Increased traffic (direct) and 'not set' will be a natural result.

This is because once the integration is done and activated, edrone starts sending all email open events from edrone to GA4. If we send such an event without 'user_id' (the ID of the logged-in user) information, GA4 - depending on whether the user was identified on the store page or not - will mark the event as either 'direct' or 'not set' session traffic.

Every time an email from edrone is opened, we send an OPEN event to GA4. In order for GA4 not to reject such an event, the parameter 'client_id' (session ID) is necessary in the sent event. If the user was previously identified on the store's website, we will get his 'client_id' from cookies. If we don't have this ID from cookies, then edrone automatically creates always a new 'client_id' so that edrone can send an OPEN event to GA4 and so that it won't be rejected.

Therefore, two scenarios can occur:

1. If we send both identifiers: 'client_id' and 'user_id', then the traffic will be assigned to edrone (to do this, it is necessary to follow the third integration step from INSTRUCTION).

2. If we do not send 'user_id' (only 'client_id' itself), GA4 will mark this traffic as "direct" or "not set" depending on whether we were previously identified on the site. This is the reason for the increased 'direct' and 'not set' traffic in GA4 after the integration is done.

Therefore, part of the generated revenue can be moved to this traffic. We are keen to send as much information as possible about customer interactions with emails to GA4, and to make it understandable and not negatively affect data analysis in GA4. Therefore, there may still be some changes to this integration.

Do you need additional help?

If you have any additional questions about edrone integration with GA4, please contact us at hello@edrone.me. All related helps are available here: GOOGLE ANALYTICS