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  1. A/B Testing Flexibility: Why Fabric Works With Any Tool and Built Its Own

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    There’s No One-Size-Fits-All in Experimentation

    There’s no shortage of A/B testing tools, from VWO and Monetate to SiteGainer, Adobe Target and Optimizely. But all too often, brands find themselves tied to a tool that isn’t quite the right fit or stuck in decision mode trying to choose the “right” one.

    At Fabric, we don’t just work with testing tools, we work around them. Whether you’ve chosen a platform or still weighing up your options we make experimentation fast, flexible and meaningful.

    Tool Agnostic by Design

    We comfortably integrate directly with whatever A/B testing setup our clients already have. This could mean launching tests in Adobe Target, Optimizely, VWO, Monetate or SiteGainer. We’re fluent in the quirls and capabilities of each, whether that is navigating campaign conflicts, ensuring flicker free rendering or improving performance tracking.

    When There’s No Tool in Place: GTM + Our Own Split Code

    For brands who haven’t yet committed to a testing platform, we don’t let that slow things down. Using Google Tag Manager, we’ve built a custom split-testing framework that allows us to –

    • Assigns users to different test variants
    • Serves content dynamically to each group
    • Tracks performance across platforms like GA4

    This means we can start straight away, validating ideas and gathering data without waiting on a full-platform decision.

    How We Analyse Test Results?

    Launching a test is just the beginning, understanding the results is where real value lies.

    To tell us what happen and to also understand why, we use a mixture of

    • Google Analytics (GA4) to measure outcomes across key metrics from conversion rates to average order value
    • Segmentation by device type, channel, user type, and more
    • BigQuery where large scale or deeper data analysis is required

    Adding Qualitative Insight to the Mix

    To go beyond the numbers, we use:

    • Heatmaps to visualise click patterns, attention zones and scroll depth
    • Session recordings to observe hesitation, confusion or friction
    • Feedback tools and surveys to gather direct user sentiment where appropriate

    These insights help us identify opportunities, validate hypotheses, and shape stronger future tests.

    Why We Built Fabric Experimentation

    After years of working across multiple platforms, we built our own: Fabric Experimentation, a streamlined, transparent, and highly flexible testing solution designed for the way teams work today.

    With Fabric Experimentation, you get:

    • Easy setup and variant control
    • Full visibility into testing logic and targeting
    • Clean, digestible results (no black-box outcomes)
    • Compatibility with your existing analytics stack

    It’s everything teams need to move fast and learn faster, without being locked into a particular tool or vendor. We built this for the reasons above and also to save our clients money, significant investment can be made on a platform before you’ve even had the chance to start testing. Our tool is free of charge to our clients meaning all investment goes to your CRO programme.

    We Make Testing Easier, No Matter the Stack

    Whether you’re testing via GTM, running experiments in Optimizely, or just getting started, Fabric meets you where you are.


    We combine strategic thinking with hands on implementation, layered analysis and full adaptability. Because experimentation isn’t just a tool, it’s a mindset. And we’re here to help you build it into your culture.

  2. Take Control of Cookie Consent: Why Managing Your CMP Through GTM Makes Sense

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    In today’s privacy conscious digital landscape, getting cookie consent right is no longer optional it’s absolutely essential. Whether you’re looking to comply with GDPR, the ePrivacy Directive, or similar global regulations, a Consent Management Platform (CMP) is a key part of your website infrastructure.

    But here’s the twist: while most CMPs offer a built-in interface to control consent behaviour, you might be better off managing your CMP through Google Tag Manager (GTM) instead.

    Why? Because doing so gives you greater flexibility, better compliance, and crucially, the ability to collect useful, privacy-friendly data even when users decline consent.

    Here’s why it matters.

    What Does a CMP Do?

    A CMP (Consent Management Platform) acts as the gatekeeper for cookie tracking on your site. It displays the familiar consent banner or pop up, records what users agree (or don’t agree) to, and determines whether marketing or analytics tags should be allowed to run.

