Prime 4 Issues to Know About GA4 — Whiteboard Friday

On this week’s Whiteboard Friday, Dana brings you some particulars on the thrilling new world of Google Analytics 4. Watch and discover ways to speak about it when purchasers and coworkers are intimidated by the transfer.

Click on on the whiteboard picture above to open a excessive decision model in a brand new tab!

Video Transcription

Hello, my title is Dana DiTomaso. I am President at Kick Level. And I’m right here immediately at MozCon 2022 to deliver you some particulars on the thrilling world of Google Analytics 4, which I do know all of you might be like, “Ugh, I do not need to find out about analytics,” which is completely truthful. I additionally didn’t need to find out about analytics.

After which I type of realized about it whether or not I favored it or not. And you must, too, sadly. 

So I feel the most important factor in regards to the transfer from Common Analytics to GA4 is that individuals are like they log in and the whole lot appears to be like totally different. “I do not prefer it.” After which they go away. And I agree the consumer interface in GA4 leaves quite a bit to be desired. I do not suppose there’s essentially been quite a lot of good training, particularly for these of us who aren’t analysts on a day-to-day foundation.

We’re not all knowledge scientists. I am not a knowledge scientist. I do advertising and marketing. So what I am hoping is I can inform you the issues you must learn about GA4 on only a primary type of degree, so that you’ve got a greater vocabulary to speak about it when individuals are horrified by the transfer to GA4, which is inevitable. It may occur. You have to get it in your website beginning mainly instantly, in case you do not have already got it. So I began out with three issues, after which I spotted there was a fourth factor. So that you get a bonus, thrilling bonus, however we’ll begin with the primary three issues. 

1. It is totally different

So the very first thing it is totally different, which I do know is clear. Sure, in fact, Dana it is totally different. But it surely’s totally different. Okay, so in Common Analytics, there have been several types of hits that would go into analytics, which is the place hits got here from initially as a metric that individuals talked about. So, for instance, in Common Analytics, you may have a pageview, or you may have a transaction, or you may have an occasion.

And people have been all several types of hits. In GA4, the whole lot is an occasion. There’s a pageview occasion. There’s a transaction occasion. There’s, effectively, an occasion occasion. I imply, you title the occasions no matter you need. And due to that, it is really quite a bit higher solution to report in your knowledge.

So, for instance, one of many issues that I do know individuals at all times wished to have the ability to report on in Common Analytics is what pages did individuals see and the way did that relate to conversion charge. And that was actually difficult as a result of a pageview was one thing that was on the hit scope degree, which suggests it was identical to the person factor that occurred, whereas conversion charge is a session scoped factor.

So that you could not mash collectively a success scope factor with pageview with conversion charge, which is session scoped. They simply did not mix collectively except you probably did some fancy mixing stuff in Knowledge Studio. And who’s received time for that? So now in GA4, as a result of the whole lot is an occasion, you’ve got much more freedom with how one can slice and cube and interpret your knowledge and work out what pages do individuals have interaction with earlier than they really transformed, or what was that path, not simply the touchdown web page, however your complete consumer journey on their path to conversion. In order that half is de facto thrilling. 

2. Engagement charge will not be reverse bounce charge

Second factor, engagement charge is a brand new metric in GA4. They do have bounce charge. They did not too long ago announce it. I am aggravated at it, so we will speak about this a little bit bit. Engagement charge will not be reverse bounce charge. However it’s in GA4.

So in Common Analytics, bounce charge was a metric that individuals reported on on a regular basis, though they should not have. I hate bounce charge a lot. Simply image like a dumpster hearth GIF proper now throughout your display screen. I hate bounce charge. And why I hate bounce charge is it is so simply faked. As an example, for instance, your boss says to you, “Hey, you understand what, the bounce charge on our website is just too excessive. Might you repair it?”

You are like, “Oh, yeah, boss. Completely.” After which what you do is at any time when any individual comes in your web site, you ship what’s referred to as an interactive occasion off to Google Analytics on the identical time. And now you’ve got a 0% bounce charge. Congratulations. You bought a elevate since you made it up. Bounce charge may completely be faked, no query. And so after we moved over to GA4, initially there was no bounce charge.

