There are many reasons why your Google Analytics possibly doesn't quite match up with the statistical data found in iPaper. We'll go through some of the most common reasons in this article.
Defining a session
Firstly, there are key differences in how a session is defined in iPaper and Google Analytics:
iPaper (Source: Flipbook statistics):
The registration of an iPaper session happens when one of your readers clicks your Flipbook URL and views it. Your Flipbook then saves a browser session cookie on the reader's device (PC, Phone, etc.). An iPaper session is therefore linked to a browser session.
Returning readers will not be captured as a new sessions, as long as the user hasn't completely closed their browser program/app or turned off their device entirely.
As long as the user has the same cookie value, it is counted as a single session. As such, iPaper does not track unique visits, but this metric is available by integrating with Google Analytics.
Google Analytics (Source: Google):
Google Analytics defines a session as a group of user interactions that occur on your website, within a given time frame. For example, a single session can contain multiple page views, events, social interactions, and e-commerce transactions.
A single user can open multiple sessions, and these sessions can occur on the same day, or over several days, weeks, or months. As soon as one session ends, there is then an opportunity to start a new session. There are two methods by which a session ends:
Time-based expiration:
After 30 minutes of inactivity
At midnight
Campaign change:
If a user arrives via one campaign, leaves, and then comes back via a different campaign.
These differences in definition, will naturally mean that the number of sessions recorder will vary across these two different analytics systems.
Is the Google Analytics script being loaded for all your visitors.
Another reason for differences between iPaper and Google Analytics can be attributed to the blocking of the Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager scripts.
Should the Google Analytics script fail to load, no Google Analytics sessions are recorded. However, as the iPaper data tracking script is built into iPaper, these sessions will always be recorded.
What's blocking my Google Analytics script from loading?
There are numerous reasons why marketing scripts, such as Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager, are potentially blocked or fail to load in individual sessions.
Potential Google Analytics blockers include:
Cookie banners: The iPaper cookie policy feature will block all marketing cookies, unless explicit visitor consent has been given. Marketing cookies include Google Analytics and GTM scripts. Because the iPaper session cookie is functionally essential, those sessions are still recorded.
Google Analytics blocking browser extensions: Some users will have various tracking blockers installed on their devices. Again, because of iPaper's engagement tracking has the underhand because we fly under the radar so to speak.
Browser privacy settings: Some browsers (such as the Brave browser) blocks Google Analytics as a default setting. Once again, iPaper will still count visitors when using privacy-focused browsers.
Given the way iPaper's session tracking differs from Google Analytics, there should, theoretically, be more sessions in Google Analytics than in iPaper.
However, as iPaper escapes the potential blockers, the result is often a higher session count in iPaper than in Google Analytics.
Please remember, this is only a partial list of reasons why your Google Analytics data does not always align with the session count and other statistical data found in iPaper.
Due to the unique nature of our end-users' setups, the reasons why certain differences may occur between Google Analytics and iPaper are too numerous to mention here.
For more information about Google Analytics, Please check out our other related articles.