    In short: it helps you stay compliant and builds trust with your users.

    Why Manage Your CMP Through GTM?

    While your CMP’s native dashboard might seem like the natural place to manage consent, there are real advantages to integrating it with Google Tag Manager instead:

    1. One Place to Control All Your Tags

    GTM gives you a central control panel for every script running on your site from Google Analytics and Meta Pixel to Hotjar and TikTok.

    If you configure your CMP through GTM, you can manage all your tracking tags and consent logic in one place. This removes duplication and simplifies maintenance, especially across complex multi-market sites.

    2. More Flexibility With Custom Logic

    GTM’s triggers, variables and tag sequencing let you build custom rules around consent.

    Want to fire a tag only when a user agrees to marketing cookies and has landed on a specific campaign page? GTM makes that possible. Most CMP dashboards, on the other hand, offer much more limited conditional logic.

    3. Improved Compliance with Google Consent Mode

    By managing your CMP through GTM, you can also implement Google Consent Mode, which dynamically adjusts how your tags behave based on the user’s consent choices.

    Consent Mode ensures that your Google tags (like GA4 and Google Ads) respect user privacy while still collecting meaningful, aggregated data. It’s a critical step in staying compliant with both EU and global data privacy standards.

    4. Easier Maintenance Over Time

    When your cookie preferences are tied into GTM, you’re not reliant on your CMP vendor for every little change.

    Need to update how you trigger analytics? Want to roll out a new marketing tag? You can handle all of that directly in GTM, meaning there’s no need to dig through your CMP’s console or rely on technical support.

    5. Data Collection Without Cookies (Using Cookieless Pings)

    Here’s the hidden gem: even when users decline cookies, you can still get privacy-friendly signals using cookieless pings; lightweight, non-identifying data that informs tools like Google Analytics and Google Ads of basic interactions (like a page view or conversion).

    This is only possible when you configure Consent Mode properly and GTM is currently the best way to do that.

    Managing your CMP through GTM allows you to:

    • Set default consent states before user interaction
    • Dynamically update those states when consent is given or declined
    • Collect aggregated, anonymised data even without cookies helping you keep some visibility on performance

    In contrast, many CMPs don’t support cookieless pings when set up via their native interfaces, or don’t give you the tools to manage Consent Mode properly. That’s a missed opportunity, especially as third-party cookies are phased out.

    So… Should Marketers Use GTM to Manage Cookie Consent?

    If you care about data integrity, flexibility, and staying ahead of privacy compliance changes then yes.

    While native CMP consoles can work for simpler setups, using GTM gives you much more control, and allows you to implement Consent Mode in a way that’s both privacy-first and data-smart.

    For marketers, that means:

    • Confidence your site is compliant
    • Visibility into user behaviour (even when cookies are declined)
    • Less reliance on developers for tag updates

    Need Help?

    Implementing consent through GTM might sound technical and it can be. But once it’s set up correctly, your marketing team gets a more powerful, flexible and future-proof foundation for tracking and compliance.

    If you’re not sure where to start, or want a second opinion on your current setup, get in touch with our team. We’ve helped businesses of all sizes implement CMPs and Consent Mode in a way that works for both compliance teams and marketing goals.

  3. 3 Ways to Use F.O.M.O. for Improving Conversions

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    Have you ever rushed to check out after seeing that there are ‘Only 2 Left!’ of the item in your cart? Your purchase may have been influenced by scarcity, a common strategy used by eCommerce brands to compel us towards action based on psychological triggers.

    Scarcity is only one example of loss aversion – the human tendency to do all that we can to avoid loss, also known by the popular term ‘F.O.M.O.’ or ‘Fear of Missing Out’. When we see that a product is only available for a limited time or that there’s a chance we could miss out on an offer, we become more motivated to make a quick decision and act on it.

