Are you using Google Analytics 4 (GA4) yet? If not, you should be.
That’s because Google has officially retired its previous data analytics programme, Universal Analytics (UA). So, GA4 migration is needed for you to continue to make data-driven marketing decisions.
Switching to a new platform can feel intimidating. But GA4 could actually make your life easier and your marketing more effective.
What is GA4?
First thing’s first: what is GA4? Well, it’s the new version of UA, which was also known as GA3. They existed alongside each other for a while, but GA4 has now replaced UA for good.
The great news is that it comes with a greater range of flexible, valuable data reporting tools and features, and crucially, no limits to the amount of data it can process.
What are the key differences between GA4 and UA?
More comprehensive tracking
GA4 measures customer behaviour in ‘events’, rather than tracking user interactions via page views, like UA.
In GA4, any interaction with your site is recorded as an event, whether that’s a page view, click or file download. Because you can now measure a specific type of interaction, you can dig deeper into your data to gain a more detailed picture of user activity.
Easier mobile app tracking
GA4 collects both website and mobile app data, which gives you greater insight into the customer journey. And it lets you do this on a single platform, so you get a much more comprehensive understanding of how people navigate both your app and your website.
Predicting future user behaviour
We all wish we could see into the future, and now with GA4 we can, in a way. It offers three predictive metrics:
- Purchase probability – the likelihood of a user who has been active within the past 28 days making a purchase within the next seven.
- Churn probability – the chances of a user who has been active within the past seven days not engaging within the next seven.
- Predicted revenue – the estimated revenue generated in the next 28 days by users who have been active within the past 28 days.
Links with Google Ads
GA4 lets you link your analytics with your Google Ads account. This allows you to track the entire customer journey in one place, from their first interaction with your ads, through to final conversion.
As a result, you can identify the highest value and most engaged audiences, track their behaviour through the entire customer cycle, and target them effectively.
Better search function
The search feature in GA4 is much cleverer and more intuitive than that of UA. Not only will it show your recent searches, and Google suggested searches, it can directly answer questions about your data.
No more bounce rates
GA4 doesn’t report bounce rates as a stand-alone metric as UA did. Instead, the focus has shifted to engagement rate, which shows you how many of your site’s sessions lasted more than 10 seconds, or featured at least one conversion or two page views.
You can still work out your bounce rate from this (it’s the percentage of sessions that don’t count as engaged), but it’s framed in a more positive way.
Unsure how you can use Google Analytics 4 to improve your marketing success? Contact us to help you make more data-driven decisions.