GA4 is here, and here's what you need to know.

Question

What do you need to know to prepare to migrate to GA4? Google Analytics is a vital tool for building campaigns in today’s marketing landscape. But now it’s time to get ready for its successor – GA4.

Accepted Answer

When it comes to the most important metrics for marketers, few tools are more essential than Google Analytics (also known as Universal Analytics, or UA). Not having data to inform your decisions and build your strategy is not an option. But big changes are ahead for this powerful platform – and to continue to maximise its power to run the best campaigns possible, you need to be ready.

Read on to find out more about the transition from UA to GA4, what it means for you and what you need to think about to prepare for migration.

What is happening to Universal Analytics?

In March 2022, Google announced it will be sunsetting (more or less shutting down) its Universal Analytics platform on 1 July, 2023. Up until then, you’ll still be able to collect and use data via UA just as you do now. But come July, UA will stop accepting new hits to pages. You will still be able to access previously processed data though.

GA4 will replace UA. GA4 was widely released in October 2020, so many marketers are already using it. But Universal’s imminent sunsetting will force your hand to make the move if you haven’t already.

What are the big changes?

While there are several differences between GA4 and UA, the big one is that GA4 combines both web and app data under one property. The old platform kept the two channels separate. Jeremy Matchett, APAC Managing Director at digital growth agency Konversa and ADMA instructor, says bringing them together makes life a whole lot easier for marketing, providing you key metrics you need to run (and justify) effective campaigns.

“For example, if you’re an ecommerce business, it’s vital to know where your sales are coming from – the app or your site,” Jeremy explains. “GA4 makes it a lot easier to track across device, because it removes a lot of the manual admin you had to do with UA.”

Google collects a variety of information from app use, including but not limited to payment information, location and browsing history. Now you can better use that information to create an audience in the platform for your web presence.

“Now you can run a web campaign that’s built on remarketing to people who have downloaded your app and made it to the registration page but haven’t made a purchase yet,” Jeremy says.

Bottom line: GA4 tracks behaviour across devices and platforms to provide you a more holistic view of your customers’ behaviour.

Now is the best time to migrate to GA4

Just like moving house or packing for a trip, it’s smart to get going sooner rather than later when it comes to migrating to GA4. That’s because the sooner you do so, the smoother that transition will be.

With a deeper pool of data – and more history on your side – you’ll get a clearer picture of your campaigns. So the sooner you start measuring information with GA4, the better.

“It’s all about continuity,” Jeremy points out. “The more customer data you can measure in GA4, the better. For example, Google Ads uses conversion data from GA4. So by migrating your properties now, you’re giving Google Ads more to work with.”

Even if you don’t want to start using GA4’s event-based tracking yet, it’s a good idea to get data flowing into the new platform now to build that history to call upon for future campaigns.

What are the 3 key considerations for migrating for GA4?

Even if you’re not doing the technical step-by-step migration, there’s still plenty for you to consider as you get ready to move from UA to GA4. Here’s what a GA4 migration plan for marketers should include.

1. Find out what metrics really matter

Similar to UA, GA4 gives you the power to establish custom metrics and goals. To make sure your reporting doesn’t miss a beat, you’ll want to migrate these over to the new platform as well. However, now might be a good time to review your campaign objectives and make sure you have rock-solid strategies and goals in place – always a prerequisite for getting the most out of your tools and data.

2. Transfer your ecommerce activity to GA4 ASAP

While the sooner you can migrate to GA4 the better, you can’t simply flip a switch and look at one instead of the other (at least not right now). You can still run UA and GA4 at the same time for now, which can help make sure no precious data falls through the cracks.

That being said, if you’re in ecommerce, you should make it a priority to shift tracking to GA4 now. That’s because GA4 doesn’t track all ecommerce features from UA via Gtag.

3. Learn about attribution differences

Universal Analytics captured information as various hit types – such as page view, social interaction, app/screen view and transaction/ecommerce. That’s changing with GA4, which has different attributions for the various parts of the customer journey that are event-based instead of hit-based. This can offer richer insight into campaign effectiveness.

Just remember that this new attribution will also have an impact on how your reports look, and how you use data visualisation tools such as Data Studio and Big Query. That means you’ll have to think about how you reshape your goals to align with these new types of data. And how GA4 events can help you oversee and manage campaigns like UA hits did.

UA’s sunsetting will arrive before we know it. That means now is the time to make sure you and your team are prepared to shift over to GA4 without missing a beat.

Explore practical ways to use data to improve revenue, organisational efficiency and competitiveness through our Analytics Certificate.

Master the basics of analytical principles and understand the tools that will help you draw insights for your business in our Analytics Fundamentals course.

Learn about digital analytics for marketers with experienced digital marketing consultant Caroline McQueen.

Enrol today

Accepted Answer

In March 2022, Google announced it will be sunsetting (more or less shutting down) its Universal Analytics platform on 1 July, 2023. Up until then, you’ll still be able to collect and use data via UA just as you do now. But come July, UA will stop accepting new hits to pages. You will still be able to access previously processed data though.

GA4 will replace UA. GA4 was widely released in October 2020, so many marketers are already using it. But Universal’s imminent sunsetting will force your hand to make the move if you haven’t already.

What are the big changes?

