Google Analytics 4: Five Reasons You Should Embrace It
The year was 2012. The iPhone 5 was just released and boasted a stunning eight-megapixel camera. Facebook decided to purchase a fun little photo-sharing app called Instagram and acquired all 13 of its employees for a record-setting $1 billion. Finally, and most importantly for my blog, Google unveiled its newest version of Google Analytics, called Universal Analytics (UA).
Fast forward about a decade and the iPhone 14 is clocking in with a 48-megapixel lens, over 2 billion people use Instagram once a month and Google is finally sunsetting UA in favor of Google Analytics 4 (GA4).
If you have been hugging your Universal Analytics session-based, cookie-derived data tightly, consider this your final warning. You need to have a plan in place to continue analyzing traffic from all sources, including whatever marketing trends you may be capitalizing on.
As of this blog’s publishing, you have about 90 days to let go. You have one business quarter to move on from what is possibly the only instance of Google Analytics you have ever known. As of July 1, 2023, if you want to continue collecting data in Google Analytics, you need to move forward and transition to GA4.
Let’s look at 5 reasons you should embrace the transition to GA4:
Make better business decisions – driven by better data
Session-based data collection was not built for this generation and has become obsolete. GA4’s event-based model offers a more holistic view of visitors’ habits and a complete picture of how they interact with a company’s website/apps. This allows for custom reports and campaigns to be designed around users.
Data-driven attribution
Goodbye last-click attribution. Hello, customer journey in 2023. Data-driven attribution helps to give credit to all the efforts that various traffic sources play in leading to conversions. This can also help with proving ROI for perpetually shunned traffic sources. (let’s not name names)
Enhanced measurement capabilities out of the box
GA4 offers a suite of tracking features called Enhanced Measurement right out of the box without any additional customization to your basic setup. This is a vast improvement from Universal Analytics that came out tracking strictly page views. This is a big plus for basic users.
Predictive metrics allow for forward looking optimization
Machine learning and AI (artificial intelligence) play a significant role in GA4. While Universal Analytics made its mark by analyzing the past, GA4 uses what it can learn about users’ prior activity to help forecast what certain audiences may do in the future. If you can choose between being a thermometer or a thermostat, always choose the latter.
You don’t really have a choice
Blunt? Maybe. Truthful candor? Absolutely. A large population of Google Analytics users have been dragging their feet on converting to GA4 since it was first announced two and a half years ago. I’ve lost track of how many times the deadline has been pushed back. In early 2023, Google took its most drastic step toward GA4 migration when it announced that they will soon configure GA4 for you. You can run, but you certainly cannot hide. The sooner you make the conversion, the more historical data you will have to compare year over year time periods in GA4.
It’s clear there are many substantial differences between Universal Analytics (UA) and Google Analytics 4 (GA4). From data collection methodology, analytics reports, data modeling capabilities, AI/machine learning integration, and even just a more user-friendly interface design – these two property types offer distinctly different experiences for business owners/marketers looking at tracking website and app activity.
The top complaints I hear from those avoiding migration all boil down to one common theme: change. To be fair, it is a change. It’s a big change. But I can promise you it’s a necessary change.
Perhaps a silver lining is that you don’t have to choose which one you like better. Google is Thanos and GA4 is inevitable. On July 1, 2023, they will snap their fingers and I hope you’re ready for the future of analytics.
If you feel uncomfortable with any aspect of Google Analytics, a Chartwellian would be happy to talk you through it!
