Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Google Search Console are the heartbeat of every marketer. If you have a website, you should care about its performance, which means Google Analytics should be one of your most frequently used tools. In October 2020, Google released Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to be the “new generation” of data measurement. We know that change can be stressful, and sometimes it is easier to stay with what you know. However, switching to GA4 may be the right move for your team because of the many benefits and updates it offers.
Track App Performance
Probably one of the most important benefits of GA4 is that you can now monitor both your website and mobile app performance. Previously, Universal Analytics only allowed you to track your website. But through GA4, you have the ability to consolidate the information and keep site and app data together. This will save you time and make monitoring this information much easier.
Customer Journey
You probably already know by now that at CommonPlaces, we are obsessed with customer experience and the customer journey. GA4 focuses on the entire customer journey compared to individual sessions, by offering a new feature called Life Cycle that reports on four key metrics: Acquisition, Engagement, Monetization, and Retention. Hopefully these terms sound familiar to you as they are the stepping stones in the customer journey. The data is from all platforms like mobile or desktop, giving you a view of the “big picture,” regardless of where the customer starts and ends their journey.
This means that by switching to GA4, you have clear data to show how customers are responding to your content and where they fall in the journey. For example, GA4 may show that one of your ads does not bring in as many leads as you expected. Now, your team can decide how to adjust your strategy and narrow their attention to the most effective channels. This new feature will save you time and money as you direct your efforts to what generates the best ROI..
Predicting the Future
Now that Google is using new algorithms, GA4 tracks three metrics that can help you predict users future actions: purchase probability, churn probability, and revenue prediction. Here is how Google defines these new metrics:
Purchase Probability - The probability that a user who was active in the last 28 days will log a specific conversion event within the next 7 days.
Churn Probability - The probability that a user who was active on your app or site within the last 7 days will not be active within the next 7 days.
Revenue Prediction - The revenue expected from all purchase conversions within the next 28 days from a user who was active in the last 28 days.
These metrics allow you to target content to those who are most likely to make a purchase in the near future. With this new data, you can find users who are in the same stage and increase sales.
“Currently, only purchase/ecommerce_purchase and in_app_purchase events are supported for the Purchase probability and Revenue prediction metrics.” — Google
User Friendly
We understand that you and your team are very busy. The last thing you want is to have to spend unnecessary time digging through reports and analytics to find the information you need. GA4 is much more user friendly than Universal Analytics, with the goal of saving you time and effort. The sections on GA4 are more directly related to the data that marketers are seeking instead of the broad categories that Universal has like audience, acquisition, behavior, etc. Although these categories have their place, the GA4 sections of engagement, monetization, etc. are more closely connected to marketing goals.
Google Analytics 4 is a game-changer for marketers! By predicting the future and closely following the customer journey, you have the power to create an effective strategy to bring in leads and increase sales. It is not enough to just create content, you need to take the necessary action to ensure it is performing the way you’d like, and then adjust it accordingly. At CommonPlaces, we succeed when you succeed. If you need help developing a marketing strategy, creating content, or tracking data, we are here to help. Please reach out to us with any questions!
