GA4 counts conversions by its own rules and attribution windows that don’t line up with CRM data or actual orders.
I’ve seen cases where GA4 credits a channel while revenue comes through other touchpoints - a story that sounds nice but money doesn’t follow.
Furthermore, working with GA4 you have to deal with different СR metrics which could be misleading.
Often GA4 marks a conversion for a given action or attribution model that doesn’t match how we see the final purchase in the chain. CRM records closed deals and revenue, and those two pictures don’t always align.
The numbers look good in reports, but they don’t reflect the real customer path and profit.
What problems arise?
• Differences in what counts as a conversion distort ROI and campaign effectiveness, leading to wrong budget choices.
• Budgets are shifted based on GA4 conversions, while actual revenue comes from other channels — priorities end up misaligned.
What does this tell us? Key insight:
• We need to understand exactly which GA4 events count as conversions and how attribution works, so comparisons with CRM are on the same footing.
Without a unified picture, data splits into behavior signals and revenue, and business planning becomes less precise.
What steps should we take to fix it?
• Clarify conversion definitions in GA4 and CRM, verify attribution windows and counting order.
• Set up a unified identifiers pipeline between GA4, CRM and the financial system, pilot on a single channel, and compare results against real revenue.
Want to get all my top Linkedin content? I regularly upload it to one Notion doc.
Go here to download it for FREE.
