At Condor, we’ve been following for months everything related to the migration to GA4. We want to understand the impact of this change on our clients’ reports and how Google will display its website analytics.
We want to give you an overview of what will happen, the most remarkable Google Analytics 4 benefits, and the next steps to migrate your data. Continue reading to learn more!
What will happen to Google Analytics?
Starting today, we all need to prepare for a soon-to-be cookie-less world.
For decades, digital marketers have used Google Analytics Universal to study and evaluate user behavior and the effectiveness of digital marketing efforts. On March 16, 2022, Google announced that the Google Analytics Universal platform would stop collecting data starting July 1, 2023, giving way to Google Analytics 4. A new tool full of improvements and new possibilities for users.
The arrival of GA4 is part of a logical evolution of 3 different eras in the use of web analytics:
- Measurement: the most basic and pragmatic era, focused on measuring the audience.
- Analysis: the era of estimating performance with greater customization in data collection, creation of static and dynamic reports, and the arrival of Firebase.
- Activation: the era of connecting tools such as Google Ads, Optimize, or Firebase Growth Features.
This third era is based on a greater interconnection among all Google tools, the introduction of machine learning, people-based insights, and more direct data activation.
Google Analytics understands that linking marketing and technology is an essential level of maturity that increases the value of data assets in an ecosystem where privacy and data quality challenges are a big concern.
Data collection can only create value for the brand if it is collected and structured to build a single and agile connection point, like GA4, that links the entire user journey: on and off the web and with a people-based view.
What Makes GA4 Better than Universal Analytics?
In Universal Analytics, the metrics were sessions and page views. However, now GA4’s unit of measurement is Events, allowing you to measure interactions that aren’t from web pages much more effectively. GA4 offers many more tools to edit and correct them without adjusting the implementation code.
Also, one of the weaknesses of Universal Analytics was its reporting processes. The reports generated on the platform tend to be dense and challenging to analyze. Among its many new and improved features, Google Analytics 4 delivers simpler, more organized, and intuitive reports with a broader view of the user’s journey.
8 Key Benefits of migrating to Google Analytics 4
- It’s an intelligent tool that leverages machine learning to extract statistics from the customer journey on different platforms and devices.
- With the Google Analytics 4 approach, you’ll get a lighter and more readable compilation. Now you can quickly identify the data you are looking for and consider the customer journey phases on all platforms.
- GA4 is privacy-based and designed to be forward-thinking. Overall, you’ll find a much more flexible working environment ready to provide greater accuracy during the measurement processes without infringing on the user’s privacy.
- It has enhanced integrations with Google’s advertising platforms to optimize campaign performance and increase marketing ROI.
- The integration of machine learning solutions allows you to circumvent the limitations within the preliminary versions, mainly due to the restrictions derived from third-party cookies.
- It allows integrations with Display & Video 360, Search Ads 360, and BigQuery.
- GA4 will be able to tell you how likely a user is to convert or abandon the website and allow you to analyze the behavior of anonymous users.
- In Universal Analytics, we only had the bounce rate, but now you can extend the information to metrics such as clicks or file downloads.
What’s the first step to migrate to GA4?
Contact Condor Agency!
We will help you set up and leverage the benefits of Google Analytics 4 to scale your business by implementing:
- Website/App Engagement Measurement. (Includes all previously existing UA tracking)
- Structure and data-streaming best practices for reporting.
- Platform connections and integrations.
- Filter/Goal/Event/Custom Configurations.
Schedule a free consultation with our CEO, Carlos Corredor, and learn more about effective marketing strategies to boost your ROI and accelerate the expected benefits.
