Digital Analytics has changed considerably in the last few years. This is largely due to user consent legislation but is also driven by changing user behaviour on websites and apps. This has required migration to new, more modern analytics technologies and platforms.  When such large-scale and rapid changes are rolled out, it is very easy for the basics to be neglected, especially when under time pressure. However, without the strong foundation of a robust tagging and reporting structure, businesses can easily find themselves hitting blockers preventing them from a more mature and futureproofed digital analytics setup.

It is vital that we can continue to trust reporting; without integrity and accuracy of data, it’s impossible to analyse and assess business performance, and therefore to make informed decisions.

To maintain a high level of trust, businesses need to accommodate their stakeholders by providing access to reporting. They should also continuously enhance their setup as new features become available to ensure teams can leverage all available datasets and insights. This approach helps prevent falling behind competitors.

In taking the time to audit and review analytics reporting and tag management, businesses could potentially save hours of additional work in the long term. The Digital Analytics team within Merkle can support businesses with:

• Auditing: A review of existing configurations to understand whether they are up to date and relevant, and current best practice is being followed. We have a detailed, granular audit that will highlight areas where clients are scoring well, as well as areas for focus.
• Configuration: Whether a client is onboarding onto GA4 for the first time, or looking to revamp their setup, our team can support with the configuration of both Google Analytics, and the respective tag management system.
• Consent Management: Reviewing the effectiveness of consent management tools and ensuring compliance with the client’s outlined cookie policy.
• Naming Conventions and Documentation: Devising a clear, coherent naming convention and documentation on tag management and reporting to help stakeholders know exactly what is being used and where.
• Futureproofing: Setting up tagging and analytics structures to be robust not only now, but for long term projects and developments. In addition, learning and understanding how new features can support clients in unlocking new insights and opportunities.
• Anomaly detection and insight alerts: Equipping clients with notifications when they have fluctuating data outside of their usual trends

Once we have the basics in place, we can support in consultations to aid maturing your analytics configuration beyond GA4, connecting with other platforms to create a bespoke, tailored data reporting solution for your business, as well as expanding on existing platforms and services to provide you with a best-in-class setup, including:

• An analytics maturity review, with a breakdown of feature adoption and overall usage, as well as suggested projects to further enhance your setup.
• Advanced tag management solutions using ServerSide GTM, giving you more ownership and security over your website and app data.
• Unlocking first party data for further insight and further accuracy in your reporting
• Feeding data into a cloud solution for further joining and querying of multiple data sources
• Expanding GA4 data into other Google Marketing Platform products, unlocking additional insight and features to ensure a fully integrated solution.

Following the above steps will ensure your business collects and can utilise trustworthy data to optimise performance both on and offline. Get in touch with the Merkle Digital Analytics team to understand how we can build a strong data foundation for your business.