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Data discrepancy between Ortto and Google Analytics

Overview

It's common for conversion and session data between Ortto and Google Analytics to differ due to their distinct tracking methods. While it's not possible to guarantee that Ortto's data will exactly match Google Analytics, we’ll outline some factors that may contribute to these discrepancies below.

Conversion numbers don't match

Different tracking methods

Google Analytics and Ortto use different methods for tracking and attributing conversions. Google Analytics often tracks conversions for a certain campaign based on UTM parameters, while Ortto considers the specific activity you selected as the attribution for a certain campaign.

EX: The attribution activity selected for the email campaign is Upgraded plan and the attribution touch trigger is set to Opened.

In this scenario:

  1. A customer receives this email campaign and opens the email but does nothing else.
  2. A day later, the customer goes directly to your website and upgrades the plan, which triggers the Upgraded plan activity in Ortto.

In this case:

  • The conversion will be attributed to the campaign in Ortto because the person triggered the activity you selected.
  • The conversion may not be recorded in Google Analytics for that particular campaign because the UTM parameters were not present in the URL (as the person visited your website directly, not through the email link).

Different attribution window

In Ortto, the attribution window sets the amount of time after a campaign is sent that a conversion activity will be associated with the campaign. Depending on how your attribution window may be configured in Google Analytics, this may cause a discrepancy.

EX: The attribution window in Ortto is set to 7 days, while in Google Analytics is set to 30 days.

In this case:

  • If a customer upgraded the plan 15 days after receiving and clicking on your email campaign, this conversion may be counted in Google Analytics but not in Ortto because the activity was tracked outside the conversion window (7 days).

Different attribution model

The Attribution model determines how much credit each campaign gets when a conversion happens within a specific time frame.

If the Attribution model is configured differently between Ortto and Google Analytics (which is common if you have channels other than email), it can cause discrepancies in the conversion numbers.

Website traffic doesn't match

Email clicks might occasionally be inflated by bots or spam filters clicking on links to check for malicious content, which typically do not result in actual user sessions.

We automatically ignore clicks that occur within 5 seconds of sending to a subscriber (for most browsers, 10 seconds for Internet Explorer 8), but there's no reliable way to exclude bot clicks that don't fit this scenario. This can cause a discrepancy between the number of clicks on your campaign and the number of sessions generated in Google Analytics.

Learn more about how campaign statistics are calculated.

Discrepancy between Ortto and Google Analytics sessions

One of the primary reasons for discrepancies is the way each tool handles bot traffic. Google Analytics has sophisticated bot filtering mechanisms that automatically exclude known bots from reports. This ensures that the data reflects real human interactions. Ortto’s bot filtering might not be as robust. As a result, Ortto might count bot visits that Google Analytics excludes.

In addition, certain ad blockers and privacy tools can prevent our tracking code from firing. Learn how you can minimize the chances of this happening here.

How to mitigate such discrepancies

While it is almost impossible to match the numbers between Ortto and Google Analytics due to the reasons mentioned above, you can consider the following suggestions to achieve the closest possible alignment:

  • Tracking code implementation: Ensure Ortto's tracking code is embedded through Google Tag Manager (GTM) or directly in the <head> section of your website’s HTML. Learn more about Ortto's tracking code.
  • Enable cross-domain tracking: If you use the same tracking code in multiple domains, we recommend enabling cross-domain tracking to ensure sessions are accurately tracked. Learn more about how to enable cross-domain tracking.
  • Set up a tracking subdomain: Setting up a tracking subdomain minimizes the chances of Ortto's tracking code being blocked by ad blockers.
    Learn more about how to set up a tracking subdomain.
  • Ensure that the UTM parameters are included in your links: By default, we append relevant UTM parameters to each link to help you track the performance of your emails in Google Analytics. Ensure this option is enabled, or add your own custom UTM parameters. Learn more about UTM parameters.



Essentially, instead of focusing on exact or raw numbers, you should look for trends between Ortto and Google Analytics. By comparing patterns and trends over time, rather than individual data points, you can gain more meaningful insights into your website's performance.