Direct Traffic Drop (50%) after Universal Analytics Install

Any similar experiences? Insights? thoughts? Much appreciated...

[petra]

As per the title, one of my client's sites witnessed a 50% drop in Direct traffic after upgrading to the new Google Analytics (Universal) code.

This is an actual drop (i.e. the traffic was not reflected elsewhere)

We've already troubleshot the code and it's working fine and also triple checked that it's installed on all pages.

Also checked server log files that shows that direct traffic was actually on the up when Analytics is saying it decreased.

I'm stumped and wondering if I'm overlooking an obvious reason.

Any similar experiences? insights? Much appreciated.

[LuckyLiz]

What date did the traffic drop? (ie, did it coincide with any Google changes?) And is any of the traffic showing in your log file just from spiders?

[petra]

The traffic drop was from direct traffic, not organic, so I don't think any changes would have come into play.

Client is using webalizer for log file analysis and the the tool separates bots from direct.

We're now looking into outside factors since the drop may have coincided with other activities they were conducting.

but any more insights/experiences welcomed...