Go On... Book Your
Free Consultation.

You Won't Regret It!

    GA4 EXPLAINED: GETTING THE MOST FROM YOUR DATA

    Published on — April 26, 2024
    • -  Google Analytics  -  GA4  -  The Digital Wave
    THE POWER TO DO MORE – GOOGLE ANALYTICS OVERHAUL – GA4

    CHANGE IS CONSTANT. KEEPING UP WITH ALL OF IT CAN BE EXHAUSTING. LUCKILY, GOOGLE ANALYTICS 4 (GA4) BREAKS THE CURSE OF “FEATURE CREEP” BY BEING ACCESSIBLE AND EASY TO USE (ALBEIT HARDER TO MASTER). IT’S A BIG STEP UP FROM UNIVERSAL ANALYTICS (UA), WHICH YOU CAN STILL ACCESS DESPITE NOT PROCESSING NEW DATA; HOWEVER – ALL YOUR OLD UA DATA WILL VANISH ON THE 1ST OF JULY. DON’T PANIC – WE’LL TELL YOU WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO KEEP IT IN THIS ARTICLE………

    A BIG HEADS UP ON UA’S LAST DANCE

    Like we mentioned in the intro, Google has announced that UA (also Analytics 360) will be completely replaced (for real this time) by GA4 on the 1st of July, 2024. That means all of your existing UA data will be deleted permanently (GONE, FINITO)! Before we go into detail about how you can up your GA4 game, we’ll first explain what you need to do to keep all the precious data UA collected for you (hint: it’s really easy).

    Export Your Data, Folks!

    The Google Help Centre has an in-depth guide to explain how to do it exactly, but the gist of it is that you can export individual reports from Google Analytics into multiple spreadsheet and PDF formats, you can also use the GA Reporting API to export everything to the cloud (as well as connect to Looker Studio), and finally – export everything to BigQuery directly if you are a 360 user. Not to let an opportunity to promote their other products go to waste. Google will also allow you to archive your data with a handy Google Sheets add-on. Talk about perfect product integration!

    Why Your UA Data Still Matters

    Once you’ve completed the above steps, you’ll have successfully preserved your precious UA data, which you can refer back to long after Google has deleted it from its platform (on the 1st of July – it’s super important that you remember this). If you think you have no use for that data – consider this: that data has historical value and can help you understand how your strategies have evolved and performed over time (which can help you make better decisions going forward – after all, there is no better teacher than history). Still not convinced? Having access to both old and new data will let you spot non-transient trends and changes in your audience behaviour, which could reveal opportunities for optimisation or highlight areas needing improvement.

    GETTING TO KNOW GA4

    Now that you’ve learned how to protect your UA data against the upcoming cull, let’s explore how to get the most out of your data on the new platform. GA4 can be used to track user activity across different platforms, uses advanced machine learning to dig deeper into the analytics, integrates better with Google Ads, and focuses more on privacy when collecting data. Plus, it helps us predict user behaviour more accurately, so we can make smarter decisions and fine-tune our marketing for better results and return on investment.

    We’ll take a closer look at the main features below, giving some insight into how they can be used for the betterment of your business.

    GA4 Dashboard

    GA4 offers several significant benefits that businesses can leverage to gain a competitive edge:

    • Improved Cross-Platform Tracking

      GA4 changes the way businesses track user interactions across diverse devices and platforms. Seamlessly spanning websites, mobile apps, and even offline engagements, it provides a consolidated view of collected data. This comprehensive approach gives us deep insights into user behaviour throughout the entire customer journey, enabling smarter decision making and optimisation of marketing strategies.

    • Advanced Machine Learning Capabilities

      GA4 harnesses the power of machine learning to provide actionable insights. It can automatically analyse patterns in user behaviour, identify trends, and offer recommendations to optimise marketing efforts. This empowers businesses to make data-driven decisions and drive better results.

    • Deeper Integration with Google Ads

      GA4 offers improved integration with Google Ads, allowing for more accurate attribution and campaign optimisation. Marketers can now track the customer journey from ad impression to conversion, gaining a comprehensive understanding of campaign performance and ROI.

    • Privacy-Centric Approach

      Privacy concerns are at the forefront of digital marketing, and GA4 addresses this by providing more options for data control and compliance. It aligns with Google’s privacy-first initiatives, ensuring that businesses can continue to collect valuable insights while respecting user privacy.

    EVENT CREATION AND MODIFICATION

    GA4 is all about events (basic actions like button clicks, video views, form submissions, and pretty much any other kind of action a user can undertake on a website). Think of events as..well…EVENTS – things that happen at a certain point in time and for some reason or another. It is a way of tracking how users engage and interact with content, offering useful insights into what works and what doesn’t (or if you want a more formal explanation, tracking conversions and user retention).

