A marketer sees recovered Google Ads conversions while an analytics engineer fixes the GA4 and Tag Manager setup

Web analytics consulting for GA4, GTM and consent Fix the leaks in your marketing data.

Waftr’s web analytics consulting finds where GA4, Tag Manager, consent and Google Ads lose conversions, then fixes the cause inside your own accounts. Start with the free Tracking Scan, which needs no account access. The Tracking Audit behind it runs 60+ checks in 7 business days.

Primary tools
  • Google Analytics
  • Tag Manager
  • BigQuery
  • Cookie consent
  • Certified expertsGA4, GTM, OneTrust
  • 13 years in digital analytics10+ industries, 50+ global teams
  • Read-only accessFor every Tracking Audit
  • Your accountsGTM, GA4, CMP, Google Cloud
Leak router

Which tracking fault matches what your reports show?

Each symptom below comes from a real Waftr project. Pick the one you recognise to see what was broken, what was fixed, the published result and the offer that covers it, plus a check you can run today without hiring anyone.

What are you seeing?

Enterprise SaaS · Audit, Build, Care

Leads reached the CRM with no source attached

Read the Enterprise SaaS case

53% → 38%

CRM leads counted as direct, as a share of all leads

2 months before vs 2 after

What was broken
Ad blockers and privacy browsers stopped GA4 from loading. The lead still reached the CRM, but without a source, and the CRM filed it under Direct. Paid search looked weaker than it was.
What was fixed
Server-side tagging behind Google Tag Gateway, which serves Google tags from the client’s domain, plus a UTM fallback for paid clicks and a referrer fallback for organic visits. OneTrust stayed as it was.
Check it on your site

Add the GA4 client ID to your lead forms as a hidden field, then count CRM leads where it arrives empty. That share is your signal loss. The benchmark below shows the range we measure.

Offer that covers the fixTracking Build, Advanced5 to 8 weeks, scoped from a Tracking AuditServer-side tracking
SaaS company · Audit, then Build

The CRM logged leads that GA4 never saw

Read the SaaS company case

+20%

Google Ads remarketing conversions

On the rebuilt audiences

What was broken
The Audit traced the gap to two faults within 7 business days: a broken first event that opened each visit without the data later reports relied on, and a form submit that never sent an event to GA4.
What was fixed
A follow-up Build reworked Tag Manager, rebuilt Consent Mode v2, cleaned up the GA4 property settings and repaired form tracking. Form events now sit about 25% closer to CRM records.
Check it on your site

Put last month’s CRM form leads next to the GA4 key event for the same form and dates. Some gap is normal. A gap that opened the week of a site release usually means the submit trigger stopped firing.

Offer that covers the fixTracking Audit, then a Tracking Build7 business days for the Audit; the Build is quoted from its findingsGoogle Analytics audit
NexTranslate · Build

Every tag ran before the visitor made a choice

Read the NexTranslate case

100%

of tags wait for consent

Verified by test

What was broken
GA4, Google Ads and the Meta Pixel all fired before the visitor had accepted or rejected anything. Under the opt-in rules of GDPR and India’s DPDP Act, the visitor’s choice must come before any tag that is not strictly necessary.
What was fixed
GA4, Google Tag Manager, Cookiebot and Consent Mode v2, configured to the strictest of GDPR, CCPA and the DPDP Act. One setup covers all three laws, and testing confirmed that no marketing tag fires before Accept.
Check it on your site

Open the site in a private window and leave the banner alone. Filter the DevTools Network tab for collect, pagead and facebook.com/tr. Any Meta request is a tag firing early. With basic Consent Mode, as on NexTranslate, no Google request appears at all; in advanced mode, Google requests carry gcs=G100, the denied state.

