Question from user:
I’m curious if there is a way to modify the data in the fields under Google Analytics in a prospect record. Hoping to run an automation that updates that field in certain situations, but I’m finding that you can’t modify these fields manually. Has anyone worked with SF to make these fields modifiable? Any reason it wouldn’t work or I shouldn’t pursue this? Thank you!
Answer from Nabil:
That’s an interesting challenge you’re facing with the Google Analytics fields in a prospect record.
You’re right that those fields aren’t meant to be directly editable via standard Salesforce or Account Engagement (Pardot) means because they are typically populated by the tracking code for reporting purposes.
Attempting to modify them manually or through standard automation is generally blocked to maintain data integrity and the accuracy of your web analytics tracking.
However, if you have a specific, justifiable use case where you need to override or enrich that data based on a certain prospect action or system event, you absolutely can pursue a solution.
The reason it wouldn’t work natively is that Google Analytics is designed as a source of truth for web behavior, and allowing direct field modification would break that link.
The reason you shouldn’t pursue modifying them is if your goal is simply to track a unique user action that Google Analytics should be tracking anyway – you should fix your tracking code instead.
The awesome, advanced solution you could explore involves using a combination of APIs and server-side processing.
You would start your workflow with the Salesforce API (specifically, the Account Engagement API, formerly Pardot API, to update the prospect record itself).
You’d use this to record the event that you want to trigger the data modification.
Then, to send a corresponding event to Google Analytics, you’d use the Google Analytics Data API (for reading data) and potentially the Measurement Protocol (for sending data if you’re working with GA4) in a server-side environment.
This is where Google Tag Manager (GTM) and a tool like Stape (a server-side GTM solution) or a custom script running on a cloud platform like Google Cloud Platform come into play.
Instead of directly editing the Google Analytics fields on the prospect, you would use GTM (and Stape to run it server-side) to send a new, custom event with specific parameters to Google Analytics when your automation runs.
For example, your automation could update a custom field on the prospect, and then this custom field update triggers a webhook to an external endpoint (like Stape or GCP).
That external endpoint then uses the Measurement Protocol to send a specific event – let’s call it a custom_prospect_update event – to Google Analytics, ensuring that the Google Analytics data aligns with the change in your prospect record.
This allows you to maintain the integrity of the original Google Analytics data while still enriching it with system-side events.
This approach is powerful because it keeps your Salesforce/Account Engagement data clean while ensuring your web analytics platform has a complete, server-validated view of the user journey, bridging the gap between CRM activity and web behavior.
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