Why GA4? A Battle Cry and A Real Question
You’ve likely heard the chatter (and grumbling) ever since Google introduced a new version of its analytics platform - Google Analytics 4 (GA4). GA4 is a significant update. It introduces several new features and changes to the way businesses can analyze and understand their website and app data. Plus, it is also overthrowing Google Universal Analytics (its predecessor) completely as of July 1, 2023. In fact, the word “update” doesn’t really cut it—this is a full switch out of platforms and will demand far more attention than most businesses expect.
Let’s get into what is changing. GA4 is designed to provide businesses with a more comprehensive and accurate understanding of their customers' behavior across multiple devices and channels. GA4 does this with machine learning technology in tracking user interactions. This new version of Google Analytics is designed to provide more accurate data, including cross-device tracking, deeper insights into user behavior, and more effective analysis of customer journeys.
GA4 has several significant differences compared to the previous version of Google Analytics. Here are some of the most notable changes:
Cross-device tracking: GA4 is designed to track user behavior across multiple devices and channels, making it easier for businesses to get a more comprehensive view of their customers' behavior. This is particularly important in today's digital world, where customers are using multiple devices.
Event-based tracking: In GA4, event-based tracking is used instead of the previous version's session-based tracking. This means that businesses can track specific user actions, such as clicks, video views, and form submissions across multiple sessions, giving a more detailed view of user behavior.
Enhanced privacy features: GA4 is designed to be more privacy-friendly, with features such as automatic consent collection and data deletion after 14 months. This is in line with the growing focus on data privacy and digital security.
Improved reporting: GA4 has improved reporting features, including a new interface and dashboard that provides more relevant and actionable insights into a website and/or app performance.
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
The introduction of GA4 represents a significant change for businesses using Google Analytics. Here are some of the ways we’ve seen this change affect businesses we’re working with:
GOOD:
More accurate data: Once set up correctly, the cross-device tracking and event-based tracking in GA4 should provide businesses with more accurate and detailed data, giving them a better understanding of customer behavior.
Better insights: The improved reporting features in GA4 should help businesses gain more relevant and actionable insights into their website and app performance, which can help them optimize their digital strategies more effectively. (We obviously love this the most!)
Privacy compliance: The enhanced privacy features in GA4 should help businesses comply with privacy regulations. This is becoming increasingly important for businesses operating in the digital world.
BAD (if you’re not up to speed)
Learning curve: There is a time and resource investment needed in order to learn and utilize GA4 effectively. The event-based and cross-device tracking requires a different approach to analysis, which may take some time to master.
UGLY
Auto-transition support: Google is scraping your GUA and your website to auto-transition the GA4 instance. We are seeing issues. Namely assumed, unnamed events, conversions left un-toggled, and over-generalized events that will alter overall website performance perception. While Google has provided extensive documentation and support resources to help businesses navigate the transition process, we’ve experienced a need for a trained eye.
Ultimately, GA4 represents a significant change for businesses. While this new version of Google Analytics should provide more accurate data, better insights, and improved privacy features, it will force businesses into investing time and resources to learn how to transition and use the new version effectively. In today's business landscape, mastering GA4 will be critical for those who are not only looking to optimize their digital strategies and stay ahead of the competition, but also want an uninterrupted view of their current digital data.