Offer that covers the fixTracking Build, Core3 to 4 weeks; Consent Mode v2 is part of Core scopeCookie consent
US retail · Build

Returning Safari visitors lost the click that brought them

Read the US retail case

-20%

cost per lead

After the server-side setup

What was broken
Safari ITP had shortened cookie life from 30 days to 7, and to 24 hours after a paid search click. Shoppers who came back after that window landed in Direct, and the ads that found them got no credit.
What was fixed
Server-side tracking that sets cookies from the server instead of from browser scripts, Consent Mode v2, and behavior modeling in GA4 and Google Ads. Leads moved out of Direct and back to their sources.
Check it on your site

In a GA4 exploration, break key events down by browser and by session default channel group. When Safari’s Direct share runs well above Chrome’s for the same campaigns, ITP is expiring the cookies that carry the source.

Offer that covers the fixTracking Build, Advanced5 to 8 weeks; server-side tagging is Advanced scopeServer-side tracking
Dubai real estate · Audit, then CRO audit

A long lead form ran past the fold on phones

Read the Dubai real estate case

+23%

conversions on the optimized page

50 days before vs 50 after

What was broken
The CRM recorded the leads that arrived and nothing about visitors who gave up halfway. Form start and submit events in Tag Manager, read next to Microsoft Clarity recordings, showed the form running past the fold on phones.
What was fixed
We set up the tracking and read the sessions. We then cut fields and turned the page into a progressive form that asks for a few details per step.
Check it on your site

Add two Tag Manager triggers, one on the first field interaction and one on a confirmed submit, and split both by device category in GA4. When phones finish far less often than desktops, look at the form before you look at the traffic.

Offer that covers the fixCRO auditOne-off sprint, or Conversion analytics inside Tracking CareCRO audit
US SaaS · AI visibility analytics

Organic clicks fell while impressions held

Read the US SaaS case

~350/day

AI platform visits per day in GA4, from a baseline of 30 to 40

After about 3 months

What was broken
Organic clicks dropped for branded and non-branded queries while Search Console impressions stayed flat. Reading Search Console and GA4 together pointed to AI Overviews answering on the results page.
What was fixed
We wrote the roadmap and measured it. The client’s teams shipped short answers and schema on about 120 pages, crawl fixes, a sitemap, a robots file and llms.txt.
Check it on your site

In GA4 Traffic acquisition, filter session source for chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai and gemini.google.com. If those sources sit under Referral, a custom channel group placed above Referral reports AI assistants as a channel of their own.

Offer that covers the fixAI visibility analyticsA module in Tracking Care Plus or Pro, or a one-off sprintAI visibility analytics
Signal loss benchmark

28-41% of CRM form leads arrive without a GA4 client ID

We measured that range across Waftr client audits, with client names withheld. A lead with no client ID cannot be joined to the visit that produced it. GA4 undercounts the conversion, and Google Ads has no click to credit.

Why the ID goes missing share of CRM form records
Ad blockers~25-30%
Reject All on the bannerup to ~40%

Both causes hit the same visitors: many people who run an ad blocker also click Reject All. The two shares overlap and do not add up.

How the number is measured

  1. 1
    Capture the ID

    A hidden field on each lead form reads the GA4 client ID from the _ga cookie and submits it with the lead.

  2. 2
    Prove the pipe

    Test submissions confirm the field reaches the CRM intact. A blank value can no longer be blamed on the integration.

  3. 3
    Count the blanks

    CRM records with an empty client ID are counted against all form leads for the same dates. An empty field means the browser never wrote the GA4 cookie.

Run it on your CRMForm leads with an empty client IDAll form leads, same date range= signal loss
  • For the ad blocker share

    Google Tag Gateway serves Google tags from your domain, which keeps more requests off blocklists. We publish no recovery figure for it until one is confirmed.

    Server-side tracking
  • For the Reject All share

    Advanced Consent Mode v2 sends cookieless pings after a refusal. That makes GA4 behavioral modeling and Google Ads conversion modeling eligible once traffic clears Google’s thresholds.

    Consent Mode v2 setup
Proof ledger

Six published results, each with its scope and window

Read a row left to right: the symptom, what was built, the metric that moved and the period it was measured over. A number holds only for the scope written beside it.

