Here's What You Need to Know About Google Analytics 4

By now, you may know that Google is making significant changes to their analytics platform. Their current Universal Analytics platform is being replaced with the upgraded Google Analytics 4. With a July 1, 2023 deadline for switching over, it is important to understand what this new interface is going to look like. Join VGM Forbin as we introduce you to the new Google Analytics 4 (GA4).

What is Google Analytics?

If you’ve never really engaged with your website's analytics, you’re missing out on a lot of important information. Google Analytics allows you to collect and understand how your site is being used. This measurement tool is crucial to your marketing efforts. It allows you to see who is on your site, how they’re accessing the site, how they got there, and what they’re doing while they’re there. With the new upgrade to GA4, you may now be wondering what the key differences are.

How is Universal Analytics Different from Google Analytics 4?

• Data can now be collected from both websites and from apps. Users can be tracked across platforms to better understand the customer journey.
• Page views will be replaced by a simplified ‘events’ portal. This is to better accommodate app data, as apps do not necessarily have pages.
• Customer privacy will be prioritized in different ways such as cookieless measurement, and behavioral and conversion modeling.
• Time will be measured differently in GA4. For example, instead of the time spent on various pages, GA4 will track the time it takes for users to complete a task. This could be anything from completing a purchase after watching a video or searching through the site for the product they want.

What are the Benefits of Google Analytics 4?

You may be wondering why there was a need for such a huge shift in the way data is collected and presented. As technology changes, the tools we use to measure activity need to evolve with it. Here is what the change means to businesses and their customers.

• With a better visualization of the customer journey across both sites and apps, it will become easier for businesses to identify events that impact their business success.
• The new platform was built with customer privacy concerns in mind. User data isn’t retained indefinitely and is more difficult to port to other platforms for profiling and targeting.
• GA4 allows businesses to make more informed marketing decisions based on how the user engages with the website or app so you can analyze the acquisition, engagement, retention and technology.
• Data can be used to create more powerful audiences for your ad campaigns, stitching together visitors' journeys across your apps and sites to better target your efforts.

The marketing team at VGM Forbin is excited about this next stage in analytics and what it will do for our customers. Better data collection means your marketing efforts can go further and target the audiences you’re trying to reach. We plan to share more resources over time about Google Analytics 4 so stay tuned. If you’re as excited as we are and want to know more, reach out to us today!