    The following 3 strategies can help eCommerce brands use loss aversion to compel customers to take the final step towards checkout.

    1.‘Next-day delivery if you check out in 01h : 10m : 25s’

    Countdown timers are an excellent way to encourage customers to act quickly as they give a specific deadline to take the final step before losing out. This strategy can be used for many different kinds of offers, with next-day delivery thresholds being one of the more common ones. This is because the countdown can be shown on the site every day before a certain cutoff time, and it gives users a very narrow window for action. The next-day delivery offer allows customers to visualise receiving their items almost immediately, and this anticipation can make it feel like quite a loss to have to wait longer if they take too much time to contemplate the purchase. 

    2.‘Items in your cart are not reserved – check out now!’

    This messaging reminds customers that the items in their cart could sell out at any moment, which can motivate them to proceed to checkout as quickly as possible in order to avoid missing out. This loss aversion strategy can be particularly effective when combined with the aforementioned ‘Only 2 Left!’ scarcity messaging, as customers can imagine that the few remaining items could feasibly sell out if they hesitate too long. 

    An alternative way to use this concept would be to hold the items temporarily and state ‘Items in your cart are reserved for 10 minutes – check out now!’, as this works together with the countdown strategy outlined above to give customers a more concrete vision of losing out if they do not act fast.

    3.‘Sale ends tonight – don’t miss out!’

    The final days of a sale period can be a great time to use loss aversion to nudge customers towards proceeding to checkout, as there is a risk of missing out on discounts if action is not taken before the sale ends. Onsite messaging such as banners promoting a sale can be updated to remind users when the sale is almost over, and the final hours of the sale can be particularly useful for providing concrete motivation to proceed to checkout. This can again be combined with the timer strategy mentioned above, as the countdown allows users to see the precise amount of time remaining to act before missing out.

    These 3 psychology-based strategies can be powerful tools for giving users a final nudge towards making a purchase. Utilising them on your site can have a significant impact on your checkout conversion rates and ensure that potential revenues are not lost at the end of the funnel. For any follow up questions around psychological triggers, feel free to get in touch – https://fabric-analytics.com/contact/

  4. Why Server-Side Tracking Matters for Your Business

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    Several brands we work with are continuously advised by platforms like Awin to move to server-side tracking. With brands facing increasing challenges from stricter privacy regulations, browser restrictions and the phasing out of third-party cookies.  Many brands are exploring server-side tracking to improve their data accuracy and attribution but is it right for your business? We thought we’d put together the below to talk through what the benefits are and what you need to think about before implementing server-side tracking.

    What is it and who benefits?

    Server-side tracking is a method of tracking user interaction across web or app by sending the data directly from a website’s server to analytics platforms (Like GA4 or Awin) bypassing the users browser. Traditionally with client-side tracking, data is sent from the users browser using JavaScript Tags (Gtags) which can create challenges like slowing down page speed, privacy and compliance risk and data loss. Switching to server-side offers a number of advantages –

    • Improved Data Quality: Compared to client-side, server-side offers significantly better data quality. Server-side is able to bypass browser restrictions and ad blockers which client-side cannot.  This significantly reduces the risk of incomplete or distorted data as the data is collected in a first-party approach and is less vulnerable to interference
    • Improved Website speed: Moving a large part of your data processing to the server-side container will improve your page speed, as data processing and transfers are no longer handled by the browser
    • Data Enrichment: A point that is particularly relevant for ecommerce brands but server-side tracking gives you the ability of further processing the data stream with additional data like Product Data
    • Privacy Compliance & Security: First-party data collection helps align with GDPR, CCPA, and other regulations

    Does Size Matter?

    In relation to Server-Side implementation, I’m sorry to say but it kind of does. We don’t believe in just selling something to everyone because it’s become the new buzzword. We’d rather be honest. Large businesses with significant marketing budgets and complex data needs will see the greatest benefit, which in turn justifies the investment of the setup.

