Andrii Bondarenko
AuthorKey takeaways
In the summer of 2025, Stape's Care team received a server-side tracking implementation request from a Danish client whose eCommerce business specializes in selling prescription and non-prescription glasses. The client's website was built on WordPress and used a client-side Google Tag Manager setup for Google Analytics 4.
In this case study, we analyze the results before and after the implementation of server-side Google Tag Manager tracking for the customer. The full setup took our Care team one week to complete, including pre- and post-implementation consultations.
With the customer's client-side setup, browser-based tracking limitations, such as ad blockers and Safari's ITP, created a significant attribution gap.
Since Safari accounted for 31% of total traffic, a large portion of user journeys were incorrectly attributed as Direct in GA4 instead of revealing their true sources. This misattribution distorted campaign performance data, making effective budget allocation difficult and impeding business growth.
To improve marketing attribution, we made the following changes to the customer's existing Google Tag Manager setup:
Although the percentage of customers using Safari increased by approximately 10%, improved marketing attribution through server-side tracking significantly impacted core metrics in Google Analytics 4:
These results were measured over the equivalent three-month periods before and after the day of implementation.
By setting up server-side tracking with Stape, you can:
Andrii is a Customer Care Specialist at Stape. He provides support for SST setups, maintenance, and GTM customizations to help clients follow best practices and achieve accurate data measurement.
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