If you are wondering about the difference in numbers (sessions, sales, etc.) between Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Universal Analytics (UA), you are not alone!
The statistics on GA4 can often seem significantly lower than those on UA, raising legitimate questions. Don't panic: we'll explain to you what's going on!
Why the difference?
The key to this disparity is how GA4 and UA record sessions. Unlike UA, GA4 does not count changes in traffic sources within the same session. In other words, a change in traffic source during a session on GA4 does not trigger the start of a new session.
What does that mean in practice?
Let's take a concrete example: a customer arrives on your site via a Facebook ad, fills their basket, accesses the checkout, then decides to use a promo code found on an affiliate site that redirects them to your site.
- On Universal Analytics, this journey would be counted as two separate sessions with two different traffic sources (Facebook Ads and the affiliate site), and the revenue would be attributed to the affiliate.
- On Google Analytics 4, if this journey takes place within 30 minutes after the first visit, GA4 only takes into account the first source of traffic, attributing the turnover accordingly to Facebook Ads
What solutions exist to obtain a precise attribution of affiliate levers?
- Use an attribution solution like Marketing Studio : this solution goes beyond simple last-click attribution. It offers a more complete vision thanks to its business-driven attribution model, making it possible to better understand the performance of levers.
- Google BigQuery: Use queries in Google BigQuery to work around this problem. These queries can generate tables where the attribution of conversions is similar to that of Universal Analytics.
Discover how Marketing Studio gives you your real affiliate figures: chat 30 minutes with an expert!
