GA4 metrics to track for a winning digital strategy
GA4 is ushering in a new era of data analytics. Unlike its predecessor, it focuses on events rather than just page views, offering a deeper understanding of user interactions. With GA4, you can gain insights into the user journey like never before, allowing you to make informed decisions to enhance your website or app.
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With GA4 officially phasing out UA (universal analytics) in July of this year, it has opened a world of possibilities when it comes to analysing your customers data – including new engagement metrics which helps understand your customers and the actions that they take on your website.
While GA4 may seem daunting for some, we have broken down some of GA4’s best dimensions and metrics that will help you analyse your website behaviour like never before. By deciphering these metrics, you’ll harness the power to make informed decisions, optimise strategies, and unlock the full potential of your online presence So, let’s delve right in!
What is GA4 Google Analytics?
Google Analytics 4 is an analytics service that enables you to measure traffic and engagement across your websites and apps. If you have previously used Google Analytics, you may be familiar with the previous property, UA (Universal Analytics). However, increased data measures meant that Google Analytics were forced to phase out UA into what we now know as GA4.
GA4 Differences
The main difference between GA4 and UA is that they are essentially two different data sets. While UA was based on sessions and page views, GA4 is based on events and parameters. This may also mean that you will see some discrepancies between the reports in UA vs the new GA4.
GA4 Metrics Definition
To understand GA4 metrics more, we need to look at how these metrics are defined. According to Google, in Universal Analytics, there are two User metrics: Total Users, and New Users. In Google Analytics 4, there are three User metrics: Total Users, Active Users, and New Users. A full breakdown of each definition is below including GA4 metrics vs UA.
Total Users
UA: Primary user metric in UA: Total number of users
GA4: Total number of unique users who logged an event
New users
UA: Number of users who interacted with your site for the first time
GA4: Number of users who interacted with your site or launched your app for the first time
The metric is measured by the number of new unique user IDs that logged the first_open or first_visit event.
Active Users
UA: N/A
Primary user metric in GA4: Number of distinct users who visited your website or application. An active user is any user who has an engaged session or when Analytics collects:
- the first_visit event or engagement_time_msec parameter from a website
- the first_open event or engagement_time_msec parameter from an Android app
- the first_open or user_engagement event from an iOS app
Pageview
UA: Total number of pages viewed. Repeated views of a single page are counted.
GA4: Total number of pages viewed but duplicates are not counted
unique pageview
UA: Total number of pages viewed but duplicates are not counted
GA4: n/a
Purchases
UA:
purchaseevents are fired within the Enhanced Ecommerce model- Data is pulled from a
productsarray via Google Analytics-provided JavaScript and collected in apurchaseevent when you choose to send that event
GA4:
purchaseevents are recommended and collect data in a similar fashion to UA, but there are differences- Does not provide additional JavaScript for array collection and expects you to provide the
itemsarray when collecting apurchaseevent on your own (though the same advice is given with regard to populating a data layer object)
Session
UA:
- Period of time a user is actively engaged with your website or app
- Has defined parameters for what may cause it to end e.g. a session will end when there has been more than a 30-minute period of inactivity (depending on the session timeout settings), the timestamp has been cut off at midnight (according to the timezone the view is set up in), or new campaign parameters are encountered.
- If a user comes back after a session timeout, it will start a new session
- If the user is on the website when midnight arrives, a new session will be started
- If a user picks up new campaign parameters while on the website, a new session will be started
GA4: aka Session Start
- To determine the session that each event comes from, the
session_startevent generates a session ID and Analytics associates the session ID with each subsequent event in the session - A session will end when there has been more than a 30-minute period of inactivity (depending on the session timeout settings)
- Sessions are not restarted at midnight or when new campaign parameters are encountered
- If a user comes back after a session timeout, it will start a new session
Bounce Rate
UA: Bounce Rate
GA4: Engaged Sessions
GA4 Metrics to Track for Success
Now that we know how GA4 dimensions and metrics are defined, it allows us to understand how we track these metrics better.
1. Engaged Sessions
GA4 introducing engaged sessions allows us to analyse to what extent both customers, and prospect customers, use the site. Engaged users are tracked when the user; has two or more page views/ screen views, has an average session duration of 10 seconds or longer or had a conversion event, like filling up a lead conversion form.
Engaged sessions are essentially UA’s ‘bounce rate’ in reverse. So, if your page had a bounce rate in UA of 70%, your engaged sessions rate in GA4 should be 30%. Google defines it as, “The engagement rate is the percentage of engaged sessions on your website or mobile app. The bounce rate is the opposite of the engagement rate. The bounce rate is the percentage of sessions that were not engaged.” It is worth noting that you can still use bounce rate as a custom metric. Here’s how.
But how can engaged sessions be used? Let’s say your website had a poor level of engaged sessions and therefore, a low engagement rate. If this is affecting the overall site, you may have a site-wide issue that could be driven by usability. This could be having an effect on potential leads coming through your website, and help make a decision based on improving the website.
On the flip side, you may also analyse pages where you may have a particularly low level of engaged sessions. By doing this, you can highlight pages that may need UX / customer experience recommendations. This is where our UX (user experience) service comes in.
2. Event Count
Sometimes there are metrics that you want to track that may not necessarily be a ‘hard’ conversion. Examples include; individual brochure downloads, landing pages, how many times a CTA was clicked, scrolling behaviour or site search.
GA4 includes ‘events’ which can be used to do just that. Having a low event count for a certain event may mean that you need to fix issues in how customers are acquired, or how customers use the site. Overall, this leads to greater reporting and understand of your customers.
3. Conversions
Also known in UA as ‘goals’, GA4 conversions allow you to track the ‘harder’ goals on your website. Examples include; form fills, clicks to call & email as well as overall PDF downloads. This can help to understand how many leads are coming directly through your website, and can measure effectiveness of your lead-generation campaigns from various channels.
In Conclusion
The transition from Universal Analytics (UA) to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has marked a significant shift in the way we analyse and understand user behaviour on websites and apps.
Navigating the landscape of GA4 might seem complex initially, but our comprehensive breakdown of its dimensions and metrics equips you with the tools to unveil invaluable insights. By mastering these metrics, you gain the ability to make well-informed decisions, refine strategies, and unleash the full potential of your online presence.
The addition of metrics such as Engaged Sessions, Event Count, and Conversions empowers you to dissect user engagement, track specific actions, and assess conversion effectiveness. Embracing GA4 means embracing a new era of data-driven decision-making, where unlocking the true potential of your website’s performance is just a few metrics away.
