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Back in 2020, Google Analytics 4 was launched. Not everyone may associate it with its current name, as it was originally called "APP+Web." Today, however, the most common nomenclature is GA4. Its main goal, and thus the difference between the previous version, was to achieve the same data structure for both mobile apps and websites. Today, this is extremely important, among other things, because the two functionalities are becoming increasingly dependent on each other, and it is more convenient for customers to use them in parallel. On the other hand, it is also GA's response to the ever-increasing interest of businesses in mobile applications, and the resulting user loyalty.
As a Google Analytics Universal user, you are used to parameters such as transaction, page view, session or unique user. Such nomenclature was associated with traffic collected strictly from websites.
In GA4, on the other hand, all of the above will be recorded as events, which are something different than in the previous version of GA. In Universal they had 3 parameters - Label, Category and Action. In the new version, on the other hand, you have to take into account the fact that each action is a separate event. Another difference is the display of the page. In GA Universal it was labeled as Page View, while in GA4 it is called page_view.
Previously, a single session contained multiple events, views or transactions. In the new version, however, the start of a session is the sessions_start event, and its time is determined by the first and last events. In GA4, you also have to prepare for fewer sessions associated with a new campaign source (e.g., via a new utm), which will not trigger the need to open a new session.
This feature remains unchanged from the GA Universal version. Its purpose is to identify the user completely anonymously, regardless of what browser or device he or she is using (this is done, for example, based on his or her login to a particular site). In the case of the new version of GA, an additional benefit will be the ability to analyze the customer's path on the WWW (from both desktop and mobile views) and his behavior in the application. This collection of data from various sources and subsequent implementation of User ID will allow us to understand user behavior regardless of the source of their traffic. To implement this feature, it will be necessary to send the same ID in the application and on the website.
If the bounce rate parameter is important to you, you will need to find another way to calculate it. In the new version of Google Analytics you will no longer find bounce rate. However, such a parameter as engagement rate will be available instead. This will allow you to avoid answering "it depends" when asked what level of bounce rate is good.
An unquestionable advantage of the new version of GA is the fact that from now on you have the possibility to combine data, coming from websites and mobile applications. This is particularly valuable for those companies that do business in both of these areas. Although analyzing data coming from these two different sources is difficult due to their structure, Google Analytics 4 gives you the possibility to receive data based on events, a solution used in Firebase. Consequently, collecting data through events will allow you to combine 3 separate worlds: Android, iOS and websites.
In the new version of GA4, all users have free access to the BigQuery service. Where in GA Universal such an opportunity was only available to owners of the premium version. As a result, there is more freedom to receive raw data directly using available connectors in tools such as DataStudio or PowerBI.
Many times it happened to you that a user added your product to the shopping cart in the mobile app, but the purchase was not finalized? Now, thanks to GA4, you have the possibility to postpone such an event in the service by combining data from the web and APP. This means that a remarketing list will be created that combines user purchase paths from different sources. As a result, a customer who has completed certain steps in the app will be able to have remarketing campaigns displayed on the desktop as well.
In Google Analytics 4, you can analyze all created reports with different attribution models. In the previous version, one main - last-click type - was possible, while the models themselves were difficult to overlay on the resulting reports. In GA4 there is a change, and the attribution model is possible to choose already at the level of creating different types of reports. This is a definite advantage when analyzing the sources of purchases. At this point, it is worth noting how important the combination of WWW and APP is in GA4. This is also extremely important from the perspective of creating promotional campaigns for apps on the WWW. Let's use a post on LinkedIn as an example. It included a link to a website where a customer can make a purchase or install an app, and then it is there that they complete their purchase path. In such a situation, attributing a viable traffic source is quite a difficult task. Even Firebase itself is not an accurate enough tool to pinpoint them flawlessly. Therefore, the ability to combine data in GA4 and adjust the attribution model is important from the perspective of analyzing the actual source of making a purchase.
Most people using GA are probably very familiar with Firebase. The new version of Google Analytics 4 most closely resembles this very tool. For those users who know it well, this will be an added advantage, among other things, because of the familiarity with the data structure and how it can be analyzed. However, for those who have only used GA Universal and desktop traffic analysis on a daily basis, switching to the new version of Analytics will be such a process as getting familiar with a completely new analytics tool.
What may surprise those using GA4 is not only the structure of the data, which in the current version is based on events, but also the interface itself and the information it contains. In groups of users of the tool, there are often opinions that they are dealing with a completely new product. While, for those trying to combine data from the app and the Web this will be a good move, for users who need to analyze the most important data from their site once in a while, navigating GA4 will not initially be as easy as before.
Comparing GA4 and Universal, it's fair to say that the previous version was much simpler. Both in terms of analyzing traffic and its sources or conversions. Google Analytics 4 is a more difficult tool to read. People who use analytics occasionally will have the greatest difficulty in reading the necessary data. In this respect, the transition to the new version of the tool will be a difficult task.
At Universal, all you had to do was to implement a simple GA script on the site, so it was easy to get a large number of ready-made reports. In addition, you could read a lot of additional information, such as cookies, traffic sources or device type. The situation is different in the refreshed version of Analytics. Here, without clickable and properly prepared reports, using the tool is much more difficult. However, we may encounter the opinion that it was the Universal interface that was too complicated, e.g. due to the accumulation of unnecessary information available in the panel. However, when it comes to the access to the reports themselves and the appearance of the tool, everyone must answer for themselves which version is more user-friendly for them. It is very likely that after further updates, preparing reports in GA4 will be much simpler, but there is no need to look too far into the future.
