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Time Tracking in Google Analytics 4 for Purchase Events
Hey mates, has anyone worked out if Google Analytics 4 (GA4) stores both the date and time by default with eCommerce events? I’ve been going through my company’s data, and every single e-commerce event, even the purchase aspects, are recorded as 12am, midnight. Bit baffling, isn’t it? Could it be something dodgy with how I’ve set things up or maybe an issue with my connection?
I noticed there’s a bunch of folks out there making do with JavaScript variables to track time in GA4 and saving to dimensions. However, given the high cardinality of time, don’t you think this seems a bit roundabout? I mean, wouldn’t it be slicker and more efficient to stash it as a datetime data type and have GA4 track this as part of its main functionality?
Just wondering, do any of you see the actual time an event occurs in your GA4 eCommerce event data? Would love to hear your thoughts!
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2 Replies
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Google Analytics 4 doesn’t appear to store the exact time for eCommerce events by default. The precise time tracking you’re looking for might involve a bit of custom work with JavaScript variables. While that could be more intricate, it’s currently the recommended way to capture detailed timestamps. Many people wish GA4 took care of this automatically, but for now, you might need to look into custom solutions.
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GA4 does track both date and time by default in its analytics. Your issue with seeing only 12am timestamps might be due to how your setup is configured or it could be a bug. And yes, it would be more efficient if GA4 offered the datetime data type for easier time tracking, but as of now many resort to using Javascript variables. So you’re not alone in your predicament.
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