4 Reasons You Should Be Moving To GA4 Now
Google released their latest version of Google Analytics in October 2020 and called it GA4. None of us took much notice - we don't have time for change and trusty old Universal Analytics was working just fine.
Well, I'm here to tell you that if you have an eCommerce store, it's time to get cracking on GA4 and here's why:
1. Google is shutting down UA - and deleting your data
I know - brutal. In March this year, Google announced that by 1 July 2023, UA will cease to process data. When that date hits, you'll still be able to access your old data for "at least six months", but sometime after that it will be removed entirely.
This means we need to get transitioning quickly to get well ahead of this major change. The date could well be pushed, but if you're running an eCommerce business that heavily relies on data, you shouldn't be taking that risk. You should start transitioning as soon as possible.
2. GA4 is like setting up a brand new account
Unfortunately you'll be setting up an account from scratch. There's no way to import your old GA data from UA into GA4, which means your account will only start collecting data from the date you set it up.
Historical data is really important for growth-focussed stores. Key metrics like sessions, conversion rate, average order value and other behavioural metrics mean absolutely nothing in the absence of context. We have to compare them to the previous period or the previous year to understand if we're seeing growth or decline.
If you get setup on GA4 now, you'll still be able to compare your year-on-year metrics in UA. Once UA ceases, you'll only spend a few months manually comparing metrics. Once you have year's data under your belt, you'll be able to perform year on year comparisons more easily in GA4.
3. eCommerce integration for GA4 is not so straightforward
So you may have already clicked that little announcement in your UA account to create a GA4 account. You might even have copy/pasted the code snippets from Google into your store code.
Unfortunately that's not the whole story. GA4 is entirely structured around events and its power lies in a full eCommerce integration of key events including view item, add to cart, remove from cart and all the event parameters that can be attached such as product names, cart totals and discounts.
Currently, these all need to be integrated via Google Tag Manager. Shopify and most other popular eCommerce platforms have yet to release an integration that's as easy as what we use for Universal Analytics, and we're not sure when this will be released. eCommerce setup requires using Google Tag Manager to setup 60+ tags or engaging a third party integrator to handle it for you. So you can’t necessarily do this overnight.
4. GA4 is quite different from UA and you'll need to learn it
The good news (I promise there's good news!) is that GA4 is an evolved product and it will give you better, more accurate insights to grow your store.
Some of my favourite new features include:
Improved User ID tracking so you can trace users between devices and sessions
Tracking customer lifetime value (CLV) to analyse growth over time
Ability to trace the source/medium which first brought a user to the site
Automated insights and predictive audiences
Free BigQuery integration to backup your data
Unsure where to start? I can help.
You're not alone if GA4 seems like pandora's box right now.
I'm an eCommerce Growth marketer and data nerd and I've spent the last 6 months deep diving into the platform and creating an online course specifically for eCommerce owners and marketers to transition to and master GA4. You'll learn how to:
Integrate GA4 for with your eCommerce store with a full eCommerce integration
Setup GA4 accurately from the beginning
Analyse your data using GA4’s new Exploration reports
Reconcile your GA4 data with Universal Analytics’ historical data for ongoing comparisons
Backup your UA data before Universal Analytics is deleted