Hello ,

We hope this email finds you well. We wanted to update you on an important change to website analytics reporting.

If you are already using Plausible Analytics or Clicky Analytics you can ignore this email.

As of July 1, 2023, Google is shutting down Universal Analytics (UA), and it will be replaced with Google Analytics 4 (GA4), which is more privacy-oriented. However, GA4 is also more limited in default reporting options compared to UA. The primary reason for using UA was that it was free and allowed for automated reporting. Unfortunately, reporting for GA4 requires setup in Looker Studio, which has limitations on how much data can be reported. Unless you hare doing sophisticated Adwords advertising, GA4 provides no extra value to you.

To get the full power of GA4 with useful reporting will require an Enterprise account (Google Analytics 360), which starts at US$50,000/year per website. This is not a reasonable option for any of our Clients.

We will install GA4 analytics on any account that currently has Universal Analytics, but due to the changes in Google Analytics 4 we cannot provide automated analytics reporting without using paid third-party applications.

We understand this may be disappointing, but we want to assure you that there are reasonable options available for analytics reporting. We are also more than happy to install plugins and do a basic setup for clients who subscribe to any third-party GA4 reporting application of their choosing.

We will continue to use Google Search Console and Google Tag Manager to ensure websites are indexed and that we are informed of any issues.

Our pick for GA4 reporting is Monster Insights for $280 per year. It has excellent reports (although they can be overwhelming) for those that want to dig deep into their website traffic. Depending upon the number of interested clients we should be able to provide discounted pricing.

We also want to offer you a better alternative to GA4 and website traffic reporting. We highly recommend using Plausible Analytics, which is more accurate, privacy-focused and runs faster on a website than GA4. And the reporting is easy to understand.

Google actually penalizes websites running GA4 because it slows down the page load. Plausible Analytics has a small code size, and it's not penalized by Google. The reporting by Plausible is extremely good, and we provide a link that allows you to view real-time traffic. In our comparison testing, we have found Plausible to provide more accurate information. The cost for Plausible analytics is $120 per year.

We have been recommending and installing Plausible on new website projects for almost two years, and we have received very positive feedback from our clients.

In summary:

Reporting for GA4 options:

  1. Default: We replace UA with GA4 but without reporting. Automated reporting can be added later. Manual reports can be created upon request. No charge to install.
  2. Recommended: Plausible Analytics: $120/yr  (More accurate data, monthly automated emails & fully privacy compliant)
  3. GA4 Reporting from Monster Insights; $280/yr (Monthly automated report email using Google Analytics 4)

If you are interested in learning more about these options please reply to this email or call our office.

As we are updating 100's of websites, please complete our online form to help us keep information organized. Work will be completed in the order of form submission.

https://hive.honeycombcreative.net/analytics-stats-signup/

Thank you for your understanding, and we look forward to continuing to work with you and help you achieve your online goals.

Best regards,

Allen

Honeycomb Creative Inc.
Maple Ridge: 604 466 0558
Toll-free: 1 877 904 6622
Web: honeycombcreative.com