    GA4’s flexible approach to setting up conversions really ramps up its usefulness. It allows us to track, customise, and measure events that are actually important to the business (and not just random actions that don’t really help us, but just make our progress reports look better). Basically, we can tweak events in the tool to get the data we really need and use that to fine-tune our campaigns.

    How to ace event creation and modification:

    • Identify Critical User Actions

      First off, you need to figure out which user actions matter to your business. It’s easier to track something if you know beforehand what exactly you are looking for. If a user can perform a certain action on your website, you will want to see how and when they do it.

    • Set Up and Modify Events

      You can’t force users to interact with your content in a certain way, but you CAN gently guide them where you want them to go. You need to tailor your approach to their needs and preferences while striking a balance with your own objectives.

    • Review and Refine:

      You won’t always get it right the first time (if you can, apply for a job at TIDAL ASAP!), so you will need to adjust the events you set up on a regular basis to ensure they continue to provide valuable insights that help optimise your marketing strategies.

    EVENT TRACKING

    Data collection and analysis is the bread and butter of any decent marketing strategy. GA4 makes this easier AND improves the quality of the results by giving us access to AI-powered, predictive metrics like purchase probability and revenue prediction (i.e. a look into how our campaigns are doing).

    To get a better picture of user behaviour, we need to track how often they engage with content, how and when those engagements take place, and which platforms they prefer to use. These key performance indicators (KPIs) allow us to tweak our campaigns for better results and smarter decision making. Some events can be captured automatically (without any setup, which is super convenient), but the tool also allows custom implementation to only capture relevant events.

    Getting the most out of event tracking:

    • Leverage AI Tools

      GA4’s predictive analytics can be used to forecast user behaviour and potential conversions. It’s much faster and more accurate than the old-fashioned way (i.e. manual analysis, which takes FOREVER). The tool basically does all the work.

    • Keep An Eye On Your KPIs

      Look at how your users interact with your content. Track the KPIs we mentioned previously, in addition to whatever else you want to measure. This will help you fine-tune your strategies for improved results.

    • Automate and Customise Tracking

      Use GA4’s automatic event tracking and add your own custom setups to capture the data you need. The beauty of GA4 is that it does a lot of the work for you, saving you time so you can concentrate on other parts of your business. All it takes is a bit of setup and occasional tweaking (you’ll see us use this word a lot, which is just a testament to how customisable GA4 actually is).

    NEW ENGAGEMENT METRICS

    GA4 measures user interactions in the form of engagement sessions. These give us a more complete picture of user actions on a site and also highlight areas for improvement.

    A company can really dig into how users engage, spot areas to get better, tweak conversion paths, and sharpen their marketing strategies to boost the overall user experience and get better results.

    GA4 Traffic Overview

    This is how to extract the most value out of engagement metrics:

    • Understand Engagement Sessions

      If you want to get a real sense of how users interact with your site or app, you can explore engagement sessions and analyse various user actions beyond mere page visits. This will also tell you where the gaps are in the current user experience and where you can make improvements.

    • Analyse User Actions

      Look at actions like page views, conversions, and time spent engaged to evaluate the effectiveness of content and design. Make sure there aren’t any elements (like text or images) that are either distracting users from important information or are otherwise overlooked due to poor placement or lack of relevance. This also highlights the importance of [good] UX design.

    • Polish Your Marketing Strategy

      Use the detailed engagement data provided by GA4 to tweak your marketing approach and make the user experience smoother, which will boost overall conversion rates. The focus is on what your customers are doing, not just what you want them to do. As we mentioned before, the key to success is to tailor your approach to THEIR needs and preferences.

    REACH THE TRUE POTENTIAL OF YOUR BUSINESS

    GA4 has many advanced (and cool) features. It has changed the way we analyse and understand human behaviour in a big way, allowing us to make smarter, data-driven choices that help businesses reach their true potential. Embracing this tool sets you up for success by helping you optimise your strategies for better results (and the agility that comes from having access to real-time insights). Just remember to save and export all your UA data before the deadline (one last reminder – 1st of July)!

    If you’re daring enough to believe we can tame the beast that is GA4 for your company’s benefit, why not get in touch? Let us show you how TIDAL harnesses the wild frontiers of Google’s latest analytics toy to snag the results your company so richly deserves. And if you’re truly brave, share this article with your network. Imagine the glory when you’re the one who introduced people to this and you’ve bailed everyone out from an epic fail. You could become an overnight LinkedIn sensation.

    Related Posts

    WANT BETTER RESULTS?

    LET’S TALK.

    We put 'perform' in performance marketing agency.

    Contact Us

    INSIGHTS.

    Give us your email and we'll do the same thing every other performance marketing agency does... never email you.