A client launched a short 3-day promo. The plan: monitor performance in real time, adjust bids, reallocate budget fast.
On Day 2, they asked: “What’s working? Where should we push?”
Wow... Our response was about giving it a chance to get more data.
And 24 hours later - after the campaign ended - delayed events finally showed up. Turns out, the one of the best-performing channels brought a lot of value.
GA4 isn’t a real-time tool — especially with complex or server-side setups:
• Events can take 48–72 hours to fully process.
• Metrics update in waves, especially revenue and user data.
• Imports and server events may enter processing queues.
• The UI often shows early approximations.
• “Today” and “Yesterday” data is incomplete.
It looks like a report - but it’s a draft. And your budget decisions are made today.
Because of the delay, the client:
• Lowered bids on a high-performing channel.
• Shifted budget to less effective sources.
• Acted on “missing” data.
• Ended the promo with weaker results - despite strong potential.
GA4 didn’t fail — the data just wasn’t there in time. But the business had to move.
Now, before every campaign, I ask: Is the speed critical?
If yes, here’s what I do:
• Use BigQuery with near real-time export.
• Build parallel dashboards from CRM, event logs, or tracking tools.
• Treat GA4 trends cautiously - no tactical calls in the first 24h.
• Mark “Today” data as draft.
• Validate key metrics manually or via server data when timing matters.
GA4 is great for analysis - not real-time ops. It explains why something worked - but not what to do mid-campaign.
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