How Do Metrics Change Their Meaning When Marketing Scales Faster Than the Analytics Model?

How Do Metrics Change Their Meaning When Marketing Scales Faster Than the Analytics Model?

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How Do Metrics Change Their Meaning When Marketing Scales Faster Than the Analytics Model?

How Do Metrics Change Their Meaning When Marketing Scales Faster Than the Analytics Model?

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Why GA4 Often Shows Fewer Transactions Than Your Payment Gateway

Why GA4 Often Shows Fewer Transactions Than Your Payment Gateway

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What Happens to Attribution When Marketing and Product Speak Different Event Languages?

What Happens to Attribution When Marketing and Product Speak Different Event Languages?

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Calculating CLV With SQL: Why Window Functions Change the Entire Approach

Calculating CLV With SQL: Why Window Functions Change the Entire Approach

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Why can two analysts honestly read the same data — and disagree completely?

Why can two analysts honestly read the same data — and disagree completely?

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How do time zones, attribution windows, and aggregation rules quietly break reports?

How do time zones, attribution windows, and aggregation rules quietly break reports?

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Why does “properly configured” tracking still feel unreliable?

Why does “properly configured” tracking still feel unreliable?

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Identifying Abandoned Carts in GA4 BigQuery Without Overcomplicating the Logic

Identifying Abandoned Carts in GA4 BigQuery Without Overcomplicating the Logic

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What happens when you trust GA4 modeling - but never look at raw events?

What happens when you trust GA4 modeling - but never look at raw events?

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Counting New Users in GA4 BigQuery? Avoid the first_visit Trap

Counting New Users in GA4 BigQuery? Avoid the first_visit Trap

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Why do executive dashboards hide problems more often than they reveal them?

Why do executive dashboards hide problems more often than they reveal them?

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Why does the same user become three different people in GA4, BigQuery, and your CRM?

Why does the same user become three different people in GA4, BigQuery, and your CRM?

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How can server-side GTM make your data worse — even if it was set up “by the book”?

How can server-side GTM make your data worse — even if it was set up “by the book”?

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Stop Using session_start as Your Primary Session Counter in GA4 BigQuery

Stop Using session_start as Your Primary Session Counter in GA4 BigQuery

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Why do analytics reports look correct — but still lead to bad business decisions?

Why do analytics reports look correct — but still lead to bad business decisions?

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How to Calculate Net Dollar Retention (NDR) With SQL Window Functions?

How to Calculate Net Dollar Retention (NDR) With SQL Window Functions?

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How does Consent Mode quietly rewrite your reports - and why don’t you see the real scale of loss?

How does Consent Mode quietly rewrite your reports - and why don’t you see the real scale of loss?

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How to Track N-Day Retention With SQL Window Functions in BigQuery?

How to Track N-Day Retention With SQL Window Functions in BigQuery?

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How to Calculate ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) in BigQuery?

How to Calculate ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) in BigQuery?

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How to Track Subscription Renewals in GA4 Export Data?

How to Track Subscription Renewals in GA4 Export Data?

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How to Calculate Churn Rate in SQL Using GA4 Export Data?

How to Calculate Churn Rate in SQL Using GA4 Export Data?

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What’s Left of Analytics If You Lose Access to the GTM Container?

What’s Left of Analytics If You Lose Access to the GTM Container?

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Can You Really Trust Average Session Duration in GA4?

Can You Really Trust Average Session Duration in GA4?

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How to Track Trial-to-Paid Conversion in BigQuery for SaaS?

How to Track Trial-to-Paid Conversion in BigQuery for SaaS?

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Why Track Dozens of GA4 Events If the Business Only Needs Five?

Why Track Dozens of GA4 Events If the Business Only Needs Five?

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How to Calculate Net Revenue (After Refunds) in BigQuery?

How to Calculate Net Revenue (After Refunds) in BigQuery?

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Why Does the Same Channel Show Different Revenue in GA4 vs. BI?

Why Does the Same Channel Show Different Revenue in GA4 vs. BI?

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Why Does GA4’s Geography Report Not Match CRM Data?

Why Does GA4’s Geography Report Not Match CRM Data?

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Why Does the Funnel in GA4 Never Match Reality?

Why Does the Funnel in GA4 Never Match Reality?

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How to Calculate Time-to-Purchase in BigQuery Without Losing Accuracy?

How to Calculate Time-to-Purchase in BigQuery Without Losing Accuracy?

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What Happens to Analytics After the Only Analyst Leaves? How does it usually look?

What Happens to Analytics After the Only Analyst Leaves? How does it usually look?

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How to Calculate CLV (Customer Lifetime Value) With SQL Window Functions?

How to Calculate CLV (Customer Lifetime Value) With SQL Window Functions?

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Why Does Retention Look Different in Product Analytics vs. GA4?

Why Does Retention Look Different in Product Analytics vs. GA4?

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Can You Trust GA4 When Data Updates Lag by 48 Hours? Why does this matter?

Can You Trust GA4 When Data Updates Lag by 48 Hours? Why does this matter?

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Where Does the gclid Go When Landing Pages and Redirects Get Involved?

