Lanie Lamarre Header

We Need To Talk About Google Analytics With Lanie Lamarre

TRANSCRIPT

TRANSCRIPT AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED [00:00:00] Diane: Hey, Hey, today's guest Lanie lamarre is all about eliminating overwhelm and creation creep in your business using workflows and data. Last time she was on the show, we chatted all things workflows, but since then we've been engaged in a DM debate about the future of analytics. So we decided to talk about it here. Hey Lanie. Welcome to the show. [00:00:17] Lanie: Hello, Diane. [00:00:19] Diane: I'm very excited to get to do this again, but for anyone who hasn't met you before, or can't remember all the way back to episode 1, 1 0, would you like to do a quick intro to your business? [00:00:30] Lanie: I'm Laney Lamar. I run oh, my growth and I speak on the, oh my growth podcast where. Online business owners, figure out how to get data driven and know their numbers without having to become an analyst to do it because you know, you're a creative boss. You want to spend your time and energy doing that. Not necessarily making yourself into an analyst. So I make that as simple as possible for you. [00:00:53] Diane: When you're not someone like me, who's like, oh, any excuse for a spreadsheets. [00:00:59] Lanie: There's room for everyone. We can have the spreadsheet, people, we can have the people who prefer to look at a graph. we. can have the people who just can't bear to log into reports and make that all accessible. [00:01:11] Diane: So before we go any further, I just want to highlight that neither of us are lawyers. If you have any questions about how you get compliant with regulations that cover your business, please consult a lawyer. This is not legal advice, right? Just going to put that one out there. So a few years ago, I kind of felt like GDP all blew up my life. For anyone who isn't familiar, GDPR requires anyone who is based in Europe and the UK. So the EU and the UK, not the same thing anymore who has, or who has data on anyone in those locations to follow some pretty strict regulations around data privacy, including things like consent to market, to them, and the ability to have all of your data wipes. So this was a pretty big exercise for those of us who are based in Europe. But I think one of my biggest frustrations through the process was the, quote unquote, not my problem. Vibes that I was feeling from my peers in the us and Canada, where it was like, this is a European thing. We don't really need to think about it. We don't really need to consider it. So have you seen change? That's got you giving some of the more standard data collection practices, serious side-eye been pretty vocal about it. [00:02:31] Lanie: I have been pretty vocal but I won't shut up about it. It seems. Well, the thing with GDPR, when it first came into play, it was a little while before it was enforced. And when it was enforced, it. was very much. Email, the focus was on email. Being able to get consent to people, opting into your email list giving people some agency as to what they were receiving from you. So the ability to unsubscribe, which I think is kind of a baseline thing that we shouldn't be that upset over, right. Having consent to send people emails and letting them unsubscribe. Everyone got very worked up over what this meant for their email over the death of my email. They're trying to kill my email, but they're not trying to kill email marketing by putting legislation like this upfront. They're really trying to be, it's not anti-business it's pro-consumer is the way you need to frame this. And the pro-consumer part is. For GDPR impacts people who are in the UK, people who are in the EU. And if you're marketing to anyone who lives in that area, you have to comply to GDPR. People seem to think that, oh, if I'm in the U S if I'm in Canada, if I'm in Australia, if I'm in anywhere, that is not the EU or the UK, this doesn't concern me, but that isn't the case laws are there to protect. The recipient, the recipient is the consumer. So it's the laws that govern them, that you have to abide by when you are marketing to them. So it doesn't matter if you are sending emails from the U S if the person who's receiving it is in the EU, you have to comply to GDPR. Now it started where it was, the focus was on email, but now this year we're seeing all kinds of court cases bringing up, oh, a website data collection with. Platforms like Google analytics are not necessarily compliant to GDPR either. So that's why you're seeing all these things, asking you to consent. That it's much more obvious for that consent for information collection, as well as. Giving you the option of what you're willing to have track on that website. So sometimes you'll see those options of allow all marketing cookies or deny the access to that's. What that's about. This is company. These are companies who are starting to I don't want to say take it more seriously, but. The online world is changing and the laws that