    Smaller businesses with limited spend, may struggle to justify the cost as the ROI depends on having enough data volume to make meaningful optimisations. Even if it’s not right for now, it’s worth keeping in mind, as your business grows and more investment is put into your data and ad spend.

    What Do You Need to Do Before Implementing Server-Side Tracking?

    Implementing server-side tracking is not a shortcut to fixing poor data quality, if you’re thinking about moving to server-side tracking you need the ensure these keys steps –  

    1. Address Data Quality: Conduct a GA4 audit to avoid amplifying existing data issues with server-side tracking
    2. GA4 Health Check: Fix misconfigurations, such as duplicate events or incorrect attribution, to ensure clean data
    3. Define Key Events & Conversions: Focus on tracking only the most relevant data for your business
    4. Consent Mode: Ensure Consent Mode V2 has been implemented correctly
    5. Verify Platform Integrations: Ensure GA4 is properly linked with Google Ads, Meta, Awin, and other platforms

    In short, I think you will know yourself whether you are ready for Server-Side tracking based on the how much you value your current data setup. It’s key to state that server-side tracking is a pretty powerful tool but it’s not a shortcut to fixing poor data. If your GA4 setup isn’t in the right place, moving to server-side tracking will not solve all your data problems as it won’t fix the underlying issues. If you want to ensure you get the most value possible from server-side implementation, you should ensure your GA4 is configured correctly. We are happy to run a free GA4 audit to assess your current setup to ensure a smooth implementation.

  5. Attribution Is Dead – Treat Your Campaigns Like Your Website

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    The holy grail of marketing was once considered to be attribution. Multi-touch points, user journeys and fractional credit assignments were obsessed over by marketers. Then came GDPR, iOS privacy changes and the slow painful death of cookies. Would you class them as decision making tools now? As these days they look more like incomplete puzzles.

    Here’s the truth. We’ve had better ways of measuring marketing effectiveness for years now. Instead of relying solely on attribution reports, we should be focussing on two core things –

    Forming Hypotheses That Matter

    Instead of over analysing user paths, focus on Big Picture Questions

    • Does increasing spend on X channel actually drive more revenue?
    • Should we shift budget from paid social to search?
    • Is brand marketing really paying off?

    Measuring Success at the Right Level

    Although attribution reports provide useful signals, they should not be the only source of truth. The real power lies in aggregated data models that work with tracking individuals –

    • Marketing Mix Models (MMM): Analysing long term spend vs revenue trends to understand where investment pays off
    • Regression Models: Identifying the relationship between spend and performance using aggregated data
    • Causal Impact Analysis: Measuring the actual effect of increased spend by isolating external noise

    The Takeaway? Test, Don’t Just Track

    Attribution reports still have value but they only tell part of the story. If you’re unsure on whether an increase in spend has actually had an impact, test it. If you want to know whether your brand campaign is driving sales, model it.

    On reflection attribution probably isn’t dead, more evolving (Not as catchy a title though) The key lesson though is it’s time to stop solely relying on incomplete path data and start treating marketing measurement like we treat web performance. By focusing on broader patterns, testing changes and using aggregated insight to drive decisions.

  6. Google Tag Manager Update – What You Need to Know!

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    Google has recently announced plans to update how Google Tag Manager interacts with Google Ads to streamline data collection and improve tracking reliability. From 10th April, this year, GTM will automatically load a Google Tag for containers with Google Ads and Floodlight tags. GA4 started doing this a few months ago to help fix “Unassigned” conversion attribution issues, and now Google Ads via GTM is following suit to improve tracking accuracy.

    What’s Changing?

    • Automatic Google Tag Loading: GTM will automatically load a Google tag before firing events in containers with Google Ads and Floodlight tags for more reliable tracking.
    • User Provided Data Collection: Auto enabled if you’ve accepted Google’s customer data terms
    • Enhanced Feature Accessibility: Access to enhanced conversions, cross-domain tracking, and auto-events will be simplified via the Google tag settings.

