I worked with a retail client whose GA4 showed over 50% of conversions from (direct)/(none). At first glance — fine. Maybe people typed the URL or used bookmarks.
But the client was actively running email campaigns, paid ads, Instagram and TikTok creatives.
We dug deeper — and found that clicks from emails, social media, and retargeting ads were ending up in “direct.” Why? Missing UTMs, stripped parameters after redirects, iOS restrictions. Real performance was invisible.
GA4 made (direct)/(none) the “hero” — while working channels looked empty.
In GA4, (direct)/(none) often means: we don’t know where this came from.
Why traffic leaks there:
• UTMs missing or broken
• Redirects stripping parameters
• mobile apps blocking tracking (e.g., Instagram)
Result? Paid clicks turn into “direct” traffic. Revenue becomes untraceable.
GA4 won’t warn you. It just files the visits silently. And marketing teams act on flawed data.
Here’s what happened:
• Email budget got cut — even though it was working
• Budgets shifted to channels with better tagging, not better results
The paradox: decisions were based on GA4 reports, but those reports were incomplete.Without digging deeper, the team would’ve kept optimizing for the wrong signals.
Now, during every audit, I check (direct)/(none) first:
• Over 15–20% of conversions? That’s a red flag
• I test email and social click-throughs manually
• Check if UTMs survive redirects
• Set up server-side tracking and cross-domain stitching
• Reconcile GA4 with CRM and payment data
Until you know where your revenue comes from, you’re not managing marketing — just hoping GA4 gets it right.
And hope isn’t a strategy.
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