are governing it are changing as well as they should your personal information, you should have the right to have some agency over how that's being used. so that's what GDPR, in a nutshell is all about and covers. And that's why it really doesn't matter where you are. weren't going to market to anyone in the EU or the UK, you must adhere to these these. [00:05:21] Diane: Yeah. And I think just to clarify, GDPR required the cookie consent. As soon as it required the email consent, it's only that people have become, so in the EU and the UK, we have all had to have those like cookie pop-ups that you talk about, like, what marketing would you like? And obviously there's been some changes, but I think, like you said, it's the court cases. That we've seen come up that have really flagged to people like, Hey, this kind of innocent little script that I've got running on, my website actually has some implications for, privacy. [00:05:55] Lanie: Yes. Yes. [00:05:56] Diane: And I know for me, mine has to detail, not just what cookies I have on my website so that people can knowledgeably opt in or opt out, also what those cookies are doing, which. I think it's probably quite unrealistic the average small business owner you actually really truly understand what those cookies are doing. [00:06:20] Lanie: Right. And this is part of the problem of using a platform like Google analytics, for someone who is running a very small operation. If you're a solo preneur, or you have a very small team, if you're not, you know, a medium or large sized business, chances are. You don't have a Google analytics expert on staff who is able to keep you honest about how Google analytics is collecting information, because it's not an out of the box software for you to use. There are a lot of legal implications that I don't think most people understand when they install it on their website. And you, you do have to customize a lot of things in order to be privacy compliant, as these court cases are, like you said, These, these laws were in place beforehand, but it's the enforcement and the court cases that are making it more prevalent where, okay. We, it's not just a lot. We actually have to do this stuff now. So, you have. Other companies that are that have analytic software, places like a fathom is one of them fathom analytics, plausible analytics that are very, very focused on working with solo preneurs, people who don't really understand how what's happening in the background with the cookies and the tracking, and they make their. Analytic software out of the box compliant to these, this type of legislation. So you don't actually have to think about it. Now you're going to get a lot less information, but let's be honest. Most of the information in your Google analytics. overwhelming to you, if you are not a very savvy person, or if you were just a small business owner, there's just way more information. I think there's something like 500 plus data points Google analytics is on your behalf. I, [00:08:07] Diane: Okay. [00:08:07] Lanie: can't name five. I can't. A hundred data points. You know, it's like so much information and it's way more than you need. So these easier to use these privacy compliant analytics software, they actually make it a lot easier for you to get into report and understand what numbers you're actually looking at, how you're actually performing, as opposed to it being like just So many. [00:08:31] Diane: So let's talk about what the kind of differences are. So traditionally Google analytics, if we stepped through it, maybe we've got like an Instagram link that somebody clicked on and they've landed on our opt-in page. And then they go to our thank you page, which has maybe got a trip wire that then goes to our cart. That then goes to like a thank you page. Right? So traditionally in Google analytics, you could follow somebody without being Joe blogs has done all of these things, but you can see. Person has done, has gone through that entire funnel. Right. As long as everything's mapped correctly, let's assume that you know how to do all of that [00:09:06] Lanie: Yeah. [00:09:06] Diane: for a small business. That's probably most traditional thing we're looking at. Like where are people coming from? Where on the website? Are they landing? How long are they staying? What are they been buying? How do. Fathom. And the others differ from that. Like what is in what's in Google analytics that we're going to lose if we switch it off and we move into fathom other than obviously all our historical data. [00:09:32] Lanie: I think we have given a little too much responsibility to Google analytics to collect all of the information when. And with that responsibility that we're giving it we're also giving it all of that information, which includes personal information. Like when you're going through the checkout things like credit card numbers and things like that which you are supposed to block when you create your Google analytics account, but I've. And behind the scenes