The final chapter in Google’s controversial switch to GA4 will see it pull the plug on all its invaluable historic Universal Analytics (UA) data on 1 July. It’s the nightmare scenario for everyone interested in their long-term website and app use analysis. Vaultlytics, a simple-to-use solution, has been launched just in time to preserve this data.
Google’s remorseless switch to its new GA4 analytics service is nearing its final stage. The next step in the demise of its much-mourned Universal Analytics (UA) service will be the deletion of all of its data on 1 July, 2024. For UA users who have built up a mass of historic data over time, its loss could be disastrous in terms of long-term website and app use analysis, customer behaviour insights and data retention rules compliance.
With just over six weeks to go before all access is lost (even for Google Analytics 360 users), there couldn’t be a better time for the arrival of a new, independent, solution to the problem: Vaultlytics.com. It’s an easy-to-use data downloader and API for Google Analytics UA.
Charles Astwood, the founder of Vaultlytics, has created an invaluable tool to save our data. Charles has founded many successful e-commerce data-led businesses, such as London Eating.
Says Charles: ‘There was almost ghoulish relish in the way that Google recently announced, “Starting the week of July 1, 2024: You won’t be able to access any Universal Analytics properties or the API (not even with read-only access), and all data will be deleted. While the standard sunset took weeks to complete, the full Universal Analytics shutdown will happen within a week.”
‘For all those online businesses that have built up and relied on this information over a long period of time, its sudden loss represents a serious challenge. Historic Google UA data is full of vital information about how well your business is developing, seasonal business trends and how customers’ purchasing patterns are changing over time. For those businesses that have to demonstrate their long-term compliance with data retention rules, it’s also a serious issue.
‘I’ve often been accused of being “analytics retentive”, of course. The fact is that this data is gold dust for any company and, once it’s lost, it’s gone forever.
‘Of course, it is possible to save your data to simple formats like CSV, Excel, Google Sheets or PDF files. However, these are hardly dynamic tools suitable for quick and easy website analysis. Chances are you’ll seldom ever look at the files again and all that useful insight will be lost. It could also take months to export all this data manually. Using Vaultlytics’ simple JSON-based API, it’s easy to retrieve your data. You can then use it in any compatible dashboard tool, such as Looker, PowerBI or Tableau, or with your own solution.
‘Backing up your Google UA data to Vaultlytics.com is easy and inexpensive. Simply authenticate against your Google account, choose the UA profile (or multiple profiles) you want to back up and select what data you want to save.
‘It’s a simple concept. However, it’s one that could prove invaluable for many businesses and programmers. Vaultlytics will keep this data secure, accessible and ready for future insights. To find out more about Vaultlytics and how to save your vital data before it is lost, see www.vaultlytics.com
Caption: Vaultlytics arrives in the nick of time to preserve vital historic Universal Analytics data before it’s deleted on 1 July.