Analytics for Startups - Why GA4 is not ideal

Analytics aren’t usually designed for the unique needs and challenges of startups. As a founder, you wear multiple hats and juggle a million tasks. The last thing you need is a complex analytics system that requires a data team to understand. Yet, flying blind isn't an option either. You need data and analytics to guide your decisions, validate your hypotheses, and prove your concept to investors.

Analytics tools can typically be:

• Overly complex
• Expensive
• Inflexible
• Privacy-invasive

Enter Umami: a simple, fast, and privacy-focused alternative to Google Analytics. Umami is an analytics solution built by founders who have faced the same analytics struggles you might be experiencing now.

Why GA4 is Not Ideal

GA4 has several issues for startups. Most default to Google Analytics because they believe it to be easier or it is just what they know. However, with GA4, startups will likely have some issues:

Steep Learning Curve

GA4 introduces a new data model and interface that is significantly different from Universal Analytics (the previous version of Google Analytics). The learning curve can be prohibitively steep. Even the basics of navigating the UI or setting up custom reports feel overly complex.

Complex Setup

Just configuring GA4 often requires technical expertise. Custom events, conversions, and audience definitions can be tricky to set up correctly. Even the basic setting up of your data stream is overly complex.

Data Complexity

GA4 uses a complex event-based data model. It can be overwhelming for startups that need quick, straightforward insights.

Privacy Concerns

GA4 still raises concerns about data ownership and user privacy, which can be sensitive issues for startups building user trust.

Custom Reports

Creating custom reports in GA4 is significantly more complicated than it has to be. It’s not something where you can quickly go in and knock out a quick report to help you answer a question.

Data Lags

There are data lags in GA4. Quoting Google’s support docs, “We may take 24-48 hours to process data. During that time, data in your reports may change.” Ask any founder if waiting 48 hours to get data back from their analytics solution is acceptable.

The list goes on. These complexities make GA4 a less-than-ideal solution for many startups who need a more straightforward, user-friendly analytics tool that provides insights without the steep learning curve. Yet, many still choose GA4 as the default analytics platform.

What Startups Really Need from their Analytics

Startups need to focus on just a few key areas in the beginning: 1) User acquisition and growth, 2) engagement and retention, 3) conversion rates and funnel analysis, and 4) feature adoption and usage are likely at the core of your analytics needs as a founder.

You need to easily get at these numbers to make quick, informed decisions. Umami Analytics offers tools to track all these metrics, and more, at a glance. What sets Umami apart from GA4 is its ability to easily create custom reports, allowing you to define and monitor metrics that are uniquely relevant to your startup's specific needs and objectives.

Here are a few examples of how Umami reports can help with these four key areas:

User acquisition and growth

The UTM Report is crucial for tracking user acquisition. It breaks down traffic based on UTM parameters (source, medium, campaign, term, and content), helping you understand which channels and campaigns are driving traffic.

The Insights Report can also be useful here. By segmenting your data based on various fields like referrer, device, or location, you can better understand where your users are coming from and how different segments are growing over time.

Engagement and retention

The Retention Report can anaylze user engagement over time. It uses cohort analysis to show how often users return to your site or product after their initial visit. This report helps you visualize your product's "stickiness" and identify trends in long-term user engagement.

The Journey Report can complement this by showing users' most common paths through your product highlighting the content that keep users engaged and coming back.

Conversion rates and funnel analysis

The Funnel Report is specifically designed for this purpose. You can define a series of steps representing a specific user journey (e.g., from visiting your homepage to making a purchase) and shows you where users drop off in this process. This report identifies bottlenecks in your conversion process. With the Goals Report, you can set up specific conversion goals (like completing a sign-up process or making a purchase) and track progress toward these goals over time.

Feature adoption and usage

The Insights Report can track feature adoption. By tracking the URLs for key features and analyzing them through this report, you can see which features are used most frequently and by which user segments.

The Journey Report can provide information about feature adoption by showing you the paths users typically take through your product, including which features they interact with along the way.

The Goals Report can track specific feature usage milestones, allowing you to monitor adoption rates over time.

Combining these reports, Umami provides a comprehensive view of your startup's performance. The flexibility to customize these reports and set up custom events ensures that you can track metrics specific to your unique product and business model.

Analytics Built for Startups

Umami sets itself apart by emphasizing customizability and adaptability, offering a flexible solution that can grow and change with your startup. Unlike rigid, one-size-fits-all analytics platforms, you can tailor your analytics to your specific needs and the nuances of your business.

One of Umami's standout features is its ability to unify website and product analytics, providing a holistic view of your user journey. This comprehensive approach allows you to track user behavior from their initial website visit all the way through to their product usage, giving you a complete picture of the user experience.

Umami is designed to scale alongside your startup. You can begin with basic metrics when you're just starting out, and gradually incorporate more advanced analytics as your startup grows and your data needs become more complex. This scalability ensures that Umami remains a valuable tool throughout your startup's journey, from your first users to your millionth.

Umami offers a free trial to help you explore its features. To get started, visit our website and sign up for an account. If you have any questions about the product or need assistance with implementation, our support team is available at support@umami.is.