On July 1, 2023, Google will switch everyone to its latest version, Google Analytics 4 (GA4), and stop using Google Analytics 3 (also known as Universal Analytics or UA). While these changes will benefit the average user without a noticeable difference in web search and navigation, the changes will require significant changes for merchants and businesses.
Everything you need to know about Google Analytics 4, including what it means to measure marketing activity and conversions, how to get started with GA4, and how to prepare your customers for the transition.
What is Google Analytics 4?
Google Analytics is a key tool for marketers to track online activity. If you've used Google Analytics in the past, GA4 will be familiar to you.
So what's the big difference?
GA4 changes the way data is collected and moves metrics from sessions to events. It combines data from web and mobile apps to more transparently measure users' journeys across platforms. Data collection in GA4 also addresses growing consumer concerns about privacy and specifically tracking cookies.
GA4 is now available (and the default when you build a new property), but many marketers still rely on Universal Analytics. As GA4 continues to be updated, everyone is in the same boat and learning to use the new benchmarks. Companies that integrate with Google Analytics, including CallRail, must update their integrations by July 2023. We're currently updating our integration with Google Analytics so you can continue to report and analyze visitor data in Google Analytics and gain better insight into visitor engagement than ever before.
Does GA4 use cookies?
Yes and no.
If you've been in marketing for decades, you know how important cookies are to measuring your goals and promoting your brand. So it may seem shocking to think that GA4 is playing with cookies.
The short version is that Google Analytics 4 relies on first-party cookies and restricts third-party cookies. GA4 also adds signals to the mix, which are session data from sites and apps that Google associates with users who sign in to their Google Accounts and enable ad personalization.
But why? First, let's remember what a cookie is.
Cookies are a way for your computer to remember where you are and what you are doing on the website and to tell the website about it. This allows for a more personalized experience and allows marketers to track engagement.
Third-party cookies are unique in that they allow sites to track users outside of their ownership. Entire industries have grown out of advertising using third-party cookies, but the practice has come under scrutiny from regulators and privacy-conscious consumers. When the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect in 2018, it began to change the way third-party cookies are processed.
By turning off support for third-party cookies, GA4 easily outperforms Google Chrome. Chrome, the world's most popular browser, will stop supporting third-party cookies by the end of 2023.
Privacy isn't the only reason GA4 stays away from third-party cookies. As more and more people use mobile devices to access the Internet, more and more users are turning away from the Internet in favor of apps. In fact, in 2021, 90% of time spent on a mobile phone was spent on apps, not the internet. This is a big change, and with the death of Google's third-party cookies, it's clear that Universal Analytics is not built for this reality.
Comparison between GA4 and Universal Analytics
Should I use Universal Analytics or GA4?
You can currently choose between GA4 and UA. When you set up a new Google Analytics property, it will use GA4 by default, but you can choose to use UA only with some additional options during setup.
We currently recommend using both for several reasons.
Although GA4 is out of beta, it is constantly being improved with additional features. Moving now might just give you the wrong idea of what life with GA4 will really be like.
UA stats are not 1:1 with GA4 stats. By having both, you can see how the change will affect your key metrics and adjust your reports accordingly. For example, if you rely on bounce rate to determine whether a page is performing well, you will lose it in GA4. Instead, it will have an engagement rate that cannot be considered the inverse of the bounce rate because it is tied to a time limit.
While you wait for UA to roll out, you'll keep your core Google Analytics integrations, such as CallRail's Google Analytics integration.
By using Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4 elements in customer reports, customers will get used to the new system and have time to adapt before the full transition to GA4 in 2023.
Eventually, of course, you'll use GA4. But until then, use this time as an opportunity to learn more about GA4 without compromising your current reports or third-party GA integrations.
What do I gain and lose by upgrading?
With a big change like Google Analytics 4, some things will look like updates and some will look like older versions. Time will tell what these changes will mean for your business and your customers, but we already know the implications of some.
Here's what you get with Google Analytics 4:
- Event-based tracking: Depending on what you think of UA's measurement model for pageviews and sessions, this could easily fall into the "loser" column. But event-based tracking combines online and app interactions for a more holistic view of the user, with the potential to generate more valuable travel information.
- Better reporting and analytics: GA4 uses Google Data Studio to provide easy-to-use templates for custom reports.
- Automated data: Artificial intelligence and machine learning will reveal new data to you.
Here's what you'll lose by switching:
- Historical data: Your historical data in UA (as well as your tags) will not be transferred to GA4. Since GA4 requires a new property, it will basically start from scratch.
- Your conversions: As your key metrics change, so will your conversions.
- Views: GA4 currently does not provide views that UA users can implement to configure tests or filter internal data traffic.
- Client Size Limits and Filters: IP address and hostname filtering is limited or deprecated, and user sizes are limited to 50.
- Third Party Integrations – Third party GA integrations for everything from your CRM to your eCommerce to a CMS built with UA Metrics will not work until you upgrade to GA4.
Download our complete guide for everything you need to know before switching to GA4, including what it means to measure your marketing and conversions, how to get started with GA4, and how to prepare your customers for the switch. Now.
Learn what CallRail call tracking can do to enrich your understanding of the customer journey when combined with your website visitor data in Google Analytics. Start with a free trial today.
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