and a lot of Google analytics accounts over the years. And very seldom are the, the blocking of personal information collection is that setting enacted. So that's just one of the many things that you actually need to be putting in place where is kind of evidence that Google analytics is not an out of the box software, but I think we complicate things a little too much by creating all these funnels and this and that. If you're looking at your. Checkout process. Chances are you're using a cart processor in all of that information is going to be available there. Now you might need to see the number of people who hit that opt in page in order to start calculating your conversion rates and whatnot, but it's a lot clearer and it's a lot more actionable in my opinion, to actually. Hone in on what you're looking at. Cause when you log into Google analytics, it's like everything that was ever collected about anything, anywhere everywhere on your website and figure it out, whereas all time indeed. But when you are like, Hey, how did my launch. Do you need to look at what your entire website was doing? Do you need to be worrying about what the big picture of everything is? No chances are, you're going to be looking at that landing page, your checkout and your card processing and that landing page. When you log into something like fathom analytics or plausible analytics, I'm using those two examples by the way, because it's the ones that I like best, but there are a lot of different other. Privacy compliant, analytics software out there. But you look at that landing page and you filter your results for that one page and the performance of that one page, you can see how everybody got there. You can see the number of people that got there. You can see, where they came from. If that's something that's important to you in terms of your marketing, those types of key pieces of information, the types of things where you're asking yourself. Hmm. wonder. The time I spent on Instagram was worth it for this launch. Those are the sorts of things that you can answer in a much clearer way with those analytics software. And then when you're focused on your actual funnel performance, you can see your checkout and your pages. Look at that in your cart processor, I think isolating your information that way into those areas where you're trying to optimize them is a lot more effective than seeing. All the things hashtag all the things. [00:12:26] Diane: Yeah. I feel like a Google analytics. And certainly I have felt this way, but Google analytics, it thrives off of FOMO. Right? Because it only starts sucking in all of that data from when you put the script onto your website for the first time. Not retrospective. So there's this. Urgency created for like, even if you're not using it, at least load it up. Let's just feed the data machine in case. I ever want to historically go back and see that somebody clicked on an Instagram post three years ago to buy something from me now, some huge businesses that makes a lot of sense that they are tracking to the ad or the pin or the post that got people to convert when they're launching that same product over and over and over again, optimizing to like percentage points. So how do we move from that FOMO of, but what if I need what Google analytics has? So maybe right now, all I need to see is that one funnel, or I just need to see the opt-in page. I could intentionally make that decision now and swap to something else and, understand that I don't need the rest of Google articles, if. what if in five years time I need it. [00:13:39] Lanie: Well, that's why you would use something that's a little bit more privacy compliant. Like. Fathom or plausible instead of using Google analytics. Now I know that with plausible, they were working on this. I'm not sure if they have it in place as of yet, but they were allowing you to import your old Google analytics data into plausible. Which I think is great on a couple levels because one, you'll have that back data to refer to. If you're currently using Google. [00:14:06] Diane: Yeah. [00:14:07] Lanie: two Google analytics is its version to GA four, and that information is not going to be compatible with the old information. And so you're going to be losing that data anyways. You're not going to be able to retroactively look at that anyway. So if that's the major concern at this point in terms of why you wouldn't move to another planet, I think that's maybe less of a concern than you might imagine, but when you log into Google analytics, We've all had this feeling where it's like, well, what am I looking at? What am I looking at? What is, where do I start? Whereas when you go into something that's a little simpler you immediately see what you have. And you're like, okay, in. Interesting or whatever it is or whatever you come up with and you're done. Whereas Google analytics, you can, that's a rabbit hole that you can spend a lot of time, just click, click clicking through and not actually coming out with