While there are several differences between GA4 and UA, the big one is that GA4 combines both web and app data under one property. The old platform kept the two channels separate. Jeremy Matchett, APAC Managing Director at digital growth agency Konversa and ADMA instructor, says bringing them together makes life a whole lot easier for marketing, providing you key metrics you need to run (and justify) effective campaigns.

“For example, if you’re an ecommerce business, it’s vital to know where your sales are coming from – the app or your site,” Jeremy explains. “GA4 makes it a lot easier to track across device, because it removes a lot of the manual admin you had to do with UA.”

Google collects a variety of information from app use, including but not limited to payment information, location and browsing history. Now you can better use that information to create an audience in the platform for your web presence.

“Now you can run a web campaign that’s built on remarketing to people who have downloaded your app and made it to the registration page but haven’t made a purchase yet,” Jeremy says.

Bottom line: GA4 tracks behaviour across devices and platforms to provide you a more holistic view of your customers’ behaviour.

Now is the best time to migrate to GA4

Just like moving house or packing for a trip, it’s smart to get going sooner rather than later when it comes to migrating to GA4. That’s because the sooner you do so, the smoother that transition will be.

With a deeper pool of data – and more history on your side – you’ll get a clearer picture of your campaigns. So the sooner you start measuring information with GA4, the better.

“It’s all about continuity,” Jeremy points out. “The more customer data you can measure in GA4, the better. For example, Google Ads uses conversion data from GA4. So by migrating your properties now, you’re giving Google Ads more to work with.”

Even if you don’t want to start using GA4’s event-based tracking yet, it’s a good idea to get data flowing into the new platform now to build that history to call upon for future campaigns.

What are the 3 key considerations for migrating for GA4?

Even if you’re not doing the technical step-by-step migration, there’s still plenty for you to consider as you get ready to move from UA to GA4. Here’s what a GA4 migration plan for marketers should include.

1. Find out what metrics really matter

Similar to UA, GA4 gives you the power to establish custom metrics and goals. To make sure your reporting doesn’t miss a beat, you’ll want to migrate these over to the new platform as well. However, now might be a good time to review your campaign objectives and make sure you have rock-solid strategies and goals in place – always a prerequisite for getting the most out of your tools and data.

2. Transfer your ecommerce activity to GA4 ASAP

While the sooner you can migrate to GA4 the better, you can’t simply flip a switch and look at one instead of the other (at least not right now). You can still run UA and GA4 at the same time for now, which can help make sure no precious data falls through the cracks.

That being said, if you’re in ecommerce, you should make it a priority to shift tracking to GA4 now. That’s because GA4 doesn’t track all ecommerce features from UA via Gtag.

3. Learn about attribution differences

Universal Analytics captured information as various hit types – such as page view, social interaction, app/screen view and transaction/ecommerce. That’s changing with GA4, which has different attributions for the various parts of the customer journey that are event-based instead of hit-based. This can offer richer insight into campaign effectiveness.

Just remember that this new attribution will also have an impact on how your reports look, and how you use data visualisation tools such as Data Studio and Big Query. That means you’ll have to think about how you reshape your goals to align with these new types of data. And how GA4 events can help you oversee and manage campaigns like UA hits did.

UA’s sunsetting will arrive before we know it. That means now is the time to make sure you and your team are prepared to shift over to GA4 without missing a beat.

Explore practical ways to use data to improve revenue, organisational efficiency and competitiveness through our Analytics Certificate.

Master the basics of analytical principles and understand the tools that will help you draw insights for your business in our Analytics Fundamentals course.

Learn about digital analytics for marketers with experienced digital marketing consultant Caroline McQueen.

Enrol today

Accepted Answer

Even if you’re not doing the technical step-by-step migration, there’s still plenty for you to consider as you get ready to move from UA to GA4. Here’s what a GA4 migration plan for marketers should include.

1. Find out what metrics really matter

Similar to UA, GA4 gives you the power to establish custom metrics and goals. To make sure your reporting doesn’t miss a beat, you’ll want to migrate these over to the new platform as well. However, now might be a good time to review your campaign objectives and make sure you have rock-solid strategies and goals in place – always a prerequisite for getting the most out of your tools and data.

2. Transfer your ecommerce activity to GA4 ASAP

While the sooner you can migrate to GA4 the better, you can’t simply flip a switch and look at one instead of the other (at least not right now). You can still run UA and GA4 at the same time for now, which can help make sure no precious data falls through the cracks.

That being said, if you’re in ecommerce, you should make it a priority to shift tracking to GA4 now. That’s because GA4 doesn’t track all ecommerce features from UA via Gtag.

3. Learn about attribution differences

Universal Analytics captured information as various hit types – such as page view, social interaction, app/screen view and transaction/ecommerce. That’s changing with GA4, which has different attributions for the various parts of the customer journey that are event-based instead of hit-based. This can offer richer insight into campaign effectiveness.

Just remember that this new attribution will also have an impact on how your reports look, and how you use data visualisation tools such as Data Studio and Big Query. That means you’ll have to think about how you reshape your goals to align with these new types of data. And how GA4 events can help you oversee and manage campaigns like UA hits did.

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GA4 is here, and here's what you need to know.

What is happening to Universal Analytics?

What are the big changes?

Now is the best time to migrate to GA4

What are the 3 key considerations for migrating for GA4?

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GA4 is here, and here's what you need to know.

What is happening to Universal Analytics?

What are the big changes?

Now is the best time to migrate to GA4

What are the 3 key considerations for migrating for GA4?

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