As Google prepares to sunset Universal Analytics and require all accounts to be setup with Google Analytics 4 (GA4), companies are asking themselves, “Are we ready?”.
The shift to GA4 is the most aggressive changeover in digital analytics in recent memory. While the change to Universal Analytics was jarring for some, it at least maintained any historical data captured by Classic Analytics and made more subtle improvement to the user interface. Now, with the GA4 migration, all users are starting from scratch, and they may or may not know what the key differences are.
Fortunately, Quattro has you covered. Here are the biggest changes and new GA4 features we’re most excited for:
GA4 Introduces a more flexible Data Model: Event-based tracking vs Session-based Tracking
Historically, Google Analytics has reported on all user activity based on their sessions (or visits) to your site. Any other interactions that you wanted to track required additional code, either placed directly on your site or through a tag management system like Google Tag Manager (GTM).
GA4, on the other hand, is all event-based. This means that interactions such as clicks, scrolls, downloads, and video views will count much more towards your overall engagement measurement than page view alone.
This will be most impactful for content marketing campaigns where traditionally you may have expected higher bounce rates. With GA4, you’ll have more visibility into a user’s engagement, even if they only view one page before exiting.
GA4 Consolidates Web and App Performance into One
For brands that maintain a mobile app in addition to a website, GA4 will aggregate all user data into one report. This means a clearer view into cross-device traffic, user retention, and overall engagement. Website pages and mobile screens can be viewed in similar reports, showing you exactly what your audience is most interested in, and identifying potential issues based on where users drop off.
GA4 Enhances Behavior Insights with Funnel and Path Explorations
GA’s Behavior Flow report has been one of the most useful, if not visually pleasing, tools. GA4’s new Explorations feature further improves behavior visualizations for deeper insights on visitor journeys through your site or app. Whether you’re tracking leads, sales, or engagements, these reports will be very useful in developing and evaluating your marketing strategies.
Improved Custom Audiences Available in GA4
Another enhancement to an old feature, GA4’s Audience feature allows you to measure performance from valuable segments and create more refined remarketing audiences for future follow-up. As you add your audience criteria, GA4 will give updates on the expected audience size to ensure that you’re headed in the right direction.
More to Come with GA4
While the sunset of Universal Analytics won’t fully take place until July, the changes won’t stop there. Google constantly makes updates to their platforms, and we fully expect more updates and refinements to come to GA4 as more users adopt the platform.
That’s why Quattro is committed to staying on top of the latest updates and trends, ensuring that our clients get the most out of their reporting tools to help meet their business objectives. Contact us to find out how we can help with your migration to GA4 or read more about our full suite of capabilities.