    Recommended Actions

    • Add the Google Tag to your GTM container to preview the changes before the update.
    • Monitor for automatic updates – the update takes effect on April 10, 2025.
    • Consult support if you have any concerns or questions regarding the update.

    What You Should Do?

    • Audit your site for duplicate tags
    • Test your Consent Mode & cross-domain tracking
    • Monitor your GA4 & Google Ads for unexpected data changes

    Overall, this is a pretty positive update but like all things, proactive testing is the best way to ensure there are no data issues. At Fabric Analytics, we can help you ensure your setup is ready for this change. From auditing your current tag implementation to testing your setup and providing proactive guidance, our team can help prevent potential issues and optimize your tracking. Reach out to us to make sure your data collection is future proof.

  7. Does Microsoft Clarity Provide Clarity To Your Customers?

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    What’s the Problem?

    To Paraphrase an old saying, ‘When a product is free, the chances are you’re the product’. This is often the case when it comes to a software products like Facebook, Instagram etc…. It turns out that Microsoft Clarity is unfortunately no different.

    To those who aren’t familiar with Microsoft Clarity, it’s a behaviour tool that collects valuable information about how visitors navigate your website, analysing such things as session recordings, heatmapping and provides many useful insights and metrics that will help you optimise your website. It is an incredibly valuable tool which Fabric Analytics endorses due to it’s amazing capability and its cost… (Free!) There is one thing to be aware of, it doesn’t exactly provide ‘clarity’ on how it uses your websites data. (Apologies for the clarity puns but it’s too easy)

    What information was being collected?

    Now I’m not going to get all George Orwell, 1984 on you but it’s a bit creepy. So technically, Microsoft Clarity doesn’t collect any Personally Identifiable Information but it does collect enough to be able to track the customer geographically as well as understand what browser, device and operating system they are using. In theory it could be used to identify a customer or at the very least track their online activity. Unlikely, but worth considering.

    It does this by dropping Bing Cookies on to the users’ browser , which unless set up to work with your cookie management platform won’t be compliant. Potentially dropping as soon as the consumer is on the website before they’ve even had chance to make a choice on cookie consent.

    What does this mean for you?

    So first of all you have the obvious compliance issues that can leave you legally exposed but there is also you reputation to consider. Even seemingly minor issues can escalate if perceived as significant, potentially exposing your brand to –  

    • Unconsented Data Collection: Your website visitors’ behavior data being sent to Microsoft without their or your explicit approval.
    • Risk of Legal Penalties:
      Non compliance with Consent Mode V2 could result in hefty fines. With the ICO tightening regulations on transparency and data collection practices, the stakes are set to get even higher.
    • Data Sharing Concerns:
      Bing cookies may transmit user data for Microsoft’s advertising ecosystem, which could involve processing beyond your control, further complicating compliance.
    • Erosion of Trust: Allowing this unapproved tracking can harm your brand’s reputation, especially in an age where data privacy is paramount.

    What Can You Do About It?

    As mentioned, we love Microsoft Clarity as a tool. It’s free of charge and its insights can be invaluable so we would never want to discourage anyone from using it. Here’s what you need to do –

    1. Integrate a Consent Management Platform (CMP):
      • Implement a robust CMP to block all cookies, including Bing cookies, until users explicitly opt in.
    2. Update privacy policy
      • Update privacy policy with Microsoft Clarity clearly listed

    Take Control of Your Compliance

    Navigating the complexities of data privacy laws can be challenging, but you don’t have to do it alone. At Fabric, we specialise in ensuring your analytics setup is compliant while delivering valuable insights.

    Get in touch today to book a GA4 and compliance audit and safeguard your data practices.

