Mastering GA4: How to Maximize Your Analytics Potential

Strategies for navigating events, enhancing security and leveraging new features

It’s official: Universal Analytics (UA) is a thing of the past. Google pulled the UA plug on July 1, 2024, forcing marketers to adopt Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Those who adopted early report a steep learning curve because of the differences between Universal Analytics and GA4. If you’re still learning the ins and outs of GA4 we have beneficial information and tips to help you maximize its potential. 

Events drive information
The primary difference between UA and GA4 is that GA4 utilizes events to track user actions, such as button clicks, video views and form submissions, rather than grouping them into sessions. For more specific user interactions, you can create and implement custom events tailored to your business needs. These custom events allow a more detailed understanding of user behavior and engagement on your website or app.

This high level of customization provides more granular level data. But that can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, tracking everything as an event gives you more information and the potential to build retargeting pools for specific audiences. On the other hand, it can be overwhelming to wade through the amount of information served up by GA4.

To manage the information overload,  first determine the most important questions GA4 can answer for you. The questions you have will depend on your goals They may include:

• Which pages are getting the most traffic?
• Where are conversions happening?
• How many leads were submitted on a page?
• What pages have high bounce and exit rates? 

Once you find the answers to the basic questions, you can drill down to more specifics within those questions. 

Identify the crucial insights needed to develop a cohesive marketing strategy. Download Discovery Map. 

Higher security standards
From a security perspective, GA4’s standards are higher than UA. GA4 does not log or store IP addresses. That means marketers know less about website visitors. Without the ability to track behavior on an individual level, retargeting is more difficult. 

While the higher security standards with GA4 make retargeting more challenging, you have other options available. 

• Utilize first-party data: Leverage first-party data you have collected from user interactions on your website or app. By creating detailed user profiles based on this data, you can target consumers more accurately without relying on IP addresses.
• Create enhanced custom audiences: Use GA4's enhanced audience-building capabilities to create custom audiences based on user behavior and interactions. By setting up specific events and conditions, you can refine your retargeting strategies to reach users who have shown interest in your products or services.
• Implement server-side tagging: Transition to server-side tagging to gain more control over data collection and processing. This approach can help ensure data privacy while still allowing you to gather valuable user insights for retargeting purposes.
• Leverage Google Signals: Enable Google Signals in your GA4 property to take advantage of cross-device tracking and audience insights provided by Google. This feature helps you understand user behavior across multiple devices, enhancing your ability to retarget consumers effectively.
• Utilize machine learning: Take advantage of GA4's machine learning capabilities to identify patterns and predict user behavior. Use these insights to create predictive audiences and targeted campaigns that anticipate user needs and preferences, improving your retargeting efforts.

New features
Google positioned GA4 as a platform designed to help businesses make better use of data. Ongoing announcements of new features and improvements for GA4 add credibility to its position. Designed to provide deeper insights and tools for cross-channel measurement and budget optimization, the updates include:

• Expanded cross-channel reporting: To give you a more complete view of campaign performance across platforms, the new feature will allow you to integrate data from third-party advertising partners directly into GA4 properties.
• AI-powered insights: Leveraging Google’s AI capabilities, GA4 will provide AI-driven insights to explain data trends and fluctuations. The new feature will allow businesses to use analytics data to make more informed decisions more quickly.
• Advanced planning and budgeting tools: Expected to come later this year, advanced budgeting and planning tools will help advertisers track media pacing and projected performance against target objectives across multiple channels. 

Moving forward
While GA4 will ultimately deliver more information about user behavior, it presents data differently. We understand that it can be a frustrating process to figure out how to work within the new platform, especially as new features and updates keep coming. Our experts are well-versed in GA4 and have seen how embracing its full potential can transform your marketing. We can help you optimize your operations with GA4 to make the best decisions, driven by data. Drop us a note to get the conversation started.