any insights which is the whole point by the way of collecting data is so that you can get insights so that you can, look at your data and feel inspired, or have an idea of what's going on. [00:15:11] Diane: do the alternatives. Let's just stop, like hammering home. The one, do the alternatives, gather the information from Google analytics that we would actually need anyway. And just leave off the things like you said, like somebody's credit card number [00:15:25] Lanie: Right. Their IP addresses [00:15:27] Diane: so the FOMO of like, but what if I need the data that would've been in Google analytics? Probably any data that would've been in Google analytics I would have in the new system anyway, [00:15:37] Lanie: yeah. Any data that you would use to work at? Yeah. Meanwhile, I mean, I don't know how useful data points, like, I don't know. Now I'm, I'm trying to think of the, the really what do you call them? Exactly. The obscure data points that you're like, what, what would I ever do with this? You know, also the insights of your big in Jakarta this week. It's just like, what, who cares? [00:16:02] Diane: Yeah. Yeah. Unless you're specifically geographically marketing yourself. I don't think it's that vital. So I have heard on the rumor mill, obviously from people who have a vested interest in Google analytics, shall we say that four is expected to be the Google analytics compliant version? Because they suddenly brought it forward. it was only supposed to be released in a couple of years or something. And now suddenly it's going live way sooner. the rumor mill has it, that this is their attempt at GDPR, et cetera, compliance. [00:16:36] Lanie: The problem with Google analytics not being compliant? Well, one of the problems is that the data is being stored. In the U S as opposed to the UK and the EU which is part of the GDPR legislation. That's the problem. That's one of the problems with Google analytics. So , doesn't actually fix where the data is being stored. But there are changes. I will give that, that there are changes to GA for, however how do I say this? First of all, I don't want to be this isn't bashing Google analytics at all. It is a great software. It is a high maintenance software. You like, there's a lot that is involved with keeping up with it and making sure that your settings are right. There's a lot of coding and customizing that goes into it. If you're willing to invest in someone who is an expert in this and who is able to keep you on your toes for this. Absolutely. But you do have to be responsible and using it. It's just not an out of the box solution. All I'm saying about that, you know, and you do have other options if you don't want to go down that route. So Google analytics isn't bad. It's just. Complicated now G four has [00:17:49] Diane: no. [00:17:49] Lanie: out for a couple years. They told us a few years ago. I would say about two years ago at this point that it was being made available and to install it on your websites and work with. In conjunction to the old, the old version, the universal analytics version that we've all sort of grown used to. So that you would collect that back data that you were talking about, that you can actually start referring back to in a way that you would be able to use that information moving forward, you wouldn't lose a lot of historical data. You would have some in your pocket. And because that way of collecting data is so different from the way the old data collection was happening. That's why you can't just transfer that information. There are two completely different ways of collecting data and yes. I suspect that a lot of it will be much more privacy compliant. However, it doesn't fix all the problems and that still doesn't make it an out of the box software solution, because there are instances where there are reasons to collect more information. If you can justify that, if you can put that in your privacy policy and let people know that they, you are collecting those specific data sets that's what it's there for. It's a matter of being responsible with your choices in your uses of the platform, [00:19:00] Diane: It's that classic. if you don't have to pay for the platform, you are the product. [00:19:04] Lanie: Well, there's nothing wrong with, I don't feel there's anything wrong with being the product either. there are certain things that I really. Like in terms of tracking, I do like seeing ads that are customized to me, you might be surprised at how, you know, sort of influx my privacy settings are one of my favorite analytics sort of data stories that I've heard recently about what people are doing with the data they collect is Spotify. They actually use a lot of. The user's information, the, their, their, their client's information and their habits and behaviors, parlay that information to share with record companies and producers and musicians in order to access. Sort of use data to craft music that people will be more likely to listen to, which I think is amazing. And I