There was engagement charge. Engagement charge has its personal points, however it’s not measuring something just like what bounce charge was. Bounce charge in UA was an occasion did not occur. It did not matter in case you spent an hour and a half on the web page studying it intently. Should you did not have interaction in an occasion that was an interactive occasion, that meant that you just have been nonetheless counted as a bounce once you left that web page.

Whereas in GA4, an have interaction session is by default somebody spending 10 seconds with that tab, that web site open, so energetic of their browser, or they visited two pages, or they’d a conversion. Now this 10-second rule I feel is fairly quick. Ten seconds will not be essentially quite a lot of time for somebody to be engaged with the web site.

So that you may need to change that. It is underneath the tagging settings in your knowledge stream. So in case you go to Admin and then you definately click on in your knowledge stream and also you go to extra tagging settings and then you definately go to session timeouts, you may change it in there. And I might suggest taking part in round with that and seeing what feels proper to you. Now GA4 actually simply as I am filming this has introduced bounce charge, which really it’s reverse engagement charge. Please do not use it.

As an alternative, take into consideration engagement charge, which I feel is a way more usable metric than bounce charge was in UA. And I am type of excited that bounce charge in UA goes away as a result of it was [vocalization]. 

3. Your knowledge is not going to match

All proper. So subsequent factor, your knowledge will not be going to match. And that is aggravating since you’ve been reporting on UA knowledge for years, and now impulsively it isn’t going to match and other people will likely be like, “However you mentioned there have been 101 customers, and immediately you are saying there have been really 102. What’s the issue?”

So, I imply, in case you have that type of dialogue along with your management, you really want to have a dialog in regards to the thought of accuracy in analytics, as in it is not, and error and the whole lot else. However I imply, actually the information goes to be totally different, and generally it is quite a bit totally different. It is not just a bit bit totally different. And it is as a result of GA4 measures stuff otherwise than UA did. There’s a web page on Google Analytics Assist, which works into it in depth. However listed here are among the highlights that I feel you must actually know type of off the highest of your head once you’re speaking to individuals about this. 

Pageviews and distinctive pageviews

So very first thing, a pageview metric, which we’re all conversant in, in Common Analytics, this was all pageviews, together with repeats. In GA4, identical, pageview is pageview. Nice.

To this point so good. Then we had distinctive pageviews in Common Analytics, which was solely single views per session. So if I regarded on the homepage after which I went to a companies web page and I went again to the homepage, I might have two pageviews of the homepage for pageview. I might have one pageview of the homepage in distinctive pageviews. That metric doesn’t exist in GA4. So that’s one thing to essentially look ahead to is that in case you have been used to reporting on distinctive pageviews, that’s gone.

So I like to recommend now altering your experiences to type of like stroll individuals by way of this consolation degree of getting them used to the actual fact they are not going to get distinctive pageviews anymore. Or you may implement one thing that I speak about in one other certainly one of my Whiteboard Fridays about having the ability to measure the proportion of people who find themselves reloading tabs and tab hoarders. You could possibly work that into this a little bit bit.

Customers

Okay. Subsequent factor is customers. Customers is de facto I feel a troublesome subject for lots of people to get their heads round as a result of they suppose, oh, consumer, that signifies that if I am on my laptop computer after which I’m going to my cellular gadget, clearly I’m one consumer. You are often not, sadly. You do not essentially get related throughout a number of gadgets. Or in case you’re utilizing say a privacy- targeted browser, like Safari, it’s possible you’ll not even be related in the identical gadget, which type of sucks.

The true solely method you may really measure if somebody is a consumer throughout a number of classes is in case you have a login in your web site, which not all people does. Plenty of B2B websites do not have logins. Plenty of small enterprise websites do not have logins. So customers is already type of a sketchy metric. And so sadly it is one that individuals used to report on quite a bit in Common Analytics.

So in Common Analytics, customers was complete customers, new versus returning. In GA4, it is now energetic customers. What’s an energetic consumer? The documentation is a little bit unclear on how Google considers an energetic consumer. So I like to recommend studying that in depth. Simply know that that is going to be totally different. You by no means ought to have been reporting on new versus returning customers anyway, except you had a login in your website as a result of it was such a sketchy, dangerous metric, however I do not suppose lots of people knew how dangerous it was.

