Data is everywhere and knowing how to use it effectively is a talent on its own. With Google Analytics, we can access, analyse and find new ways to improve our content marketing, web UX, SEO and other marketing efforts.
By the 1st of July 2023, we’ll be waving goodbye to Universal Analytics (UA) and saying hello to GA4. The switchover is soon so getting prepared is essential if you want to continue tracking your web and app data.
Before we start, the switch to GA4 will not delete all your data when the clock hits 12. When July arrives, UA will no longer process your data, but you’ll still be able to see your UA reports for a few months after. But why wait till then to migrate to GA4? Let’s dive into how Trio Media can help you below.
What is GA4?
GA4, which is short for Google Analytics 4, is the fourth major release of Google Analytics (GA). Originally launched in 2020, GA4 will soon become Google’s default analytics platform from July 1st 2023.
By now, every business will have benefitted from Google Analytics’ free platform for tracking traffic and engagement across their websites. All of this data is currently available in Universal Analytics but will now need to be migrated to GA4 ahead of the switchover. GA4 will bring forward a stronger analytics experience that will help businesses scale and keep up with their changing industry. It’s an exciting time for marketers and data geeks!
Why is UA switching to GA4?
UA has been a trusted friend to marketers across the globe. However, it has many limitations and no longer keeps up with the demands of the digital age. UA relies heavily on web data, independent sessions and cookie data from Google, making its current measurement methodology outdated and ineffective.
GA4 now collects data from both websites and apps, no longer solely relies on cookies and uses an event-based data model to give a more user-centric measurement. Designed with a privacy-first approach, GA4 no longer stores IP addresses and has more comprehensive controls for data collection and usage. This new property meets the demands of consumer privacy protections and data control whilst still delivering insights into your web and app users.
How Trio can help you prepare for GA4
The fear of losing years of data from UA is a scary thought. And the effort of setting up GA4 is another thing marketing teams don’t want to face. Thankfully, we can help with this.
As an integrated marketing agency, we offer both new and existing clients a completely handled GA4 upgrade service. We will get your GA4 set up and running correctly so you don’t lose any data and can get back to using it for your digital marketing campaigns.
Here’s a rundown of what we offer in our GA4 switch service:
Set up GA4 property and data stream
We’ll set up a GA4 property alongside your Universal Analytics property and ensure it’s collecting data. We’ll find the best way to do this without too much disruption. If you have a Google tag already installed, we’ll make sure your new GA4 property uses this to collect data. If not, we’ll add the new code to your website.
Turn on Google signals
We’ll assess whether it’s necessary to turn on Google signals for your new GA4 account. Google signals is simply a collection of session data from your linked apps and/or websites for users who have a signed-in Google account and turned on Ads personalisation. By turning Google signals on, you’ll be able to collect this data from your users and use it for cross-device reporting, remarketing and conversion exporting to Google Ads.
Set up conversions
GA4 will copy over your current UA goals and change them into conversion events. You’ll now no longer have to set up goals based on a limited set of conversion criteria.
We’ll transfer over your current UA goals to GA4 conversions and ensure they’re tracking correctly for you. If you don’t have any goals/conversions set up, we can help with this. For e-commerce sites, we can set up ‘add to cart’ or ‘view check-out’ conversions. For B2B businesses, we’ll ensure you have a ‘thank you’ page set up on your contact form and we’ll track conversions this way.
How can GA4 benefit your business?
The newest release of GA is designed to help you achieve your key objectives for your organisation. Whether it’s driving app installs, generating sales leads or converting to sales, GA4 is now your best bet for growing your business.
Once set up, GA4 will help you:
- Collect data from both websites and apps in a single property. No longer rely on a siloed analytics platform that separates your web and app data.
- Get a clear picture of your customer purchase journey across your apps and websites. GA4 now lets you see how your web and app users move through the purchase funnel and helps you spot ways to reduce drop-off, boost click-throughs and understand the effectiveness of your paid ad campaigns.
- Access more insightful tracking. Using AI and machine learning, GA4 has a flexible measurement approach that uses modelling to fill in gaps where data may be incomplete due to declined cookie use. This removes our reliance on cookies and instead makes use of intelligent tracking measures.
- Integrate with other Google tools like BigQuery, Search Console and Google Ads helping to ensure that tracking from your marketing campaigns is implemented correctly and recording accurate data.
GA4 has plenty of benefits on offer which will ultimately improve your decision-making and help you achieve your marketing goals.
Contact Trio Media to upgrade your UA account to GA4
We’ve already migrated over 50 Google Analytics accounts to GA4. If you would like to make this change smooth and effortless, contact our team of GA experts who will be happy to get your GA4 account set up in no time. Don’t leave it too late – call 0113 733 2020 or message us today for a consultation!