mean, I don't know what that says for pop music and where that's going, but I think it's really fascinating way to use that. There's a lot of really great ways that you can use personal information and data like that and behavior trends. It's not all evil, but aware and bringing your consent to the table. I don't think that consent is never about. In my book. [00:20:12] Diane: Yeah. And so I have like a cookie popup on my website and it links to my privacy policy and links. Every single, like you can go into my privacy policy and see every single cookie that's on my website. But what we forget is that. Google is a giant company that are constantly tweaking and changing. So every now and then I'll get a report that I've got another Google analytics cookie that I have to go and somehow classify. Right? even if GA full comes out and it is everything we hope it is, and it is much more privacy compliant, you still have to be monitoring every single time we get one of those terms and conditions changes. You actually have to read it. Right. And we all know none of us read it. [00:20:56] Lanie: This is why I talk about having a Google analytics expert sort of on staff or at the very least someone who's a contractor that you have, I keep saying in the pocket, because you want someone who's not just a one-time, you know, of deal. You want someone who's going to keep you informed of those changes, they impact you, what changes you need to make? Simplifying what those terms actually mean for you and your business. [00:21:21] Diane: Now there is also though let's just be open about it. There is a price that comes with you. Protecting your consumer, your clients, your prospects, right? So Google analytics is free. That's tough. It's super popular. What we pay for analytics as we pay data. So our other free option is to just stop using cookies on our website to ask ourselves if we actually need them. How much of an investment and you don't have to name the specific companies, but how much of an investment are we talking about as if we go back to what you said at the beginning and stop thinking about this from, this is why this is hard for me as a business and think of it as, this is why this is the best thing for my clients. Like I would never go, oh, I have to pay for zoom. Because that's a great way for me to interact with my clients. I could just as easily do a web call or an email backwards and forwards for free, right? So how much of an investment in our clients, all we likely to need to make? Once we say, okay, I want to move away from Google analytics into something more privacy based and more out of the box. [00:22:30] Lanie: Right. it's going to depend on how much traffic you get to your site is the, if that's always the answer and nobody likes it, it depends, [00:22:40] Diane: But in some ways that's good for the people who aren't really using Google analytics to its fullest potential [00:22:47] Lanie: Right, [00:22:47] Diane: they aren't going to get a massive price tag make the switch. [00:22:51] Lanie: right. You can, you can get started for. I think it's as low as $9 a month to start using these types of platforms. Now, again, it all depends on which one you choose and again, how much traffic you get. But I think it's something like 10 to 20,000 visitors a month will cost you not yet $9 a month. And it goes up incrementally based on how much traffic you're getting. But I think it's a very reasonable price. And especially when it comes to. Like, you're trying to build relationships with people. trying to build that trust factor with people who are coming to your site. And I think not being exploitative with the way that you are collecting personal data on them is a decent way of doing that. [00:23:40] Diane: Yeah, for sure. That makes a lot of sense. Actually. I think reframing it as, Hey, what am I actually trying to do here like nine bucks or 20 bucks or even 50 bucks a month, really that big a price to pay. Right. So I'm guessing then some people who are listening have. Are aware of GDPR and its and its issues, have maybe never come across some of the alternatives before. I know when you and I had our first kind of conversation about this, I was like, what are all these other options that I have? So do you have somewhere that people can go that second easy? I know you talk about this a lot. Is there an easy spot for them to go for some resources rather than them searching all over the web for. [00:24:26] Lanie: All the options. [00:24:27] Diane: Yeah, I'm afraid to use Google analytics. Don't Google help. How do I not use Google? [00:24:34] Lanie: I will give you a link to share in show notes. I have a couple of videos that sort of walk you through my, my options and why you might want to choose one over the other based on how you're operating. So you can. Those types of decisions for yourself based on what's important in the way that you do business. So, yeah, we can, we can hook you up with those, those video walkthroughs. And I talk about these