  8. The Critical Role of a Proper GA4 Setup in Effective CRO

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    When it comes to Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO), data isn’t just important—it’s essential. But the quality of data matters just as much as its availability. Without a meticulously implemented Google Analytics 4 (GA4) setup, you’re essentially risking decisions based on incomplete or misleading data that could undermine your CRO efforts. In this post, we’ll delve into why a precise GA4 configuration is a prerequisite before embarking on CRO initiatives, and how a free audit can set you on the path to actionable insights. 

    Accurate Data Foundations: Why GA4 Matters 

    CRO hinges on the ability to test, measure, and refine strategies based on accurate and actionable data. GA4’s event-based tracking model is a game-changer for capturing granular insights into user behavior, making it an indispensable tool for driving conversion optimisation. 

    With a robust GA4 setup, you gain access to: 

    • Comprehensive tracking of key interactions like add to basket, viewing products, out of stock, check abandonment rate and all other key metrics including traffic, category and onsite performance. 
    • Granular user behavior data, which helps identify patterns, detect bottlenecks in the user journey, and pinpoint the precise areas that require optimisation. 

    If these critical elements are neglected or improperly configured, CRO efforts will be built on flawed assumptions or incomplete data, rendering optimisations ineffective. Especially as all activity should be measured via an analytics platform and NOT a testing tool directly 

    Granular Event Tracking: Focus on the Metrics That Matter 

    One of the greatest strengths of GA4 is its flexibility in capturing detailed user interactions. A generic GA4 implementation often overlooks the nuanced actions that directly influence your site’s performance. To fuel effective CRO strategies, you need to ensure that your GA4 setup includes: 

    • Advanced event tracking such as scroll depth, specific button clicks, and interactions with multi-step forms. These events help uncover hidden friction points within the user experience. 
    • Enhanced conversions tracking, designed to work within the constraints of privacy regulations like GDPR and Consent Mode V2. This ensures you’re collecting meaningful, privacy-compliant data that aligns with your goals. 

    With these metrics, you can hone in on what truly drives conversions and optimise the user journey accordingly. 

    Eliminating Data Noise: Avoid Skewed Insights 

    Inadequate GA4 setups often introduce data noise, which clouds decision-making and distorts the understanding of user behavior. Common issues include: 

    • Duplicated events that artificially inflate interaction counts, skewing performance metrics and making optimisation efforts appear less effective. 
    • Misaligned attribution models, leading to inaccurate conclusions about which marketing channels contribute to conversions. 
    • Sampling in reports, which can undermine the reliability of insights, especially when analysing larger data sets. 

    By ensuring a well-configured GA4 setup, you can eliminate these data anomalies, providing clean, actionable insights that form the backbone of an effective CRO strategy. 

    Custom Dimensions and Metrics: Tailor Your Analytics to Your Goals 

    Every business has unique KPIs and user behaviors, and GA4’s customisation capabilities allow you to tailor your tracking setup accordingly. This includes: 

    • Custom dimensions, such as user segmentation, funnel stages, or customer personas, which allow you to segment data for a deeper understanding of your audience’s journey. 
    • Custom metrics, such as revenue attributed to specific product categories or drop-off rates at specific stages of the checkout process. These customised configurations provide insights that directly inform your CRO strategy and improve resource allocation. 

    By tailoring your analytics setup, you ensure that your data aligns precisely with your business objectives, allowing you to make data-driven decisions that maximise your ROI. 

    Enhanced Attribution: Understand True Performance 

    GA4’s advanced cross-channel attribution (DDA) model is designed to provide clarity on how different touchpoints contribute to conversions across marketing channels. A proper GA4 setup ensures: 

    • Accurate credit assignment across multiple marketing channels, from paid search to organic social, to help you understand the true value of each touchpoint. 
    • Cross-platform tracking, ensuring you capture the full scope of user interactions, whether on desktop, mobile, or app, providing a holistic view of how users engage with your brand. 

    This enhanced attribution enables you to identify high-performing channels, optimise them, and better allocate resources, thereby amplifying your CRO efforts. 

