The transition deadline is less than a year away, so you’re likely in the process of undertaking GA4 migration and replacing your Universal Analytics accounts with the updated Google Analytics 4 properties. If you’ve already completed the process, bonus points!
As you evaluate your data, things may not match up. You might be seeing fewer sessions and users in your GA4 reports or missing revenue on one platform or another.
Why is this happening? Google’s updated analytics platform is screwing you over, isn’t it?
Even though GA4 is still a work in progress, your data inconsistencies may not be the result of a flaw in the system. It’s part of the design. We’ll explain what we mean today.
We’ll compare GA4 and UA based on our experience tracking client data over the last few months. As we move forward, we’ll also discuss how their data models compare to your eCommerce platform and how to develop a nuanced understanding of your reporting.
A Google Partner may even have access to more Google offerings before their launch if your google analytics agency dubai is a Google Partner. If your agency can acquire betas for your account, you can gain an edge over the competition. It’s important for any agency, regardless of whether it’s a Google Partner, to constantly test new ways to market your business.
Now let’s get started.
UNIVERSAL ANALYTICS VS GA4
It’s worth repeating: the biggest difference between Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4 is the latter’s improved tracking of data.
Website events (such as sessions, users, etc.) were tracked as different types of “hits” in session-based Universal Analytics. In GA4, Google overhauled that process, instead tracking every hit type as a separate event.
Event-based data tracking looks and feels completely different from Universal Analytics, forcing digital marketers worldwide to completely rethink their data collection methods.
When comparing Google Analytics 4 vs. Universal Analytics, how do those changes in tracking and functionality affect your reports?
Here are some of the most common metrics we discuss with eCommerce clients regarding reporting inconsistencies. Further reading is available in Google’s comprehensive guide, which compares each of its two analytics platforms’ key metrics.
An analysis of Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4. Universal Analytics: Measurement uses session-based data models. Sessions: End after 30 minutes of inactivity, midnight, or change campaign source. Traffic sources: Channel groupings and definitions can be customized. Reporting: Limited cross-device and cross-platform reporting. Automation: Limited automation. Filtering capabilities: Subsets of traffic, unwanted data, and other pieces of information. Session: Ends after 30 minutes of inactivity or timeout. Does not create a new session if the campaign source changes mid-session. Google Analytics 4: Measurement: Flexible event-based data model. Traffic sources: Default channel groups and definitions are available, but cannot be modified. No views are available. Filtering capabilities: IP filters only. Reporting: Full cross-device and cross-platform reporting. Automation: Advanced machine learning to improve and simplify insight discovery. The logo stands for Inflow. Attract. Convert. Grow.
1. Bounce rate
The most recent metric in Google Analytics 4 is the bounce rate. We anticipated the bounce rate would be added to GA4 later, and we were right: The bounce rate was added in early July when we first transitioned our clients’ accounts.
As opposed to the percentage of single-page sessions with no page interaction, the GA4 bounce rate represents the percentage of sessions that were not engaged (i.e. lasted at least 10 seconds or longer, had a conversion event, or had two screen or page views). Your page engagement rate is the opposite of this.
As an example, if a user visits your site, reads for a few minutes without engaging in anything else, and then leaves, it is no longer considered a bounce. When compared to UA, even a full blog read could be counted as a bounce if no links were clicked or no other events were triggered by the user.
2. Sessions
GA4 tracks sessions differently than Universal Analytics due to its switch in data tracking approach.
It must be met by visitors to count as a “session.” Furthermore, engagement sessions are not restarted at midnight or when a new campaign source is encountered (both of which would qualify for a fresh session in Universal Analytics). Additionally, the duration of engagement sessions is determined by different parameters than in Universal Analytics – such as the duration of a session not relaunching at midnight or the beginning of a new campaign.
Because of this, GA4 properties may report fewer sessions than UA properties, although they will likely be comparable in general.
3. Users
You will usually see fewer users reported in Google Analytics 4 tracking, similar to sessions. This is due to the platform’s arguably biggest improvement: it is able to track users across devices as one, rather than creating new users as they switch devices (as Universal Analytics did).
Don’t worry about the discrepancy in users between GA4 and UA. Instead, celebrate it as a more efficient, accurate way to track users across multiple devices.
GA4 tracks three different “categories” of users, but GA4’s primary metric is “Active Users,” as opposed to UA’s “Total Users.” Although most metrics are similar, GA4’s primary metric is “Active Users.”
Be sure to update your reporting accordingly.
Table. Metric: Total Users. UA: Primary user metric in UA: Total number of users. GA 4: Total number of users. Metric: Addition of users. New users. U A: Number of users who accessed your site for the first time. A 4: Active Users with no previous sessions. U A: Not applicable. G A 4: Primary user metric in G A 4: Number of distinct users who visited your website or application. Active users are defined as users participating in a session.
4. Purchases
ECommerce transactions are another metric that should be compared closely between Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4 – since both platforms track “events” almost identically.
It is likely that you will see small differences because of changes in your timezone settings or filters on your UA profile, and they will be less noticeable when viewing longer time frames (like months instead of days).
5. Goals/Conversions
Last but not least, let’s look at one of Google Analytics’ more “customizable” metrics: conversions.
Website managers must specify conversion events in GA4 that were previously tracked as “goals” in Universal Analytics, such as “Form Submit,” “Email Submit,” “Save for Later,” etc.
For example, if a user submitted several contact forms in one session in Universal Analytics, that goal would fire once. The platform will track multiple conversions from different submissions in GA4, a feature that has caused our eCommerce clients headaches in recent months.