What's Old

Declining practices and outdated approaches in marketing analytics that are being phased out or replaced by modern methodologies.

Why This Matters

Understanding which practices are becoming obsolete helps you avoid investing time and resources into declining technologies. The marketing analytics landscape is evolving rapidly due to privacy regulations, browser changes, and technological advancement. Organisations still relying on these outdated approaches risk measurement gaps, compliance issues, and competitive disadvantage.

Third-Party Cookies

Browser restrictions and privacy regulations have made third-party cookies increasingly unreliable for tracking and attribution.

High Impact

Timeline

Phasing out 2024-2026

Modern Replacement

First-party data strategies, server-side tracking, and privacy-preserving measurement

Source: Forrester 2026 Predictions

Last-Click Attribution

Single-touch attribution models that credit only the final touchpoint before conversion are being abandoned for more sophisticated approaches.

Medium Impact

Timeline

Declining since 2023

Modern Replacement

Multi-touch attribution, data-driven attribution, and marketing mix modelling

Source: Adriel: Future of Marketing Measurement

Siloed Analytics Platforms

Separate, disconnected analytics tools that don't share data are giving way to integrated measurement ecosystems.

High Impact

Timeline

Ongoing transition

Modern Replacement

Customer Data Platforms (CDPs), unified analytics stacks, and data warehouses

Source: Tealium 2025 State of the CDP

Universal Analytics (GA3)

Google's legacy analytics platform was sunset in July 2023, forcing migration to GA4 or alternative platforms.

Critical Impact

Timeline

Sunset July 2023

Modern Replacement

Google Analytics 4, Matomo, Adobe Analytics, or custom solutions

Source: Google Analytics 4 Migration

Vanity Metrics Focus

Emphasis on superficial metrics like page views and impressions without connecting to business outcomes is being replaced by outcome-based measurement.

Medium Impact

Timeline

Ongoing shift

Modern Replacement

Conversion-focused metrics, customer lifetime value, and revenue attribution

Source: Gartner Future of Marketing

Manual Reporting and Dashboards

Time-consuming manual report creation is being automated through modern BI tools and AI-powered insights.

Medium Impact

Timeline

Accelerating since 2024

Modern Replacement

Automated reporting, real-time dashboards, and AI-generated insights

Source: Improvado Marketing Analytics Trends 2026

Device-Centric Measurement

Tracking based solely on devices rather than people leads to fragmented customer views as users switch between devices.

High Impact

Timeline

Declining since 2022

Modern Replacement

People-based measurement, identity resolution, and cross-device tracking

Source: Gartner Future of Marketing

Batch Processing Analytics

Waiting hours or days for data processing is obsolete in an era demanding real-time insights for rapid optimisation.

Medium Impact

Timeline

Ongoing transition

Modern Replacement

Real-time analytics, streaming data pipelines, and event-driven architectures

Source: GrowthLoop: CDP Trends 2025

Moving Forward

The decline of these practices isn't a crisis—it's an opportunity to adopt more effective, privacy-compliant, and sophisticated measurement approaches. Organisations that proactively transition to modern alternatives will gain competitive advantage through better data quality, deeper insights, and regulatory compliance.

Explore the What's New section to discover the innovations replacing these outdated practices, and the What's Coming section to prepare for future developments in marketing analytics.