Data Collection:

Data collection models from websites and applications (in cross-device tracking mode), with the aim of providing a better understanding of the customer journey through a unified analysis of the different channels. In doing so, it becomes possible to track the custom event parameters on various platforms.

The exploitation of data is based on the events carried out, whereas Universal Analytics is based on sessions and on users. The events integrate all the desired variables, under a single banner.

Inclusion of Privacy Settings:

Inclusion of privacy settings that take into account legal needs in terms of data protection: measures without cookies or identifiers, and future integration of behavior modeling when the data is incomplete. These predictive features will be made possible by the use of machine learning. In addition, Google Analytics 4 offers to anonymize IP addresses for better control of user data.

Direct integration with multimedia platforms to facilitate actions performed from a website or application, including Google Ads, for optimized campaign performance and higher ROI.

Access To Raw Data:

So this is great news for large websites. But for most small businesses, it makes no difference. What would you do with a massive dump of raw data anyway? So it’s nice that Google makes something available for free that you previously had to pay for, but that’s a good thing to know, as opposed to jumping at the chance.

Improved Metrics:

Before in Google Analytics, we had to set goals, events, alerts, etc. to find out if something interesting happened – clicks on external links, and PDF downloads.

Now Google Analytics 4 will use no-code tracking to alert us when these things happen. HOT. My job just got easier! What worries me is being inundated with extraneous information that doesn’t matter. But I’m glad we don’t have to set up a breakdown system every time we want to track all 30 sellers’ email addresses as external link click events.

GA4 reports include sessions engaged, sessions engaged per user, engagement rate, and time engaged.

Automated Insights:

One of the challenges of Google Analytics is that you need a human who knows what they’re looking at to alert you when something strange is happening, such as massive traffic spikes or drops. Through automated insights, GA4 will use Google’s machine learning and AI (yes, artificial intelligence) to provide insight into – and even predict important events such as high churn and customer clustering.

Enhanced Data Deletion:

The Google Analytics account was tracking data it really shouldn’t have. Having data deleted before was a real nightmare. Apparently, it’s been made much easier now. I just hope unscrupulous agencies don’t use this feature to suppress data that shows they got it wrong or didn’t do what they were supposed to. 

Google said that in the future it will work with or without cookies or identifiers so you can learn more about your customers, even if your data is incomplete. There are obviously privacy concerns, but there is currently nothing to address the problem of data being blocked by cookies. 

Tracking Cross Domains:

This is also very interesting. Cross-domain tracking is very useful when you need to track a user across different domains. A good example is hotels and lodges that use a third-party booking engine. By tagging both domains, you can track the user from the website to the booking engine and record the reservations made. This feature is now much easier to configure than before.

Google Analytics provides businesses with a comprehensive view of user activity on any tracked app/site. GA4 will be much better at splitting users across devices than UA and it will give a much more accurate user count.

Reports:

The number and type of reports have dropped dramatically. Want to know how many users visit the website on a Wednesday from Chile using a smartphone? It used to be easy, but now you need someone who knows Google DataStudio to create the reports you need, and it’s much harder to pull insights on the fly.

Automated Event Tracking:

Businesses will be able to track certain events by simply enabling them in the settings when creating a Google Analytics 4 property. Companies with modest tracking configuration resources would benefit the most from this because they may quickly configure extensive event reports in the GA settings.

Personalized Follow-up of Events:

GA4 provides a range of automated events, suggested events to adhere to as common across all businesses (buy, signup, etc.), and custom events for anything lacking, with the option to design your own system of settings of events. Companies now have a new way to monitor the activities and KPIs that are important to them.

Passing Session To User

With GA4, we are moving from a “session-centric” vision to a “user-centric” vision, i.e. audience analysis is no longer simply done at the session level (and therefore of the visit) but at the level of the user. A way to take into account cross-device users who were then counted double when they browsed your site sometimes from their computer, sometimes via their mobile.

A welcome (r)evolution at a time when multi-device use has become the norm! A technological advance that we owe to the management of multiple flows.

A Multiple Data Stream

One of the major differences between Universal Analytics and GA4 is the introduction of so-called “data streams”, meaning multiple data streams.

Indeed, unlike Universal Analytics, GA4 is able to manage multiple data streams from different sites (Google Tag Manager) or web applications (Firebase) within the same property.

Data flows are then considered as data sources and allow the centralization of data in a single property. A step forward that allows you to harmonize the tracking and monitoring of events on all your platforms.

Advanced And Automated Measurement Of Events

By default, Universal Analytics does not offer event tracking to “go further” in the analysis of its audience. To do this, until now, you had to create objectives within a limit of 20 objectives per view or create your own events through Google Tag Manager (GTM).

With GA4 it is ancient history! The event-based data model instead of the session implies the default availability of the main user behavioral events (click, page view, scroll, viewing, etc.). In other words, no need to add code to access it. Default events that you can transform into a conversion goal as you wish.

To clearly understand the difference, the events created in UA are defined by a category, an action, and a label, and the event is the type of call. In GA4, all calls are events.

And if the default events of GA4 are not enough for you, it is of course possible to create your own events. We will talk here about personalized events, as opposed to automatic events tracked by default.

The End Of The Bounce Rate

The bounce rate or bounce rate corresponds to the percentage of visitors who leave your site from the first page. The bounce rate takes into account sessions that arrive on a page without interacting with it, that is, without visiting another page or clicking on a link.

The analysis of the bounce rate must be adapted to the site that is studied. Indeed, an e-commerce site with a bounce rate of more than 50% must encourage its owner to carry out a UX (User eXperience) or CRO (conversion rate optimization) audit to detect obstacles to conversion.

Conversely, some sites such as directories or blogs have a natural tendency to have a high bounce rate because they offer an answer to the user’s question from the first page. In this case, it is important to take into account the time spent on the page.

GA4 puts an end to the bounce rate controversy by replacing it with a “user-centric” metric: the engagement rate. We are therefore now talking about engagement sessions, percentage of engagement, time of engagement, or even sessions engaged per user.

Rationalization Of Dashboards

The user logic of GA4 is also reflected in the dashboards offered. Less numerous than on Universal Analytics, GA4 reports focus on the user lifecycle throughout their journey, from their arrival on the site to their exit.

A streamlined approach that emphasizes conversion, engagement, and customer loyalty.

Another important point, GA4 no longer offers custom reports. If you want to create your own dashboards, we advise you to opt for the Google Data Studio solution.

Make An Inventory Of The Current Tracking

Before launching headlong into the implementation of your new tracking, we advise you to create a document that lists all the data currently tracked. This will allow you to have a precise mapping and inventory of your properties, detect potential tracking opportunities, and start structuring your future data flow.

Respect The Naming Instructions

Understanding how to assign event names and associated parameters is key to a successful transition to GA4. To do this, it is important to respect Google’s guidelines for naming events, namely, the use of lowercase letters and underscores instead of spaces. Also, remember to use a descriptive name such as “registration_success” or “email_signup”.

Centralize All Tracking:

One of the major benefits of GA4 is its ability to manage and centralize data from several platforms such as websites and mobile applications (thanks to the famous data streams!). If you have a mobile application, it is therefore essential to plan for its integration into your migration plan.

To do this, you just need to send your Firebase data to GA4! Indeed, both platforms use the same data model which saves us valuable time.

Maintain Double Tracking:

Although the launch of Google Analytics 4 implies the end of the updates of Google Analytics 3 (UA property), we advise you to keep a double tracking time to familiarize yourself with this new tool (new functionalities should quickly appear) and compare the data of your two trackings to detect potential gaps and adjust your GA4 tracking.