Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has become the default analytics platform for many marketers, offering more advanced tracking capabilities than its predecessor. But while it’s a powerful tool, GA4 is not a complete solution. For brands aiming to understand the full customer journey and make informed marketing decisions, GA4 should be one part of a broader, unified adtech strategy.
In a recent webinar hosted by Stream Companies, our experts shared how to make the most of GA4 and when it’s necessary to go beyond it.
How GA4 Fits Into Your Marketing Tech Stack
GA4 is designed to track and analyze website user behavior. It often serves as the core of a marketing tech stack, providing insight into how users engage with your site and which traffic channels and campaigns are driving traffic.
However, GA4 is not meant to function as a standalone measurement tool. It has limitations, especially when it comes to tracking across platforms, understanding offline behaviors, or connecting the dots between multiple digital touchpoints. Non-Google ad platforms, for instance, often do not integrate cleanly with GA4, which can lead to incomplete or misleading data.
Where GA4 Falls Short
GA4 is effective at attributing value to channels that are easy to measure, such as paid search, social media, and organic traffic. But it can struggle with upper-funnel tactics that do not result in immediate clicks or site visits.
Even with built-in attribution modeling, GA4 often cannot tell the whole story. Businesses relying on GA4 alone may miss out on valuable insights about how their marketing is influencing behavior before a user ever reaches the website.
Why You Need More Than GA4
To truly measure success, marketers need to think beyond attribution and consider influence. What caused someone to search in the first place? What combination of messages and touchpoints led them to convert?
This is where a unified approach becomes essential. Using GA4 alongside other tools, such as CRM platforms, keyword trackers, and identity-based adtech like fullthrottle.ai, allows you to see the complete picture. These tools help you understand the entire funnel, from initial engagement to final conversion.
The Power of Proper GA4 Setup
Maximizing GA4 begins with a clean and thoughtful setup:
- Google Search Console: Connect to GA4 to bring in organic keyword data.
- Internal traffic filtering: Exclude your team’s activity from reports by filtering IP addresses.
- Data retention settings: Change the default from 2 months to 14 months to support long-term reporting.
- Lead segmentation: Separate sales and service leads for clearer insights.
- Google Tag Manager: If needed, manually configure and track events like form fills, phone calls, and button clicks.
- Google Tag Manager: If needed, manually configure and track events like form fills, phone calls, and button clicks.
Stream Companies is a founding member of the Automotive Standards Council (ASC) for GA4. This gives our clients access to consistent measurement standards and simplified transitions when switching vendors or websites.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
There are a few common missteps marketers make when setting up GA4:
- Unmarked conversions: Key events must be manually designated in the Admin panel to be tracked correctly.
- Channel grouping confusion: GA4 has updated how it defines and organizes channels. If you are not familiar with the new groupings, your attribution reporting may be inaccurate.
- Delayed event data: Events can take 24 to 48 hours to appear, so performance should not be assessed immediately after changes are made.
Custom Reports and Unified Measurement
One of GA4’s biggest strengths is the ability to build custom reports. You can view specific channel sessions or key events alongside selected dimensions and filters to get targeted insights.
However, for true performance analysis, GA4 needs to be part of a larger reporting strategy. Data from platforms like fullthrottle.ai and your CRM can help track the full customer journey and connect individual conversions and sales to broader campaign efforts.
Conclusion
Success in modern marketing depends on more than clicks and conversions. It requires a clear view of the entire customer journey. GA4 is a powerful starting point, but integrating it with the rest of your tech stack is the key to smarter decisions and better results.