If you care about continuous access to historical data, it is worth implementing the new version of GA4 right away, as it will not be possible to migrate the data collected so far. The information in the new version of Google Analytics relative to Universal will differ in terms of volumes. For example: the value of the number of sessions will be smaller. Why? The reason is a completely different model for counting them.
It will not be an easy migration for those who obtain data only from websites. For them, such a change will involve familiarization with a completely different interface and functionalities. However, it is worth implementing an up-to-date version of GA to be prepared for the possible withdrawal of Universal, while still having access to historical data.
In the administration tab, you will find the service button. In it, click on Google Analytics service configuration assistant 4.
Then, in the box I want to create a new Google Analytics 4 service, click the blue button start and accept its creation. In the next step, your account will display a new service ID number, which will already be available in your existing account. Thus, this is not a migration to a new tool, but the creation of an additional service. After implementation, you will have the ability to collect data in two products - Google Analytics Universal and on the new data streaming that is available in GA4.
Now click the Go to GA4 service button and you will be transferred to the new GA version.
Once GA4 is properly configured, it will be necessary to implement the new Measurement ID on the website. You will find it in the Data Streams tab, located in the panel on the left. This is where your account details will appear, along with the Measurement ID number, which you will need to copy.
After copying the measurement ID number, open in your current Google Tag Manager account and add a new tag (for this purpose, it is a good idea to create a completely new folder intended only for tags from the GA4 tool).
Now create a master tag for collecting traffic to your site. As its type, choose Google Analytics: GA4 configuration. In the place where the measurement ID should appear, paste the number you copied earlier. The last step is to add the all pages condition, which will allow the tag to run on every page.
At this point, save your settings and publish them, and don't forget to test that GA4 correctly receives real-time events.
If you've been using Enhanced Ecommerce in the Universal version so far, use the Data Layer you've already implemented and take care of its migration to Google Analytics 4. However, you have to reckon with the fact that the data structure in the new version of the tool is different. You can find the exact specification here.
Also check out our post -.
Instructions for implementing tags for Enhanced Ecommerce in Google Analytics 4
In case you have Data Layer as shown in this link, you can already implement the purchase tag in the new version of GA4.
Then, in Google Tag Manager, create a tag named Google Analytics: GA4 event. In the Tag Configuration window, you can also use the tag you created earlier to collect traffic. Select it, and rename it to purchase (according to Google's guidelines, which you can find at this link.
There is a different logic for creating tags between Universal and GA4. In the previous version, it was necessary to check an option in order for a tag to use the Data Layer. In the new version of GA, you have to get to the event parameters first, and then indicate what you want the system to pass in purchase.
E.g. You declare that when a purchase event occurs, you want to pass information such as currency or products that were purchased. You write the rest of the parameters that you also want to include in the next steps. Then you write as a parameter name: currency and items. For the currency parameter, you set the currency, e.g. PLN, or in the case of payments in different currencies, you get this value from Data Layer. Then it shows you the currency selected by the user. In the items parameter, you also take its value from the current Data Layer. The purchased products will be marked as ecommerce.purchase.products. In case no such variable exists in your Google Tag Manager, you should create one. How to do it? Just click on the "+" icon next to the empty value window, and you will be given options to select the variable that suits you.
If you want to add another variable, again just press "+" and create a data layer variable, where you declare that you want to retrieve data from the created ecommerce.purchase.products.
By saving the above data, the variable in the value field should already be automatically plugged in.
The next step is to add a rule. If you've been using Enhanced Ecommerce in GA Universal so far, select the one that already exists for the purchase moment on your site. In most cases, this event will be named purchase.
Now that the tag is ready, all you need to do is save it. If you want to test it, do it in debugging mode. In case everything works correctly, you can check that in GA4 the tag also works correctly and that the values about the products are similar to those you noted in the Universal version.
Two tags are sent during the purchase event. One to Google Analytics Universal, the other to GA4. Enter the tag with which the data was sent to Google Analytics 4, and you will get details of exactly what information was sent. If you set items and currency parameters as a variable, they were pulled according to the guidelines created in Google Tag Manager.
If you want to check what data Google Tag Manager is transferring, you will see it entering in values. However, you must keep in mind that not all the information that was displayed in Data Layer will be available in GA4. The same is true in comparison with GA Universal, from where some of the non-standard parameters will not be taken into account for passing (a parameter such as stockLevel, among others, will not be taken into account, as it is not GA4 compliant). Therefore, it is a good idea to use data analysis in the debugger, which is available in GA4.
In the GA4 tool you will find DebugView mode. This will allow you to control in Google Analytics 4 all the events that you debug in GTM. This allows you to conveniently supervise what parameters have been passed and what events are collected.
When you select a specific event, you are able to check both the items sent and the parameters used. What you should find interesting is that Google Analytics 4 automatically performs Data Layer transformations, passing parameters recognized with the Enhanced Ecommerce standard.
The above sections outlined how to pass parameters such as items and currency. At this point, it is worth noting that the parameters collected so far in GA Universal should also be added to GA4. Similar to the transfer of the items attribute will be the implementation of such attributes as transaction_id, value or shipping. You can include them by adding more event parameters.
The value you pass is pulled from a variable that is present in your current Data Layer. When you update the tag, you will already automatically get new parameters such as value, transaction_id and shipping completed with such values as are present in the Data Layer when customers make transactions.
Also check out our proposal for integrating Marketing Automation 2.0 with Google Analytics 4 - https://www.persooa.com/growth-hub/integracja-ma-2-0-ga4/.