sorts of things on my podcast as well. So if this topic interests you, Surface level analytics stuff where that stuff that you do need to know as a small business owner, especially a, an online small business owner, who's running a very small, tight team. You don't need to be doing all the things. You don't need to know how to do all the things, but you do need to know about all the things. So, that's what I try to. [00:25:22] Diane: And if anybody is in the UK and once some resources around. What our requirements are, et cetera. Do hit me up in the DMS and I will happily share some actual like legal resources around what your requirements are in the UK. Because obviously since we Brexit, we've managed to make things even more complicated for ourselves, [00:25:44] Lanie: here's the truth of it too. Like it's, we're, we're talking GDPR. We keep throwing the word around and finger pointing and oh, and you know, apple is messing up our ability to track email, and isn't that? Listen, everyone's getting on board with this browsers companies national laws. You have state laws. CCPA is really not all that different from GDPR. CCPA is for California consumer protection act. And so. Anyone that you're sending emails to who live in California, you have to start a D-ring to those laws as well. So, Being able to be as compliant as possible to all of the laws that are out there. It sounds like it's a big deal, but when you start looking at what they actually mean, it means acting like a human being online. And I know this is a weird concept, but like, think about when you go to the w I don't know if people go to malls anymore. Certainly not after a pandemic, but you know, you go to the candle store and there's the lady at the candle store saw that you were looking at this one candle. And you were like, oh, I'll be back later for it. And you go to another store and the candle store lady pops up from behind someone else's counter being like, you still want my candle. like lady calm down. And then she keeps popping up everywhere. And at some point you should be able to say, listen, lady, I don't want to hear about your candles anymore. You know? that's basically what it is. You wouldn't stock people in real life who don't want to hear from you. You, you don't necessarily have to be bashing people over the head with your offers either. [00:27:20] Diane: Yeah, I read, I think it was an entrepreneur article this morning, actually, randomly popped up, obviously, because I was thinking about Google analytics. And so it automatically popped up in my feed. [00:27:31] Lanie: Ooh, excellent tracking. [00:27:32] Diane: you know, excellent mind reading and tracking, it was third-party cookies will become extinct or something [00:27:40] Lanie: Yeah. [00:27:41] Diane: Right. So this is definitely getting a lot of. Focus and attention, and it's not going anywhere. So if you are thinking that if you just keep your head down and hopefully it won't happen, smaller businesses have been targeted in Europe for breaking the rules, not just the behemoths. So definitely something to pay attention to. [00:28:00] Lanie: This is also why you're seeing changes in the way social media platforms are changing the game with you see Instagram and Facebook. You're able to buy things within the app at this point. because the third-party cookie, is going to be obsolete in pretty much every poll, every browser, all the things. So, they want to be. First-party cookie data when you're buying that product. And if you're within their same platform, that's what that means that third-party cookie means, you know, information being transferred from one platform to another, from one website to another. Whereas that first party data, if you're being advertised to on Instagram and buying on Instagram that's first party. So, you're going to see a lot more. I assume that Facebook, I think they already have this, the ability for you to build your leads in there with forms and things like that. You're going to see more of that as well, instead of redirecting them to your your own page. And they're going to make that sexier for us to do by making it less expensive, because they want to. keep that data in house. That's their bread and butter. [00:29:06] Diane: scary times ahead. [00:29:07] Lanie: Yeah, I think it's good. I don't find it scary. [00:29:10] Diane: I get the privacy aspects of it, but having all of that data in like, say Facebook, for example, is very scary. If your Facebook account gets hit, [00:29:19] Lanie: right? [00:29:20] Diane: Like, it's just gone. It's, you've instantly lost that. So for me, that's more the scary part than the privacy pod. Like the privacy bot I've been living with for years. So no longer scary to me. So finish up, as you know, I always ask my guests a couple of questions. There'll be interesting to see if you also have [00:29:38] Lanie: Um, [00:29:39] Diane: from the last time. first up, what is your number one lifestyle boundary for your business? [00:29:44] Lanie: I have