AviaryAI GA4 & UTM Attribution Issues

Identified during the ^[1] weekly call on 2026-03-11. Two related but distinct data integrity problems are causing GA4 to underreport email-driven traffic and conversion activity.

Problem 1: Email Traffic Misattributed as 'Direct'

Symptom

GA4 shows only 5 sessions attributed to the email channel despite an active ABM campaign with ~60% open rates and ~30% click rates across 101 accounts. A large portion of the ~886 "Direct" sessions are suspected to be email visits that were not properly tagged.

Root Cause

UTM parameters are missing or malformed on some links inside the ABM email sequences. When a recipient clicks a link without UTM tags, GA4 cannot identify the traffic source and falls back to "Direct."

"It's a policy in our organization that we use UTM links on every link, but I say that some of them don't get done sometimes." — Mark Hope

Impact

• Email channel performance is severely understated in GA4.
• Direct channel is inflated, masking the true source mix.
• Cannot accurately measure ABM campaign ROI through web analytics.

Fix

Audit all links in active HubSpot email sequences and ensure every link carries correct UTM parameters:

Owner: Karly Oykhman / Sebastian Gant
Status: Assigned — see ^[2]

Problem 2: Conversion Events Not Surfacing in GA4

Symptom

The only event marked as a GA4 key event is the "Schedule a Demo" button click. No other user actions (form fills, downloads, video plays, etc.) appear as key events in GA4 reporting.

Root Cause

Additional conversion actions (e.g., lead form submit, newsletter signup) were configured in Google Tag Manager as Google Ads conversions only. They were not simultaneously marked as GA4 key events. This means:

• Google Ads can count them as conversions for bidding purposes.
• GA4 does not surface them in key event reports or funnel analysis.
• Organic and email-driven conversions of these types are invisible in GA4.

"I think it's only tracking on the ads goals as conversions rather than on GA4 showing the organic key events." — Justin Dwyer

Current GTM Conversion Setup (as of 2026-03-11)

Impact

• GA4 cannot be used as a unified view of conversion performance across channels.
• Google Ads bidding is stuck on "maximize clicks" because there are insufficient conversion signals to switch to "maximize conversions" (requires 5–6 active conversion actions with meaningful volume).
• Cannot attribute organic search or email conversions to specific content or campaigns.

Fix

Implement 5–6 new conversion actions in GTM and mark each as both a Google Ads conversion and a GA4 key event:

1. Video demo plays
2. Document / case study downloads
3. Contact / lead form submissions
4. Phone call clicks
5. Appointment / calendar bookings
6. (Optional) Gated content downloads (playbooks, reports)

Owner: Sebastian Gant (GTM implementation) / Mark Hope (GA4 event configuration)
Status: Assigned — target completion before next Google Ads optimization cycle

Why This Matters for Google Ads

The two issues compound each other. Without sufficient conversion data in GA4 and Google Ads:

• Campaigns remain on the suboptimal "maximize clicks" bidding strategy.
• The planned evolution to a full-funnel campaign structure (ToFu → MoFu → retargeting, 8–10 campaigns) cannot proceed.
• Current spend: ~$300/month, 3k impressions, 7% CTR, $0.10 CPC — healthy ratios but low volume with no conversion signal.

See ^[3] for general guidance on conversion volume requirements.

Related

• ^[4]
• ^[5]
• ^[6]
• ^[7]