.

Explaining the data gap

The main reason is that Simple Analytics doesn’t use cookies or trackers, so it doesn’t require consent to collect data.

Allow me to explain the above image:

• Before consent: GA can't fire script, so no data collection. Simple Analytics collects data.
• No consent: GA4 can't fire script, but CMP collects "click". Simple Analytics collects data.
• Consent given: GA4 and Simple Analytics can both collect data.
• Nothing happens: GA4 can't fire script. Simple Analytics collects data

If you don't use Simple Analytics, you can't collect information on the part with the dotted lines.

Ad-blocker bypass

To make your analytics even more complete, we also avoid being blocked by ad-blockers (using our ad-blocker bypass). In contrast, Google Analytics relies on cookies and is commonly blocked by popular adblocking software.

I don’t need to tell you that missing 20% of your traffic impacts your business. You are making decisions while missing one-fifth of the data. Especially for content teams relying on engagement insights this is a major issues. It leads to wrong conclusions or misallocation of your marketing budget.

Let’s fix that.

Combining cookie-less and cookie-based analytics

In my world, there shouldn’t be a need to track cookies at all. That’s why we built Simple Analytics in the first place. If you just want high-level aggregate data on what’s happening on your website, Simple Analytics should do the trick.

However, I understand there is more than just “my world.” Companies relying on visitor-level data, running ads, or just needing more info to optimize their website will stick with Google Analytics.

Instead of choosing between Google Analytics and Simple Analytics, you can combine them two to get the best of both worlds.

• Google Analytics for detailed data from users who accept cookies.
• Simple Analytics for an accurate big-picture overview, filling the gaps from users who decline cookies or use ad-blockers.

This might feel unintuitive to do, but more and more companies use this setup to get the most accurate insights. Even last week, we helped Hearst Media uncover their missing traffic stats.

Especially larger organizations that manage big budgets can't afford to make decisions on incomplete engagement insights.

Final Thoughts

Well, this is the point where I want to talk to you about our solution: Simple Analytics. I summed up the most important point quickly. Here is why you should at least check us out:

1. No cookie banner required. Simple Analytics doesn’t use cookies or personal tracking, so it’s fully compliant with privacy laws and doesn’t need user consent. You can “run” us in front of the cookie banner.

2. Accurate data. We also make sure our script doesn’t get blocked by adblockers. Combining the first and second points provides the most accurate overview of your website traffic.

3. Easy to set up. It’s simple to integrate using Google Tag Manager and works perfectly fine alongside existing tools like Google Analytics without slowing down your website (since our script is super small - 3kb vs 45kb for GA4)

4. Privacy-first. Your data is yours. Unlike Google Analytics, we don’t sell your data to third parties. That must mean something to you.

Want to discuss how this setup can work for your website? Feel free to book something using my link. I’m happy to walk you through it personally.

Cheers,

Iron