Google Analytics 4: Now the switch is mandatory!

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In October 2020, Google released the new Google Analytics 4 (GA4). This advancement is based on the previously launched Google Analytics App + Web Property and offers numerous benefits, from enhanced data analysis to cookie-less data collection compliant with privacy standards. If you want to benefit from insightful analyses and historical data in the future, switching to Google Analytics 4 soon is a must. Until now, users could voluntarily switch to the new Analytics version, but the current update from March 16, 2022, requires quick action: As of July 1, 2023, the predecessor Universal Analytics will cease processing standard properties.

Learn more in the current blog post about why switching to Google Analytics 4 is important for future-proof data collection. The internetwarriors provide insights into the new user interface and summarize all the advantages and innovations for you. 

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Advantages of Google Analytics 4

Although the mandatory switch to Google Analytics 4 involves a lot of work, it is definitely worth it: Of course, the new Analytics comes with extensive improvements that meet future requirements and allow for more insightful, visualized analyses. Are you excited? Here are the key innovations at a glance:

Goodbye Bounce Rate, Hello Engagement

You may have already questioned the authenticity of the bounce rate once and wondered if the value was really accurate. Consider the following scenario:

A user visits the site, spends over 10 seconds there, and leaves again. In Universal Analytics, this might have been counted as a bounce. Especially if no further activity is recorded, a bounce is captured in Universal Analytics. To avoid this, Google Analytics 4 introduces the new metric Engagement. A session contributes to engagement if either:

• a user spends more than 10 seconds on the site

• or at least 2 pages were visited

• or a conversion event was triggered.

With the new metric, more accurate statements can definitely be made. From now on, with Google Analytics 4, the question is no longer "How many users are bouncing from my site?", but "How many users are interested in my site?"

Estimated Data

Data analysis and machine learning - this is a combination that can hardly be separated anymore. Therefore, it is not surprising that there are many new features in Google Analytics 4 based on machine learning. Estimated conversions are particularly interesting:

In data collection so far, it has been almost impossible to gather all the data, which is why only a portion of website visitors is considered. In Google Analytics 4, conclusions for the entire site visitors can now be drawn from the collected data by estimating the metrics of missing users.

Due to the increasingly strict cookie policies, there are many gaps in data collection. Also, data is lost if users cannot be associated with the respective cookies or the cookies have expired. Analytics 4 offers the possibility to estimate the conversions and metrics of users who reject the cookies.

Google Analytics 4 and GDPR

In Google Analytics 4, GDPR plays an important role concerning cookies. The successor, Google Analytics 4, is designed to allow for a privacy-compliant handling of data. For example, the Consent Mode has been integrated into Google Analytics 4. If cookies are rejected, only non-personal data is collected. At first glance, this seems less advantageous, but compared to its predecessor, data is still tracked in Google Analytics 4.

An important note: Visitor IP addresses are now automatically anonymized by default. This option cannot be disabled.

Future-Proof Reporting

In Google Analytics 4, custom reports can be created more quickly as the process has been streamlined. There is also a wide range of charts to represent the data. All this succeeds without users losing any flexibility in Analytics 4.

Another important feature in Google Analytics 4 is future-ready reporting. Users can create reports that make predictions for certain metrics based on previous data. For example, it can indicate the probability that a user who visited the site in the last 28 days will make a purchase in the next 7 days. Or it can determine how likely it is that a current user will visit the site again in the future.

Enhanced User Permissions 

Google has overhauled user permissions in Google Analytics 4. In the new version, it's possible to restrict access to individual data for selected users of the tool. For instance, access to revenue metrics as well as cost metrics can be restricted. Accordingly, Google Analytics 4 places great emphasis on protecting data from unauthorized access. 

Extended Default Channel Grouping 

Google has increased the number of channels in the new version, even though this somewhat affects the tool's flexibility. Consequently, it is no longer possible to define custom channel groupings. Users needing additional channels must now contact Google Support. Generally, the many new standard channels make custom grouping unnecessary as they cover most needs. 

The new channels include, among others: SMS, Paid Shopping, Organic Shopping, Organic Video, Paid Video, as well as Paid Social and Organic Social. The previous version grouped Paid Social and Organic Social under Social generally. It's definitely expected that more channels will be added soon.

The Importance of UTM Parameters

Especially UTM parameters play a bigger role in Google Analytics 4 than before. As a huge part of the channels requires a strict definition of UTM values. Since channels in Analytics 4 are based on many different sources, defining UTM parameters is often complex.

Need support? The internetwarriors have decades of experience in web analytics. We know what to consider when setting up UTM parameters for Google Analytics and we are happy to handle this for you.

Attribution Models

If advertising campaigns are run, it's important to know which channels led to a conversion. With the old data model (Universal Analytics), the conversion was always attributed to the last channel leading to the session with the conversion.

In practice, the conversion is usually based on multiple channels. To accommodate this, users in Analytics 4 have the option to change the attribution model. By default, data-driven attribution is used here, which utilizes machine learning to sensibly attribute a conversion to different channels, considering factors like ad interaction count, ad order, time until conversion, or device type.

Further attribution models include:

• Last Click (entire conversion value is attributed to the last channel)

• First Click (entire conversion value is attributed to the first channel)

• Linear (each channel used by the user is attributed equally to the conversion value)

• Position Based (more attributed to the first and last channel and equally to all others)

• Time Decay (more is attributed to later channels, meaning the older the channel access, the less is attributed to it)

There's More to Come!

Over the past year, it has already been apparent that the development of Google Analytics 4 is not yet complete. New features are continuously being released, revolutionizing data analysis. This will continue to be the case in the future. Get ready for an exciting time with Google Analytics 4!

Need Help with Google Analytics 4? Contact Us Now!

For beginners, the transition to Google Analytics 4 presents many hurdles. That's what we're here for! The internetwarriors are experts in web analytics and will set up the new Google Analytics 4 for you, from implementation to long-term support. With over 20 years of experience behind us, we know what matters.