Google Universal Analytics to GA4: Are you ready?
Google Analytics 4 – or GA4 for short – is being hailed as the dawning of a new era for monitoring and improving the performance of your company’s online presence. But what’s changing and how can you get ahead of the curve? Read on to find out…
Why is Google Analytics changing?
There has been waves over the last few years in both the public and governments’ attitude to privacy. Pretty much anyone who uses the web and has shared personal information to create an account with a platform will most likely have had their data breached at some point in time. As a result, we’ve become more cautious about what we share and who we share it with online.
As well as end users demanding more control over how their data is used, governments have acted too, introducing new legislation to meet the ever-changing landscape. Regulation such as GDPR and CCPA has overhauled the way businesses store and manage data considerably, threatening large fines for those who flout the rules.
On top of this, browsers such as Firefox and Safari have changed how they use cookies – the trackers that monitor how we move around a website – and Google announced in 2021 that it would phase out third-party cookies this year from Chrome.
But the amount of data being captured is still increasing exponentially and businesses need the right tools to be able to navigate it, stay relevant and within the law.
As a result, Google has taken this opportunity to invest in their analytics offer. Their original product, Google Universal Analytics, revolutionised how advertisers and brands harnessed data – and the all-new GA4 is here to future-proof that.
So, what’s new with GA4?
GA4 is Google’s new generation, privacy-first, cross-channel measurement platform. It will completely replace Google Universal Analytics by July 2023, and any new products will automatically use the new system.
Updates include a brand new, simplified interface, giving users a lot more control and a lot less coding to do.
Features include improved cross-channel reporting and machine learning, plus they’ve added a new e-commerce reporting option to help sellers better understand performance.
Included in this are new predictive metrics too. Purchase Probability predicts the likelihood that users who have visited your app or site will make a purchase in the next seven days, and Churn Probability shares how likely it is that recently active users will not visit your app or site in the next seven days.
Shifting away from the blind spots of last-click attribution, data driven attribution tracks and analyses the full impact of marketing across a whole customer journey, improving a user’s understanding of how their marketing is influencing conversions.
It’s also easy to export the analysis to Google Ads and Google Marketing Platform media tools, so you can make the most of this knowledge and run more successful campaigns.
Why make the switch now?
With the change just over a year away, you might be tempted to leave making the switch until Google push it through.
But why? GA4 is built with machine learning at its core – and these automated insights mean you can get way more from the data you collect. Why leave it another 12 months to turbocharge your marketing when you could get ahead of the curve and start now?
Additionally, if your business uses multiple platforms, for instance an app and a website, GA4 will bring this data together so you get a more holistic view of your customer lifecycle.
And, if it’s true that cookies are knocking on death’s door, you won’t have to worry – GA4 is built to work without them or identifiers.
How do I make the switch?
Handily, Google has created a simple Set-Up Assistant to make upgrading easy, including a Get Started Wizard which will help you get sorted in just a few clicks.
It’s all well and good having access to this information but knowing what to do with it something else. Harnessing your insights and creating brilliant content is where we can help.
We get under the skin of your business and goals, and perform a Conversion Rate Optimisation audit, making it possible to pinpoint the precise reasons visits to your site are not translating into sales.
From a light-touch analytics and user experience review with conversion-focused recommendations, to a granular review of all channels with UX design wireframes and concise user mapping, we work with clients to improve their customer experience and help them make data-driven decisions for growth.