    Confidence in Testing Outcomes 

    The effectiveness of any CRO experiment is tied to the reliability of the data on which it’s based. A properly configured GA4 setup ensures: 

    • Accurate and de-duplicated event tracking, so you’re measuring the right user actions without noise. 
    • Actionable data that allows you to validate hypotheses, track A/B test results, and gauge the impact of optimisation changes with confidence. 

    With clean and reliable data flowing from your GA4 setup, you can confidently implement CRO strategies knowing the insights are rooted in solid, actionable metrics. 

    Start with a Free GA4 Audit 

    Not sure if your GA4 setup is primed for effective CRO? That’s where we come in. At Fabric Analytics, we offer a FREE GA4 audit to assess your tracking, data quality, and overall implementation. Here’s how it works: 

    1. Comprehensive evaluation: We audit your current GA4 setup to identify gaps, flaws, and areas that need improvement. 
    1. Actionable recommendations: We provide a tailored roadmap that outlines steps to optimise your GA4 configuration for maximum impact on your CRO strategy. 
    1. Expert guidance: Collaborate with our seasoned analytics professionals to align your GA4 setup with your specific business objectives and CRO goals. 

    Conclusion: Build the Right Foundation for CRO Success 

    A proper GA4 implementation isn’t just a technical requirement—it’s the foundation for successful CRO. By ensuring that data collection is accurate, customised to your goals, and enhanced by robust attribution models, you’re setting the stage for optimisation efforts that deliver measurable ROI. 

    Ready to take your CRO strategy to the next level? Contact us today for your free GA4 audit and let’s build the data-driven foundation that will drive your website optimisation success. 

  9. 5 Signs in GA4 That Reveal Consent Mode V2 Isn’t Implemented Correctly

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    Consent Mode V2 is a powerful tool in GA4 that ensures data collection respects user consent while still enabling effective analytics. However, an improper setup can have serious repercussions. Not only can it impact your data accuracy and the effectiveness of your paid campaigns, but it can also put you at risk of not being legally compliant. Incorrect attribution, miscategorised users, and missing data can lead to flawed insights, wasted ad spend, and reduced campaign performance. Getting it right is critical for making informed decisions and maximising ROI.

    Here are some key indicators that your Consent Mode V2 setup might not be functioning as intended:

    1. Huge Over Index of Direct Traffic

    If your direct traffic appears abnormally high, it could signal that GA4 isn’t attributing sessions correctly. This often happens when consent signals are not properly configured, and GA4 defaults to categorising traffic as “direct.”

    What to Look For:

    • Review the Traffic Acquisition report for an unusually high percentage of direct traffic.
    • Compare this percentage to pre-Consent Mode V2 implementation levels.

    2. Huge Over Index of Unassigned Traffic

    A significant portion of traffic showing as “unassigned” indicates that key attribution data is missing. This issue is often tied to improper consent settings.

    What to Look For:

    • Check the Attribution > Traffic Source report for large volumes of unassigned traffic.
    • Look for discrepancies in how referral and organic traffic are categorised.

    3. Blank Landing Pages

    If landing pages appear as blank in your reports, it’s a clear sign that data isn’t being captured properly. This can happen when tracking scripts are blocked due to missing or incorrect consent signals.

    What to Look For:

    • Navigate to Engagement > Pages and Screens in GA4.
    • Look for rows with blank values under the Landing Page dimension.

    4. New and Returning Users Incorrectly Categorised

    When Consent Mode isn’t functioning correctly, GA4 may struggle to distinguish between new and returning users. You might notice an overrepresentation of new users—sometimes as high as 80% or more.

    What to Look For:

    • Go to the User Acquisition report and compare the ratio of new to returning users.
    • Investigate discrepancies with historical data or other platforms.

    5. Missing Geographical Data

    Consent Mode issues can result in incomplete geographical data if user IP addresses or location signals are blocked without proper modelling in place.