Six Waftr projects with the symptom, what was built, the published metric, the measurement window and a link to each case study
ProjectSymptomWhat was builtResultWindowCase study
Enterprise SaaSAudit, Build, CareLeads arriving in the CRM as DirectServer-side tagging behind Google Tag Gateway, with UTM and referrer fallbacks53% → 38%CRM leads counted as direct2 months before vs 2 afterCase study: Enterprise SaaS
SaaS companyAudit, then BuildGA4 missing leads the CRM had loggedTag Manager reworked, Consent Mode v2 rebuilt, GA4 settings cleaned, form tracking repaired+20%Google Ads remarketing conversionsOn the rebuilt audiencesCase study: SaaS company
US retailBuildReturning Safari visitors filed as DirectServer-set cookies through server-side tracking, Consent Mode v2, modeling in GA4 and Google Ads-20%cost per leadAfter the server-side setupCase study: US retail
US SaaSAI visibility analyticsOrganic clicks down while impressions heldSearch Console and GA4 analysis plus a roadmap; client teams shipped schema on about 120 pages and llms.txt~350/dayAI platform visits, up from 30 to 40After about 3 monthsCase study: US SaaS
Dubai real estateAudit, then CRO auditPhone visitors abandoning a long formGTM form start and submit events read with Microsoft Clarity; fields cut and the form made progressive+23%conversions on the optimized page50 days before vs 50 afterCase study: Dubai real estate
NexTranslateBuildAll tags fired before a consent choiceGA4, GTM, Cookiebot and Consent Mode v2 set to GDPR, CCPA and the DPDP Act100%of tags wait for consentVerified by testCase study: NexTranslate

Scope notes. The +23% covers one optimized page, and the +20% covers the rebuilt remarketing audiences only. The cost per lead figure comes from one retail site after its server-side setup. NexTranslate approved being named; the other five clients are withheld.

All six case studies
Three offers

Three web analytics consulting offers, sized to what the Audit finds

The scan is free. Each paid engagement gets a fixed quote, agreed in writing before work starts: the Audit after a short call or the scan, the Build from the Audit’s fix list, Care as a monthly plan. There is no hourly rate.

Start free
Tracking Scan8 public checks on any URL, from the GA4 tag to tags that fire before consent. Report by email.
Covers
Run free scan
First paid step
Read-only access

Tracking Audit

Find each fault and what it costs you.

7business daysFindings walked through on day 7

  • 60+ checks on GA4, GTM, consent and Google Ads
  • Findings Sheet, Slides and a costed fix plan
  • Fee credited against a Build within 30 days
Covers
Quoted from the Audit

Tracking Build

Fix what the Audit found, in priority order.

3 to 8weeksCore 3 to 4 weeks, Advanced 5 to 8

  • Core: GA4 and GTM rebuild, Consent Mode v2
  • Advanced: adds BigQuery and CRM import
  • Server-side tagging or Tag Gateway in Advanced
Covers
3-month minimum

Tracking Care

Keep it accurate as the site keeps changing.

MonthlyEssentials, Plus or Pro

  • Monitoring, break alerts, CMP and tag updates
  • Plus adds release QA and one analytics module
  • A data health report each month
Covers

Agencies can white-label the Audit and the Build for their own clients. Partner terms

The process

How does a Waftr engagement work?

Four steps, and you can stop after any of them. The first needs no access at all. Inside a Build, consent goes in before Tag Manager is rebuilt: retrofitting consent onto tags that are already live is the most common failure we see.

  1. Step 1: Free
    Start here

    Tracking Scan

    Eight public checks on any URL, run as a first-time visitor who has not answered the banner yet.

    Illustrative
    Public Tracking Scan8 checks done
    • GA4 and GTM detected
    • Consent banner found
    • Tags before consent checked
    • Consent Mode v2 defaults read
    You getScan report by email
  2. Step 2: 7 business days

    Tracking Audit

    Read-only access to GA4, GTM, consent and Google Ads. 60+ checks, each finding ranked by revenue impact.

