Possible Reasons for UTM Tracking Discrepancy between Google Analytics 4 and InOne

Due to the different data processing methodologies and settings, you might observe data discrepancies in UTM tracking between Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and InOne Analytics.

What are UTM codes and UTM tracking?

UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) codes, also known as UTM parameters or tracking tags, are used to track website traffic back to its source. Marketers customize these codes to match the web page where the tagged URL is placed, allowing them to attribute a campaign's success to specific content.

UTM tracking involves appending a snippet of code, known as a UTM code, to a URL to track the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and content and the origins of website traffic.

How can I view the performance of UTM campaigns?

To monitor the performance of UTM codes in Google Analytics 4 (GA4), follow these steps:

1. Go to your Google Analytics account to navigate Acquisition > Traffic acquisition. This report displays user engagement metrics based on the source, medium, and campaign UTM parameters. 

2. To see specific details, use the dropdown menu to select by source, medium, or campaign. 

You can also type in the specifics of what you are searching for in the search bar above. For example, if you type "Insider," you will filter the traffic from the Insider One source.

Discrepancy Between Google Analytics 4 and InOne Analytics

Even though UTM tracking has been crucial for evaluating the campaigns' performances, a certain degree of discrepancy between GA4 and Inone Analytics will always exist. That’s why a 20% difference has been accepted as a reference point in the industry. It can be more or less than the reference point, depending on the settings and performance of the specific campaigns. 

If you think the discrepancy rate exceeds 20%, refer to the possible discrepancy reasons below.

Especially after the GA4 transition and the changes on Google, several reasons might now cause such discrepancies. These discrepancies do not necessarily mean that the data on either side is wrong; they arise from different data processing methodologies and settings.

Possible discrepancy reasons are as follows:

• Comparing wrong metrics: For example, "unique clicks" in email analytics should be compared with "users" on GA4, but not "sessions."
• Comparing incorrect results: Link-based unique clicks may differ from the campaign's overall unique click metric because a user does not have to click every link in the email.
• Having different calculations for conversion discrepancies: In some cases, Insider can show a different purchase value than GA4 (e.g., for discounted products or different conversion calculations).
• Having different conversion durations set for the respective Insider One campaign and on GA4. Ensure that the Inone settings and GA4 duration hold the same duration.
• The attribution model used on GA4 can also cause the discrepancy. In Insider One, every purchase made from a messaging channel click is attributed to that Insider channel. If a different model, such as the data-driven attribution model, is utilized on GA4, it might decide to attribute that purchase to another channel in the funnel.
• Clicks: Insider One calculates clicks when the Web Push is clicked, while Google calculates when users enter the site with UTM parameters. In addition, the Email product only tracks purchases as a conversion after a click in the Email campaign. Other conversion types are not supported, which can be one of the differences in conversion.
• InOne Click vs. GA4 Sessions: Google tracks users and sessions using UTM parameters in the URL, so each visit to the same link with the same UTM parameters increases the session count. However, for click metrics on InOne, the Web Push notification clicks are counted, and each Web Push notification is only clickable once. These differences in the calculation method lead to metric differences between Inone Clicks and GA4 sessions because: 
  • Users can visit the URL by adding a bookmark after clicking the Web Push notification. 
  • Users can visit the same URL from the browser history and/or revisit the page by going back, etc. 

    For all these actions, GA4 counts more than 1 session. However, Insider One will only count 1 click. 

• Click vs. Total User: Users might have AdBlockers or other extensions enabled in their browsers, and some browsers (like Edge) have these capabilities by default. Due to these restrictions, users become non-trackable for platforms like Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Adobe, and similar applications. However, we can still track these users since Insider One's system counts clicks when a user clicks on a Web Push notification.
  
• Bot Clicks: If an email is scanned by a gateway service (security application), it sends a click event, but these clicks do not redirect the application anywhere. While they register a click event on the Insider One end, it will not be reflected on the GA4.
  • Bot activity mostly happens in non-public domains (e.g., banks, education, government ISPS, etc.).
  • Bot activity happens on Microsoft domains if the template size is lower than 40 KB. 
  • Bot activity is rarely performed on public domains (e.g., Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, etc.), assuming it’s larger than 40KB. Specific security/antivirus applications installed on personal computers might also cause a bot click.
• Non-trackable clicks: These are the types of links in which UTM tracking cannot be done after clicking the original link because either the UTM parameters are removed or the URL is redirected. Insider One analytics will register the click in these cases, but since it is not trackable, it will not reflect on the GA4 reporting. Social media links, URL redirection layers, and empty search results (redirecting users automatically to another page) are primary examples of non-trackable links.
• Timezone: Google Analytics 4 Timezone and Insider One Timezone must be the same for results.

If a campaign is suspected of a bot click activity, check the click ratio of the social media links.