If you have a Google Analytics account, you will be aware that there is a new version of Google Analytics coming out on July 1st. Google will be sunsetting the old version of Universal Analytics on this date too. So, if you haven’t made the switch yet, you need to do it soon. The new version contains a lot of changes and it will take some getting used to. Let’s take a look at what you can expect:
What is Google Analytics 4?
Google describe their new analytics service as one that “enables you to measure traffic and engagement across your website and apps” whereas Universal Analytics could only track website analytics. The latest version also provides a lot more data that you can customise, which means you can track what it important to you, not what Google thinks is important to you.
The major difference is that GA4 allows you to report on activity that occurs on both your website and apps, which will provide invaluable insights on customer journeys.
Another big shift is that GA4 focuses on usage, rather than traffic. It can track the entire customer journey across different platforms and will then, using AI, provide insights into how your customers interact with your website or app.
It’s also geared up for GDPR while still providing privacy-first tracking and cross-platform data measurement.
The old reporting tools have all but vanished, with the new reporting options providing details on engagement and usage. There is also the option to write bespoke reports so you can extract the information and comparisons that are most important for your business.
Key changes
The first change that you will notice is that the dashboard is completely different.
With Universal Analytics, page views and number of users took centre stage. With GA4, all measurements are events. The idea being that instead of seeing generalised data, you will be able to get a better understanding of how users interact with your website or app.
There are also some brand new engagement metrics, such as:
- Engaged sessions
- Engagement rate
- Engagement time
As well as attribution, demographics etc with page views and bounce rates taking a back seat.
The reason for this shift is that we’ve come to realise that page views and bounce rates aren’t the most important metrics. This is a big departure from what we're familiar with in terms of reporting, but we will have access to more data.
The other new feature is Predictive Metrics, to help you understand your audience and make proactive decisions. The metrics include:
- Purchase probability
- Churn probability
- Revenue prediction
With these new metrics, you can create audiences based on their predicted behaviours and target them using Google Ads or even social media.
In summary
The driving force behind all these changes is to hand the control back to you and to enable you to track and extract the information that is most relevant to your business. Now that you can track across websites and apps you will get a much clearer picture too.
All of which makes GA4 a powerful tool that can provide invaluable insights. Extracting that data will, however, come with a learning curve and also require more skill.
Contact Your Marketing Team today if you’re struggling with the new layout or features of GA4 and need some support.