It is okay. Simply begin altering your experiences now in order that when it’s a must to begin utilizing GA4, on July 1, 2023, for actual UA is finished, then at the very least it isn’t a lot of a shock once you do make that transition. 

Periods

So one different factor to consider as effectively with the adjustments is classes. So in Common Analytics, a session was the energetic use of a website, so that you’re clicking on stuff.

It had a 30-minute timeout. And you might have heard by no means to make use of UTM tags on inside hyperlinks in your web site. And the explanation why is as a result of if somebody clicked on an inside hyperlink in your web site that had UTMs on it, your session would reset. And so you’d have what’s referred to as session breaking, the place impulsively you’d have a session that mainly began in the course of your web site with a brand-new marketing campaign and supply and medium and fully indifferent from the session that they simply had.

They might be a returning consumer although. That is nice. You should not have been reporting that anyway. Whereas in GA4 as an alternative, now there’s an occasion as a result of, keep in mind, the whole lot is an occasion now. There’s an occasion that is known as session begin. And in order that information when, effectively, the session begins. After which there’s additionally a 30-minute timeout, however there isn’t any UTM reset.

Now that does not imply that you must go on the market and begin utilizing UTMs on inside hyperlinks. I nonetheless do not suppose it is a terrific thought, however it’s not essentially going to interrupt issues the way in which that it used to. So now you can see the place did somebody begin on my website by trying on the session begin occasion. I do not know if it is essentially 100% dependable. We have seen conditions the place in case you’re utilizing consent administration instruments, for instance, like a cookie compliance software, you may have points with classes beginning and whatnot.

So simply maintain that in thoughts is that it isn’t essentially completely foolproof, however it’s a actually fascinating solution to see the place individuals began on the positioning in a method that you may not do that earlier than. 

4. Use BigQuery

So bonus, bonus earlier than we go. All proper, the fourth factor that I feel you must learn about GA4, use BigQuery. There is a built-in BigQuery export underneath the settings for GA4. Use it.

The explanation why you must use it’s: (a) the experiences in GA4 will not be nice, the default experiences, they type of suck; (b) even the explorations are a bit questionable, like you may’t actually format them to look good in any respect. So what I am saying to individuals is do not actually use the experiences inside GA4 for any type of helpful reporting functions. It is extra like an advert hoc reporting. However even then, I might nonetheless flip to BigQuery for many of my reporting wants.

And the explanation why is as a result of GA4 has some thresholding utilized. So you do not essentially get all the information out of GA4 once you’re really experiences in it. And this occurred to me really simply this morning earlier than I recorded this Whiteboard Friday. I used to be seeking to see how many individuals engaged with the shape on our web site, and since it was a comparatively low quantity, it mentioned zero.

After which I regarded on the knowledge in BigQuery and it mentioned 12. That quantity could possibly be lacking from the experiences in GA4, however you may see it in BigQuery, and that is due to the thresholding that is utilized. So I at all times suggest utilizing the BigQuery knowledge as an alternative of the GA4 knowledge. And in Google Knowledge Studio, if that is what you employ in your reporting software, the identical problem applies once you use GA4 as a knowledge supply.

You could have the identical thresholding issues. So actually simply use BigQuery. And also you needn’t know BigQuery. All you could do is get the information going into BigQuery after which open up Google Knowledge Studio and use that BigQuery desk as your knowledge supply. That is actually all you could know. No SQL required. If you wish to be taught it, that is neat.

I do not even realize it that effectively but. However it isn’t one thing it’s a must to know to be able to report effectively on GA4. So I hope that you just discovered this useful and you’ll have a little bit bit extra of a greater dialogue along with your crew and your management about GA4. I do know it appears rushed. It is rushed. Let’s all admit it is rushed, however I feel it will be a very good transfer. I am actually excited in regards to the new varieties of knowledge and the quantities of knowledge that we will seize now in GA4.

It actually frees us from just like the class motion label stuff that we have been tremendous tied to in Common Analytics. We will document a lot extra fascinating knowledge now on each occasion. So I am enthusiastic about that. The precise transition itself may be type of painful, however then a yr from now, we’ll all look again and giggle, proper? Thanks very a lot.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com