Where Does the gclid Go When Landing Pages and Redirects Get Involved?

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How to Build a True First Organic Click Attribution Model in SQL?

How to Build a True First Organic Click Attribution Model in SQL?

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Why Does Analytics Collapse When You Split With an Agency — And How to Avoid It?

Why Does Analytics Collapse When You Split With an Agency — And How to Avoid It?

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How to Calculate Payback Period on Marketing Spend in BigQuery?

How to Calculate Payback Period on Marketing Spend in BigQuery?

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How Excel and Google Sheets Turn You Into a Reporting Slave

How Excel and Google Sheets Turn You Into a Reporting Slave

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Why 20 CSV Files Will Never Give You Good Analytics

Why 20 CSV Files Will Never Give You Good Analytics

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Why Do We Collect Dozens of Metrics No One Uses?

Why Do We Collect Dozens of Metrics No One Uses?

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How to Correctly Calculate AOV (Average Order Value) in BigQuery?

How to Correctly Calculate AOV (Average Order Value) in BigQuery?

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Can You Trust Google Ads Data? What really happens to your clicks?

Can You Trust Google Ads Data? What really happens to your clicks?

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How to Attribute Conversions to the First Click (Instead of Last) in SQL?

How to Attribute Conversions to the First Click (Instead of Last) in SQL?

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Can You Trust GA4’s Attribution?

Can You Trust GA4’s Attribution?

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How do Safari and ITP affect attribution in GA4 and CRM?

How do Safari and ITP affect attribution in GA4 and CRM?

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Why client_id isn’t enough to link offline events to GA4?

Why client_id isn’t enough to link offline events to GA4?

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How to Correctly Calculate Retention Rate with SQL Window Functions?

How to Correctly Calculate Retention Rate with SQL Window Functions?

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How to understand traffic sources in GA4 without losing your mind?

How to understand traffic sources in GA4 without losing your mind?

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What’s the Right Way to Join GA4 Events and CRM Orders in BigQuery?

What’s the Right Way to Join GA4 Events and CRM Orders in BigQuery?

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How not to blow up on BigQuery bills?

How not to blow up on BigQuery bills?

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How does GA4 conversion rate mislead us?

How does GA4 conversion rate mislead us?

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Can GA4 multi-channel attribution be trusted?

Can GA4 multi-channel attribution be trusted?

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How to Build a Custom Attribution Model in SQL (Without Crying)

How to Build a Custom Attribution Model in SQL (Without Crying)

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Why does Meta Ads attribute to itself customers who bought via email?

Why does Meta Ads attribute to itself customers who bought via email?

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Top Three Ways to Reduce Your BigQuery Query Costs

Top Three Ways to Reduce Your BigQuery Query Costs

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Why do GA4 to BigQuery reports lag by a day?

Why do GA4 to BigQuery reports lag by a day?

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Why do GA4 reports show fewer transactions than the payment gateway?

Why do GA4 reports show fewer transactions than the payment gateway?

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Why do GA4 and BigQuery reports differ for the same day?

Why do GA4 and BigQuery reports differ for the same day?

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What Is Partitioning and How Does It Work in GA4 Export to BigQuery?

What Is Partitioning and How Does It Work in GA4 Export to BigQuery?

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How is CPA defined in Ads Manager and CRM - do they match?

How is CPA defined in Ads Manager and CRM - do they match?

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All About Traffic Source Parameters in GA4 Export to BigQuery

All About Traffic Source Parameters in GA4 Export to BigQuery

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How does wrong user_id setup break analytics?

How does wrong user_id setup break analytics?

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How much do 70% cookie banner refusals affect GA4 data?

How much do 70% cookie banner refusals affect GA4 data?

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How does Meta Ads count view-through conversions and why is it dangerous?

How does Meta Ads count view-through conversions and why is it dangerous?

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How to Calculate Conversion Rate by Landing Page in BigQuery?

How to Calculate Conversion Rate by Landing Page in BigQuery?

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How GA4's default session timeout can cost your business millions?

How GA4's default session timeout can cost your business millions?

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How to Find Abandoned Carts in GA4 BigQuery - Without Abandoning Your Sanity

How to Find Abandoned Carts in GA4 BigQuery - Without Abandoning Your Sanity

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Who Actually Benefits From GA4 Inaccuracies - You, the Agency, or the Platform?

Who Actually Benefits From GA4 Inaccuracies - You, the Agency, or the Platform?

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How to Quickly Build a Session Table in GA4 + BigQuery (Without Questioning Reality)

How to Quickly Build a Session Table in GA4 + BigQuery (Without Questioning Reality)

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Have You Checked If Purchases Are Being Lost Without Server-Side Tracking?

Have You Checked If Purchases Are Being Lost Without Server-Side Tracking?

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How to Handle String, Integer, and Float Parameter Values in GA4 BigQuery

How to Handle String, Integer, and Float Parameter Values in GA4 BigQuery

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What Happens To Tracking When the User Is On iOS - Are You Counting That?

What Happens To Tracking When the User Is On iOS - Are You Counting That?