    Illustrative
    Ranked by revenue impact
    • Duplicate purchase eventsHigh
    • Tags firing before consentHigh
    • Cross-domain splitMedium
    You getRanked findings and a costed fix plan
  3. Step 3: 3 to 8 weeks

    Tracking Build

    Consent first, then Tag Manager and GA4. We write the data layer spec, your developers push it, and we verify each event in GTM Preview.

    Illustrative
    Build orderLive
    • Consent defaults set first
    • Data layer spec pushed
    • Events verified in GTM Preview
    • Server-side GTM on Cloud Run
    You getFixes live and verified
  4. Step 4: Monthly

    Tracking Care

    Monitoring, break alerts, and CMP and tag updates, with a data health report each month. Care Plus adds release QA.

    Illustrative
    Monthly health checksPassing
    • Break alerts armed
    • Consent defaults re-checked
    • CMP and tags updated
    • Data health report sent
    You getMonthly data health report

Start with step 1: run the free Tracking Scan →

Before the first scan

Five things buyers ask about web analytics consulting

Scope, effort and timing, answered before anyone shares account access.

Not covered here?Send the question with your site URL
What is web analytics consulting?
Web analytics consulting is the work of deciding what to measure, then auditing, building and maintaining the tracking that measures it: GA4, Google Tag Manager, consent, and the conversions passed to Google Ads and the CRM. Waftr sells it as three offers, the Tracking Audit, Tracking Build and Tracking Care, after a free Tracking Scan.
How much does web analytics consulting cost?
Waftr quotes each engagement in writing before anything changes. The effort grows with the number of sites, GA4 properties and GTM containers, consent regions, and whether server-side tagging, BigQuery or CRM and offline conversion import are in scope. There is no hourly rate. The Tracking Scan is free, and the Audit fee comes off a Build started within 30 days.
How long does a Tracking Build take?
A Core Build takes 3 to 4 weeks and covers the GA4 and GTM rebuild, Consent Mode v2 and enhanced conversions. An Advanced Build takes 5 to 8 weeks because it adds BigQuery export, CRM and offline conversion import, and server-side tagging or Google Tag Gateway. Enterprise Builds across several properties are scoped one at a time.
Is Waftr a marketing analytics agency?
No. An agency plans and runs campaigns, and Waftr runs none. It works like a marketing analytics consultant on the layer underneath: GA4, Google Tag Manager, consent and conversion tracking. Your agency keeps the media plan and the creative, and reports from tracking that Waftr sets up, repairs and keeps accurate month to month.
What should you look for in an analytics consulting firm?
Ask two questions. Whose account will the GTM container, GA4 property and BigQuery project sit in when the project ends? If the answer is the firm’s, the setup leaves with them. And how is consent tested before launch? Waftr builds in client-owned accounts and tests that no marketing tag fires before a visitor accepts.
Who you work with

Who reads your note, and who builds the fix

Waftr is a web analytics infrastructure consultancy for search, social, and privacy compliance. The delivery team that audits your setup also builds the fix and reports on what changed.

Chennai, India · clients mainly in the US, then the UK and India

How the team works
Certified expertsGoogle Analytics, GTM, OneTrust

The Waftr delivery team

Between them, the people who audit and build your setup bring 13 years in digital analytics across 10+ industries and 50+ global teams, and hold Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager and OneTrust certifications.

Audits run on read-only access. Build changes wait in a GTM workspace your developers can review before anything is published.

Start here

Send us the number that does not add up

Google Ads reports one figure and the CRM another? Tell us both and we will name the layer we would check first. Or run the free Tracking Scan now and bring its report to a 30-minute call.

  • The scan reads public tags only, no login needed
  • A Tracking Audit takes 7 business days on read-only access
  • A reply within one business day, from Chennai
An analyst on a video call, walking a client through an analytics dashboard

Describe the gap

Two numbers and a date range are enough to start. Fields marked * are required.

By submitting, you agree to be contacted about your request. See our Privacy Policy.

  1. 1We run the public checks on your site.
  2. 2We name the layer where the numbers split.
  3. 3If it needs an Audit, you get a written quote.