    What to Look For:

    • Navigate to the Demographics > Location report.
    • Check for blank or missing data in key geographic dimensions.

    Still Not Sure? We’re Here to Help

    If these issues sound familiar, or you’re unsure whether your Consent Mode V2 is working as it should, we’re happy to provide a free audit. Our team at Fabric Analytics can pinpoint gaps in your implementation and ensure your GA4 setup is both compliant and insightful. Get in touch with us today with adam@fabric-analytics.com to talk through in more detail.

  10. Why Brands Missed Out on Black Friday Without Real-Time Analytics

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    Black Friday is one of the most important sales events of the year, particularly for online retailers. Platforms like Shopify are buzzing with activity, marketing budgets are stretched to their limits, and many businesses rely on a combination of tools to track their success. Yet, despite their best efforts, many brands are losing out because of one significant issue: the lack of real-time analytics in Google Analytics 4 (GA4).

    This challenge isn’t just inconvenient; it’s costing brands opportunities to maximise their performance during the busiest shopping period of the year.

    The Issue With GA4’s Delays

    While GA4 has brought some valuable improvements—better cross-device tracking and more advanced attribution—it has a critical drawback: data processing delays. On a day like Black Friday, when every minute counts, this lag creates a major problem for brands trying to make decisions on the fly.

    Take traffic source data, for example. On Black Friday, brands run dozens of campaigns across multiple channels to drive traffic to their websites. Knowing which traffic sources are converting and which aren’t is vital to ensure ad spend is being used effectively. However, GA4’s data batching means marketers often don’t get a clear picture until hours—or even days—later. By that time, the window for optimisation has already passed. In some instances it can take up to 12 days to correctly process.

    Shopify’s Real-Time Limitations

    For Shopify brands, the platform does provide live sales and traffic metrics, which can be useful. However, these insights are limited and don’t provide the depth needed to understand what’s driving performance. For example, Shopify might show an increase in traffic, but it won’t tell you:

    • Which campaigns or channels are responsible
    • How that traffic is converting
    • Whether users are abandoning their carts after visiting specific landing pages

    Without pairing Shopify’s real-time metrics with the more detailed insights available in GA4, brands can’t make the most of their marketing investments during a time when margins are razor-thin, and competition is fierce.

    The High Cost of Missed Optimisation

    Black Friday isn’t just another sales day. It’s a period where every decision can have a massive financial impact. The inability to react to live data means brands risk:

    • Over-spending on underperforming campaigns: Without real-time feedback, it’s easy to waste budget on ads that aren’t delivering results.
    • Underfunding successful campaigns: Without clear traffic source data, brands may miss opportunities to scale up ads that are driving high-quality traffic.

    The result? Lost revenue that could have been recaptured with faster, more actionable insights.

    What Can Brands Do Currently?

    While GA4’s limitations in real-time analytics are frustrating, there are ways to mitigate the impact:

    • Use Shopify Analytics Strategically: While it’s not as detailed as GA4, Shopify’s dashboards can highlight overall trends to help guide quick decisions.
    • Set Up Alerts: Customise notifications in tools like Google Tag Manager for key events, such as traffic spikes or conversion drops.
    • Plan Based on Historical Data: Analyse past Black Friday performance to anticipate which channels and campaigns are likely to perform well and allocate budget accordingly.
    • Leverage Complementary Tools: Explore other analytics platforms that can offer more immediate insights to supplement GA4.

    The Real-Time Analytics Challenge

    The lack of real-time insights in GA4 highlights a broader issue for ecommerce brands: the growing need to react faster in an increasingly competitive market. Black Friday success isn’t just about running great campaigns; it’s about having the agility to pivot and optimise based on what’s working in the moment.

    Until tools evolve to meet this demand, brands must rely on creative solutions and thorough preparation to avoid leaving money on the table. By understanding these challenges and acting proactively, businesses can make the most of Black Friday and beyond.