For 16 years Google Analytics has been a trusted source of web analytics. The session-based tracking solution was designed so businesses could better understand how customers interact with their websites. Two years ago, Google advised their key Google Partners that they were introducing GA4 – their new event-based tracking tool to be rolled out in 2023. As Google Marketing Partner we had an early look under the hood of what they were building - a sophisticated product combining both web and app analytics tracking.
This change has been years in the making, users have been interacting with websites and apps in complex ways for years now, and this tool now allows businesses to track all that usage data in one place. This behaviour change also aligns with rising security concerns that have pushed Google to want to become a market leader in driving the cookie-less world. As such, Google looked to build a future proof analytics tool that takes us into a new generation of data tracking.
GA4 allows brands to measure their analytics based on tangible actions, rather than simply through sessions. This means they can: track first party data without cookies, allow for more detailed analytics on dynamic one-page websites, and integrate the tracking between websites and apps.
What you need to know.
Google has officially announced that its Universal Analytics will sunset on 1st July 2023, with GA360 customers being given an additional three months to migrate their profile to GA4 - but this doesn’t mean we should wait until then. Google is committed to this new tool so this is the future of analytics, and we need to prepare accordingly. This is not a simple lift and shift of a tag. Being a new platform, it comes with new measurements and new cases. It is important to ensure that your business is prepared for that.
What does that mean for you?
There are several opportunities that will arise from this major milestone in analytics. As a Google Marketing Partner dentsu Aotearoa was given early insight into the platform, so there is no reason to panic if you know what the changes mean for you and your business – to avoid disruption, now is the time to plan.
Make sure you have a plan in place!
There are a few things to consider when migrating your data from strategy through to education. It is important to take this opportunity to take stock of your overall business roadmap and data picture. What are your key milestones in the long and short term? It is also important that at this moment you build a plan for your existing data and reporting to ensure a smooth transition, and then once you have all of these in hand, ask yourself what the best structure is for your data collection, analytics, and reporting needs.
Depending on the scale of your current analytics set up, or your ambition for capturing web and app usage data, this could be up to a 12-month process, so what if we started planning now? We’re here to help with expert strategy, implementation, education and assistance for a seamless transition to GA4.
Read our full report here, or want to get in touch? Email our team at Data.NZ@dentsu.com