grown to be much better, much more improved. I probably had said this last time as well, but I have improved my not doing like computer work on the weekends. I might do you know, Like paper editing. Every, everything has to be printed out on the weekend. So it changes the way. I think when I look at a paper, as opposed to, when I look at a screen, I noticed this about myself. I know this about myself. So I try to give myself that advantage as much as possible. And when you put that boundary in place, or when I put that boundary in place, I find it helpful to be like, ah, it's weekend, no screen time. [00:30:26] Diane: I'm good for your eyes as well. I'm [00:30:27] Lanie: Yeah. [00:30:28] Diane: mental health. Cause you don't get like accidentally veer off into social media. [00:30:32] Lanie: I can log onto my computer to print something. That's an exception for sure. [00:30:36] Diane: Fair fair. Okay. We, we will allow that. [00:30:39] Lanie: Thank you. Thank you. [00:30:41] Diane: Okay. And finally, what is the worst piece of cookie cutter advice you've been given as an entrepreneur? Then you can say put Google analytics on your website. [00:30:49] Lanie: And I don't think that's bad advice either. I think it's great collecting data, just like you said earlier, like it's not retroactive. You do want to start collecting it as soon as possible, but know what you're collecting and what make sure you're going to actually use that information that is actually benefiting you as opposed to some big company who's just trying to. Be the data, God. And now I went on a tangent, which happens a lot with you and I, but I don't remember the original question. Oh, the worst advice I ever got people telling me to put funnels in place. Cause that's the way like specific types of funnels, because that's the way you do business. Changing, what I can see is working for me and someone else saying, but you could see so much bigger conversion rates, if you do it my way and then doing it their way and seeing my conversion rates plummet and feeling not good about my systems that I had in place, I will never change my system again because someone else told me it was the right thing to do, but that was a hard lesson to come by. [00:31:48] Diane: Yeah, I feel like that's the one. And sometimes you have to experiment because you don't know [00:31:53] Lanie: You don't know what you don't know. [00:31:54] Diane: the way they do that. Funnel might actually be the thing that totally clicks for you. But once you find the way that works for you, with you, don't change it because somebody else said, so. [00:32:03] Lanie: Oh, because somebody else said, so that's, that's the worst advice ever because somebody else said, so. forget it. No, I like looking at my numbers, seeing what's working and trying to figure out how to do more. [00:32:16] Diane: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being a guest again. [00:32:21] Lanie: Thank you so much for inviting me again. by the way. I know there's like a double showing. This is it's an honor. It's an honor and a privilege and I always appreciate. [00:32:31] Diane: and where can everybody carry on talking analytics, data workflows, all the things with you on the socials. [00:32:38] Lanie: So you can follow me on Instagram at OMI growth. O M G R O w T H. And on Tik TOK. It's at OMA growth pod O M G R O w T H P O D because someone stole my name. Can you believe that? [00:32:53] Diane: So rude, so rude. Awesome. Well, I hope everyone comes over and asks you all of their super complicated questions. [00:33:02] Lanie: Perfect. [00:33:03] Diane: Thank you so much.


If you’ve got Google Analytics running on your website, it may seem like a tiny script and a free business tool but are you actually opening yourself and your clients up to some unexpected risks?

Lanie Lamarre walks you through why Google Analytics might not be the best fit for your business.

Key Takeaway

Google Analytics was never meant to be used as an out-of-the-box solution. You can and should be customizing it for your business and for your clients’ privacy.

We talk about

  • Why you need to care about this regardless of where you’re located
  • Whether it’s time to say goodbye to GA
  • Why cookies are getting all the attention right now
  • What your alternatives are if you still want the data
  • Why GA4 won’t solve everything
  • Lanie’s lifestyle boundary for her business
  • The worst cookie-cutter advice Lanie’s been given on her lifestyle business

About Lanie

Lanie Lamar is all about eliminating overwhelm and creation creep in your business using workflows and data.

Note:

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Disclaimer:

The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this podcast episode and article are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this article or episode. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this article. Diane Mayor disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this article.