So many exciting buzzwords dominate the world of data: Machine Learning, AI, predictive analytics, big data.
Yet, after working with many small and medium-sized businesses over the years, I still see the same problems that I encountered when I started my career in digital analytics 10 years ago.
Two fundamental issues, in particular, stand out, remain unresolved in many companies and probably continue to hurt your digital analytics in 2025.
I’ve tried breaking them down in the lines that follow, so here goes:
Wrong Implementations
Very often when doing audits or start working on new projects, I realise that the data collected are unreliable or just completely wrong.
And we’re not just talking about minor tracking issues, like a contact form submission event that stopped working; we’re talking major, business-critical errors like:
- Duplicate tracking codes messing up analytics
- Misconfigured cookie banners and consent mode, leading to incorrect data collection and GDPR violations
- GA4 being broken for weeks because someone unknowingly removed the tracking code
- Incorrect eCommerce tracking, meaning revenue and conversion data is misleading
- Server-side tracking that isn’t actually server-side(!)
As the saying goes: garbage in, garbage out.
If there’s one thing you take away from this, let it be this: the implementation phase is crucial.
In other words, if your tracking is wrong, your entire decision-making process is built on faulty data.
How to fix this?
🔹See tracking as an investment, not an expense.
Reliable data is a powerful tool for business growth. It helps you make informed decisions, optimise marketing spend, improve customer experience and gain deeper insights into user behaviour. By understanding how visitors interact with your website-where they drop off, what engages them, and what drives them to convert-you can pinpoint friction points and implement changes that can actually increase conversions.
🔹Focus on quality over quantity.
Just like in many areas of life, focusing on a few key things done well is far more effective than trying to do everything at once. When it comes to your digital data, it’s far better to track a few key events correctly than to track a large amount of data poorly. Once you set up a solid, scalable implementation and start using the data to improve your business, you can gradually increase your tracking.
Simply put, poor implementation is worse than no data at all because bad data leads to bad decisions.
🔹Work with a skilled digital analytics professional.
Tracking issues can be complex. Things like iframes, tricky forms, cookie banner configurations and more often cause implementation errors. Unlike other areas, tracking errors often don’t produce obvious signs, making them difficult to detect.
Beyond just fixing technical issues, a digital analytics expert can play a key strategic role. They can help design a scalable implementation, define key KPIs, ensure tracking aligns with business goals and provide guidance on using data to drive better decisions.
Cutting costs on implementation might seem wise at first, but in the long run, bad data will cost you much more than investing in hiring an expert.
🔹Remember, implementation is an ongoing process.
This isn’t one of those set-it-and-forget-it kind of things. In other words, you should audit your tracking at least once a year. That’s in addition to revisiting or reinforcing your tracking in the following cases: every time you update your website, when launching new features, or when adding new events.The more digital analytics influences your business decisions, the more conscious you should be.
🔹Documentation is critical.
Many businesses set up great tracking but fail to document it properly. This may have happened to some of you already, the person responsible for the tracking leaves-whether an internal employee or consultant–and your tracking deteriorates. Or part of the tracking might go unused simply because no one knows it exists! Moreover, new team members or consultants need extra time to understand what has been previously set up, creating unnecessary delays.
Now, you don’t need me to tell you that’s not optimal. That’s why you should always ask for proper documentation!
No one uses the data
This issue comes after the implementation phase, and for me this is the saddest part. You put all this energy and money into creating a perfect implementation with nice documentation and a lot of potential for analysis and consequent action. All this just to realise that…
💔💔no one really uses the data.
Of course, if you were to use that powerful asset that digital analytics can be like that, you would turn into yet another expense.
This is why implementing your tracking in various phases makes more sense. It can be as simple as this: start with the most important data, make sure they’re used effectively and then expand your tracking.
How to fix this?
🔹 Hire a dedicated digital analyst.
This person can be responsible for:
- Ensuring your analytics setup remains accurate
- Identifying website issues that impact conversions
- Analysing data to extract insights
- Recommending A/B tests and optimizations
- Communicating with various stakeholders across the company to help them make leverage digital analytics for better decision making
- Helping the business become data driven
🔹 If a full-time analyst isn’t an option for your business, work with an independent contractor. Ideally on a retainer basis. An independent contractor can provide expertise and flexibility without the long-term commitment of a full-time hire.
However, because they’re not fully integrated into your company, you need to ensure the following for a smooth and productive collaboration:
– Give them access to key business discussions to align analytics with strategy
– Build a process when it comes to communicating new tracking needs, business questions, insights and recommendations
– Connect them with the various stakeholders across the company to help them leverage your digital analytics
Overall, after a decade of working in data, I feel that we have the tendency to overcomplicate things. But it doesn’t have to be that way, not with your digital data anyway. 😉
At a time where the marketing budgets are tighter than usual, it’s important to focus on what’s important. Put another way, avoid chasing the latest trends unless you’re already effectively using your analytics data.
If you want to dive into your digital data but you’re not sure where to get this journey started, feel free to reach out!
I’m happy to support you and your business along the way.