How to use Google Analytics 4 for your marketing strategies + VIDEO

On July 1st we welcomed not only the July sun, but also the long-awaited replacement of Universal Analytics with Google Analytics 4.

But are you wondering how to use Google Analytics 4? Or maybe you're having trouble sorting out the metrics? Today we'll solve that challenge in less than 5 minutes.

GA4 represents a major change for users, but don't let fear of the new affect you. It's a valuable marketing tool for building strategies based on real data. And GA4 presents new opportunities for enterprising marketers. It helps them when they're looking for measurable solutions in planning promotional activities and website optimization.

What's different in Google Analytics 4?

One of the important changes that GA4 brings with it is a different data collection model. While the previous version, Universal Analytics, relied on pageviews-based measurement, in GA4 data is collected on an event basis.

In short, GA4 gives more freedom in data collection and interpretation for marketers. While protecting consumer privacy. At the end of the article, you will also get a video with guidelines on how you can create your custom report in Google Analytics 4 only.

Custom conversions relevant to your business

So-called conversion events can be set up to report every step along the way for your users. This is relevant to you and represents a conversion of some sort.

For comparison - in Universal Analytics the same function was performed by Goals, which were of five types. They reported basic steps such as a lead generated or a sale made. In this respect, GA4 allows for more detailed audience segmentation according to steps traveled and conversions reported. These can be different from the standard ones for online stores.

This segmentation allows you to pay special attention to different types of audiences and track. For example, which channel (traffic source) these users are primarily coming from to make a purchase, what their path is through your site, how much time they spend there. This way you have the opportunity to incorporate more effective targeting and more personalized communication with different audiences into your marketing strategy.

New definitions for eengagement rate and bounce rate

In Google Analytics 4, engagement rate is determined by measuring whether the user has done something on the page for at least 10 seconds. This duration, of course, can be adjusted according to your business needs.

Bounce rate, which existed as a term in UA, is now defined here as negative engagement rate, or the number of users who visited a page but did nothing on it. Another important metric is engagement time - how long a user engages with a particular page.

These three metrics, engagement gate, engagement time and bounce rate, provide information about the real interest of users in a page. They can be a valuable aid in audience segmentation. And also in finding pages on your website that aren't effectively optimized, aren't user-friendly, and repel users instead of retaining them.

Sources of traffic

The way traffic sources are measured in GA4 is also different. There are more channels involved here - Paid Social, Video, Audio and Paid Shopping have been added, and Other is now called Unassigned.

This allows for more accurate tracking of data across channels and more detailed reporting on the results of the campaigns you've created. Last but not least, it gives you reliable information on which to base your future marketing strategy.

Custom reports

Google Analytics 4 allows you to combine the data we've discussed so far into a single custom report or custom detail report. In Universal Analytics, this isn't exactly the case - there, the different types of data complicated things and were difficult to combine and compare.

In Analytics 4, the measurement is simplified - each "chunk" of information is called a "hit". This allows different types of data to be combined and compared in one report.

You can track in detail a specific event, for example, a completed purchase. By creating a custom report, you can find out which channel the users who buy the most come from, what devices they use, what city they are from, what their engagement and bounce rate are, which channel has the highest conversion rate and highest purchase value, and more. All in one place in a look and layout of your choosing.

Each parameter can be measured and compared with other parameters to see the overall picture of the results of your marketing strategy.

When you start creating a custom report, you will see two columns: Variables and Tab Settings.

In the first are all the dimensions and metrics you can use in your report - this is the data you are potentially interested in.

To have them show up in your report, you need to pull the variables you want into the other column, the Settings tab. Here you control the data that will be displayed in your report, as well as other important details such as order, number of rows, and how it will be displayed (table or graph).

As we've seen, Google Analytics 4 gives you advanced capabilities for detailed tracking of the measurable results of your marketing activities. This is important for subsequently building a robust data-driven strategy and properly targeting your communication to your users.

If working with Google Analytics 4 seems complicated, we at ADvantage Digital Agency are always available to help with analysis and building a working marketing strategy for your business.