Overview

Zaius and Google Analytics capture and process information differently. Instead of matching X metric from Zaius to X metric in Google Analytics, it's more important to focus on matching the trends between the two platforms.

Sources of inconsistencies

If you see unexpected results when analyzing the trends of the two platforms, several factors could be causing the differences:

Attribution method

Zaius attribution is based on email opens and email clicks. Google Analytics cannot see when Zaius emails are opened, so it relies solely on clickthrough information for attribution. If a click hasn't occurred or the proper UTM information isn't present in the clicked URL, the revenue attribution will differ.

It's also worth noting that when Zaius reads the UTMs present in a URL, those values are cached for all events submitted for at least 60-days via a cookie. The cookies aren't sticky, but they do persist over direct sessions, and any other source can overwrite the stored value.

Data update times

Zaius and Google Analytics do not refresh at the same pace, so it is best to compare reporting periods that are at least 24 hours old. This delay helps to ensure that all comparable data has been collected and processed in both platforms.

Identification of customers

Zaius stitches (combines) the identities of both known customers and anonymous visitors across devices, while Google Analytics does not. This difference results in situations where Google Analytics identifies a "new" customer or visitor, while Zaius can recognize them from another device and mark them as "returning."

Code placement

Zaius and Google Analytics depend on separate tracking codes. Based on the placement of these codes on your pages, there are situations where one code can load and register events while another will not.

For example, this could happen if your Zaius code is placed higher on your pages. It may have an opportunity to load before a customer leaves a page, while the Google Analytics code set lower on the page may not.