The GA4 Backlash: Why Marketers Hate It — and How to Actually Make It Work
The launch of Google Analytics 4 (GA4) was supposed to be progress. Smarter models. Event-driven tracking. Future-proofed measurement. Instead, it’s become one of the most criticized marketing tools in recent memory.
Marketers complain the UI is confusing. Reports are missing. Data doesn’t match Universal Analytics (UA). Attribution feels broken. Across LinkedIn and forums, the consensus sounds blunt: “We hate GA4.”
But here’s the truth: GA4 isn’t broken. It’s different. And unless teams adapt, they’ll keep losing time, budget, and credibility trying to fight it instead of fixing it.
Why the Backlash Is Real
Broken Migrations. Many UA properties were “auto-migrated” with errors — leaving events mislabeled, conversions missing, and year-over-year comparisons impossible.
The UX Cliff. Reports that were one click away in UA now require custom explorations in GA4. Most teams don’t have the patience or training to rebuild them.
Attribution Rage. GA4’s data-driven model doesn’t line up with UA’s last-click model. CMOs see lower numbers and assume performance is dropping.
Data Loss. Without proper historical exports, UA data is gone. Entire reporting baselines have vanished.
The frustration is justified. But hiding behind it won’t fix your pipeline visibility.
The Real Shift: Event-Driven Thinking
UA was session-based. Pageviews, sessions, bounce rates. Easy to understand, but limited.
GA4 is event-driven. Everything is an event: a click, a scroll, a video play, a purchase. That shift feels foreign — but it reflects how users actually behave across devices and surfaces.
The backlash isn’t just about Google’s rollout. It’s about marketers being forced to move from vanity metrics to behavioral reality.
Practical Fixes You Can Start Now
Run a Property Health Audit.
Check for duplicate or missing conversions.
Validate referral exclusions (especially payment gateways).
Align event naming with business logic.
Rebuild Core UA Reports in GA4.
Use the Explorations tab to replicate what leadership expects: traffic by channel, campaign ROI, landing page performance.Export to BigQuery.
GA4 data is sampled; BigQuery gives you the raw events. For serious analysis, linking GA4 → BigQuery is non-negotiable.Fix Attribution Misalignment.
Show leadership side-by-side comparisons of UA last-click vs GA4 data-driven attribution. Frame the difference as progress, not loss.Set Up Data Retention Beyond 2 Months.
GA4 defaults to 2 months for event retention. Extend it to 14 months immediately, or you’ll lose trend data before you even notice.
The VOXA Framework for GA4
We approach GA4 fixes in three steps:
Audit. Diagnose what broke in migration, from events to conversions.
Adapt. Rebuild core dashboards, reports, and attribution models leadership relies on.
Accelerate. Use BigQuery + GA4 to uncover deeper insights (multi-channel paths, hidden drop-offs, campaign CPA detail).
The difference? Instead of treating GA4 like a downgrade, we make it the foundation for AI-first marketing measurement.
Why Speed Matters
Every quarter you wait:
Data gaps widen as UA baselines fade.
Attribution confusion undermines trust between marketing and finance.
Leadership questions channel performance, leading to budget cuts.
GA4 isn’t optional. Fighting it only prolongs the pain. Teams that pivot fast will gain sharper insight and more trust — while competitors drown in dashboard chaos.
Final Word
The backlash is real — but the opportunity is bigger. GA4 forces a shift from surface metrics to event-driven clarity.
If you’re unsure where to start:
👉 Audit your property for broken conversions.
👉 Rebuild one legacy UA report in GA4 Explorations.
👉 Extend data retention today.
GA4 isn’t a burden. It’s a filter: exposing which teams are willing to adapt and which will cling to broken metrics until they’re left behind.