Are you GA4 ready?

Posted In: Digital by Jenn Ferrier,
April 26, 2023

Are you ready for Google Analytics 4 (GA4?)

For over a decade, Google Universal Analytics has been at the heart of online business reporting, but with the launch of the new GA4 platform, Universal Analytics days are numbered.  As of July 1^st 2023, Universal Analytics will stop collecting data, so ensuring you have GA4 in place is at this point business critical.

Here’s our 5 step guide designed to help prepare you for a smooth platform transition to GA4.

1. Educate yourself: Start by understanding the new features and differences in GA4 from the previous version, Universal Analytics. This includes knowing the different reports, metrics, and dimensions available in GA4, and how they differ from Universal Analytics.
2. Analyse your current data: Before transitioning to GA4, it’s important to analyse your current analytics data in Universal Analytics. This will help you identify the strengths and weaknesses of your current strategy and provide insights on how to improve it with GA4.
3. Set up a new GA4 property: Once you’ve analysed your current data, you can set up a new GA4 property alongside your existing Universal Analytics property. This will allow you to track data in both versions and compare the results.
4. Set up tracking: Configure the tracking for your GA4 property to ensure you are collecting the data that is important to your business. This includes setting up events, conversions, and custom dimensions to track the metrics you care about.
5. Create a data migration plan: Plan how to migrate your historical data from Universal Analytics to GA4. This may involve exporting data and importing it into GA4 or using Google’s Data Import feature.

The move to GA4 certainly feels like a disruptive change, with many historic features and functions still be accessible but in unfamiliar locations and with ways Events and Conversions are attributed requiring, in some cases a different approach.

If you have questions around how you should enact GA4 or would like to explore how your GA4 application is collecting your website data then hit up our resident experts – digital@weareboutique.co.uk