Do you know this one?
You are sending an event to GA4
checking the debug view but the event parameters are gone.
Is this a mystery or is this a bug?
Well no, there is a logical reason behind it.
Hey there, this is Sofiia for MeasureSchool and today I will show you why your
event parameters might not show up in GA4.
So let's explore together.
Seo I have set up my GA4 event in the Tech Manager and let's have a look at it.
So here you can see this is my test event and I'm sending three parameters here
and specifically parameter one, parameter two and parameter empty and here
the static values I am sending to my GA4 and you can see the trigger.
So this is just a custom event add to cart.
Great. So let's actually preview my container.
So if I click preview I should also provide my web page URL and here we can
see that the debugger is connected and let's add this beautiful product
to cart and let's go to Tag assistant and here you can see my event.
So tag fired and when I click here I can see my event parameters.
Yes parameter one is book,
parameter two is tutorials and parameter empty is a course.
Awesome. And also let's check Google Analytics.
So let's go to our debug view and here is my test event and let's click
here and you can see parameter one which is book, parameter two which is
tutorial and parameter empty which is course.
Amazing.
And now the first scenario.
So let's go back to our Tag manager and I
created a variable which returns an undefined value.
This is very interesting because you can
actually create such a type of variable in Google Tag Manager and here we go.
I was not very creative naming this one so
I provided the name undefined variable but this one returns undefined.
So let's go back to Tags and here instead
of my course I would delete and I would add my undefined value.
Awesome.
And let's save it and let's go and preview the container.
Okay.
So let's go to my demo shop and I will add the card my product again and let's go
to Tag assistant and here is my event and you can see the parameters.
So, parameter one which is book two
which is tutorial and parameter empty with the value undefined variable.
So this is my variable name and it is displayed here.
Okay so let's go to Google Analytics and let's see what is happening here.
So this is my event,
let's click here and you can see parameter one which is book, parameter two which is
tutorial but the third parameter is not displayed here.
So we can see it in Google Tag Manager
but it's not displayed in Google Analytics.
And the key finding here is that if the value is empty or undefined it will
not be shown in GA4 although you can see it in Google Tag Manager so basically
the Analytics would drop that parameter if the value is not returned.
Very interesting, isn't it?
Okay, so let's have a look at the second scenario.
So let's go to Google Analytics events and let's add a modification.
So I will modify my event directly in GA4.
So let's click modify event and here
create modification name and I would say parameter two empty value.
Okay, so here I would have to go back to Tag Manager.
I will copy my event name and paste it here
and then we should go and find out parameter which is parameter two and I
will paste it here and I will leave the empty value.
So this is my modification.
So I'm saying the second parameter should be with an empty value.
So let's click create.
Great.
And let's see what would happen.
I intrigued.
So let's click preview
and let's add to cart this product again, let's go to the tag manager and this is
exactly my event and here you can see parameter two with the value tutorial.
Okay, so this is my old value.
Let's see what would happen in Google Analytics.
So let's go to our debug view and this is my event and look what happened.
We can see the first parameter only so.
The second parameter is not displayed
in GA4 so we have only parameter one which is book.
But if we go to tag assistant you can see
the Tag Manager is showing the second parameter which is tutorial.
So the key finding here is that if you
modify your event in GA4 directly it kind of overwrites the GTM parameters.
Okay, so to sum up, I hope this was helpful and we have
explored the main reasons why the parameters might be missing in GA4.
And specifically the first thing you
should check is your GTM if the value is returned because if the value is empty or
undefined Analytics would drop that parameter.
Or you can also check your event
modifications in GA4 directly to see if you have made some changes.
So I wish you all happy measuring until next time.
All right, so now you know why GA4 parameters might not show up.
Maybe you're sending an undefined value or
you modified your event in GA4 directly overriding the GTM parameters.
So if you found this video helpful please
give us a thumbs up or if you want to explore more GA4 content Julian explains how
to set up conversion tracking in the video right here.
This is Sofiia and see you in the next one.