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How Many Purchases Are Lost Due To Browser-Based Tracking — And How Does That Show Up In GA4?

How Many Purchases Are Lost Due To Browser-Based Tracking — And How Does That Show Up In GA4?

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NEW VIDEO! "How can marketers finally get CLARITY from dashboards?"

NEW VIDEO! "How can marketers finally get CLARITY from dashboards?"

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How to Query Multiple GA4 events_ Tables with _TABLE_SUFFIX in BigQuery

How to Query Multiple GA4 events_ Tables with _TABLE_SUFFIX in BigQuery

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How Do You Know Platforms Aren’t Getting Distorted Data Without GTM Server-Side?

How Do You Know Platforms Aren’t Getting Distorted Data Without GTM Server-Side?

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How to Build Accurate Channel Grouping in GA4 BigQuery (Without Losing Your Mind Over source/medium)?

How to Build Accurate Channel Grouping in GA4 BigQuery (Without Losing Your Mind Over source/medium)?

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Can You Trust the Conversion Rate in GA4 - And How Is It Actually Calculated?

Can You Trust the Conversion Rate in GA4 - And How Is It Actually Calculated?

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Why a Scroll Event in GA4 Doesn’t Mean Someone Actually Read Your Content

Why a Scroll Event in GA4 Doesn’t Mean Someone Actually Read Your Content

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NEW VIDEO! “Why do CONVERSIONS never match across platforms?”

NEW VIDEO! “Why do CONVERSIONS never match across platforms?”

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How to Use IFNULL and SAFE_CAST to Clean Custom Parameters in BigQuery

How to Use IFNULL and SAFE_CAST to Clean Custom Parameters in BigQuery

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How to Use ARRAY_AGG in BigQuery to Reconstruct User Journeys (Without Losing Your Mind)

How to Use ARRAY_AGG in BigQuery to Reconstruct User Journeys (Without Losing Your Mind)

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What’s Really Behind the “Traffic Source” in GA4 — And Why Does It Show Up Differently Everywhere?

What’s Really Behind the “Traffic Source” in GA4 — And Why Does It Show Up Differently Everywhere?

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Which Of The Three Conversion Metrics in GA4 Are You Using — And Do You Know the Difference?

Which Of The Three Conversion Metrics in GA4 Are You Using — And Do You Know the Difference?

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Why You Shouldn't Use session_start to Count Sessions in GA4 BigQuery

Why You Shouldn't Use session_start to Count Sessions in GA4 BigQuery

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What Does An “engaged session” in GA4 Really Mean — And What Does It Have To Do With Actual Engagement?

What Does An “engaged session” in GA4 Really Mean — And What Does It Have To Do With Actual Engagement?

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How to Calculate Conversion Rate in BigQuery

How to Calculate Conversion Rate in BigQuery

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How Long Does a User Session Actually Last — And Does It Affect How You Measure Performance?

How Long Does a User Session Actually Last — And Does It Affect How You Measure Performance?

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Are You Sure GA4 is Handling Your UTM Tags Correctly?

Are You Sure GA4 is Handling Your UTM Tags Correctly?

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Why You Shouldn’t Use event_name = 'first_visit' to Count New Users

Why You Shouldn’t Use event_name = 'first_visit' to Count New Users

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Do You Compare Two Periods in GA4 — And Do You Know It Might Be Misleading?

Do You Compare Two Periods in GA4 — And Do You Know It Might Be Misleading?

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How to Use GA4 + BigQuery to Measure CAC — Without Burning Your Entire Marketing Budget

How to Use GA4 + BigQuery to Measure CAC — Without Burning Your Entire Marketing Budget

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Why GA4 Data Is Delayed — And Why You're Making Budget Decisions Today

Why GA4 Data Is Delayed — And Why You're Making Budget Decisions Today

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Where Does Your Money Go With Black-Box Attribution in GA4 — And How Does It Affect Your Budget?

Where Does Your Money Go With Black-Box Attribution in GA4 — And How Does It Affect Your Budget?

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How to Calculate Average Order Value (AOV) in BigQuery — Without Fooling Yourself

How to Calculate Average Order Value (AOV) in BigQuery — Without Fooling Yourself

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What Do You Actually See in a GA4 Funnel — And How Much Does It Reflect Real User Behavior?

What Do You Actually See in a GA4 Funnel — And How Much Does It Reflect Real User Behavior?

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How to Decode Custom Parameters in GA4 BigQuery (Without Losing Your Mind)

How to Decode Custom Parameters in GA4 BigQuery (Without Losing Your Mind)

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Did You Know GA4 Uses HLL++ — And You’re Not Seeing Exact Numbers?

Did You Know GA4 Uses HLL++ — And You’re Not Seeing Exact Numbers?

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GA4 Shows You “users” — But Are You Sure They’re Real People?

GA4 Shows You “users” — But Are You Sure They’re Real People?

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author

Alex Ignatenko

Message

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With over ten years of experience in product and marketing analytics, I help ecommerce companies earn more from each attracted user through a deep approach to traffic analysis and redistribution of the marketing budget. My mission is to enable data-driven decision making and effective experimentation for online businesses.

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