In just 48 hours we received around 400 responses to our poll question about Google Analytics 4.
With the standard version of Universal Analytics sunsetting tomorrow (July 1), we asked you:
What level of readiness are you (and/or your team) at when it comes to switching to GA4 from Universal Analytics?
Despite plenty of frustration:
- Almost a quarter of respondents said they have fully implemented and already are using GA4.
- Just over half said they had implemented it but were still learning how to use it.
- Almost 16% have it set up but have not started using it.
The takeaway from those statistics: more than 90% of our joint readership is aboard the GA4 train, for better or worse.
- Only 2.6% of respondents said they had no plans to use GA4.
- 4.6% have just not set it up yet.
Why we care. At first glance, this looks like a vote of confidence in Google’s analytics strategy. After all, there are plenty of alternatives to GA4. But it’s not that simple.
Rightly or wrongly, it’s possible to adopt a tool even though you really don’t like it.
“An unfinished product rushed to market.”
“It’s not that the masses aren’t ready for GA4, it’s that GA4 isn’t ready for the masses. The UI is terrible.”
“Terrible UI, terrible reporting.”
Selected comments from poll respondents.
We might need to wait a while to see if people can make GA4 work for them or if frustrations with it start to make the alternatives look more attractive.
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About the author
Kim Davis is the Editorial Director of MarTech Today. Born in London, but a New Yorker for over two decades, Kim started covering enterprise software ten years ago. His experience encompasses SaaS for the enterprise, digital- ad data-driven urban planning, and applications of SaaS, digital technology, and data in the marketing space.
He first wrote about marketing technology as editor of Haymarket’s The Hub, a dedicated marketing tech website, which subsequently became a channel on the established direct marketing brand DMN. Kim joined DMN proper in 2016, as a senior editor, becoming Executive Editor, then Editor-in-Chief a position he held until January 2020.
Prior to working in tech journalism, Kim was Associate Editor at a New York Times hyper-local news site, The Local: East Village, and has previously worked as an editor of an academic publication, and as a music journalist. He has written hundreds of New York restaurant reviews for a personal blog, and has been an occasional guest contributor to Eater.
