Upgrade to GA4 and unlock the full potential of your business’s data

Did you know that as of July 2023, your current Google Analytics will retire and stop collecting user activity?
It’s time to plan and implement your GA4 account.

Talk to first about a plan

 What does this mean for you:

Marketer

In order to optimise the performance of your digital marketing efforts, you need a clear understanding of which campaigns and entry channels drive traffic to your site. Once your customers arrive at your site, having insights on user journeys alongside demographic information about your audiences can help you understand your customers better.

Data Analyst

With the use of analytics tools like GA4, collecting and examining information about your customers can help figure out the story behind the data. This is necessary for gaining valuable insights and assisting in decision-making, which helps lead to better commercial outcomes.

Business Owner

If you own a website or online business you know how important it is to have key metrics in place to determine if you are meeting your business goals. If you have been using Universal Analytics already, the biggest hurdle to overcome will be getting used to the change in metrics that GA4 brings. We are here to help with that!

It’s time to act

Over the last few months, you would have received notification from Google that Universal Analytics will no longer be supported from July 1st 2023. This means that no data will be tracked or captured from that date onwards.

If you haven’t already fully implemented GA4, the replacement for Universal Analytics, then next year you won’t be able to do direct Year on Year comparison for data points such as Sessions, Users and Events as they are all tracked differently in GA4 than they are now in UA. In short, you’ve already missed being able to compare this Christmas Sales period to the next one, don’t let any more data pass from your hands.

Talk to first about a plan

Your GA4 Journey with FIRST

Get Google Analytics 4 setup by industry experts in four easy steps:

1. Talk to FIRST

FIRST will get an understanding of how you use Analytics.

2. Audit your requirements

The FIRST team of experts will evaluate how data is collected currently and determine which key areas to focus on.

3. Determine your actions

so that Analytics can be setup to meet the needs of your business now and into the future.

4. Get GA4 up and running

FIRST will take care of the setup. You’ll have the GA4 data ready and running when the sunset occurs.

Contact us

Discuss your GA4 requirements with the our expert team.

Why upgrade to GA4?

What's the difference between Universal and GA4?
The main difference between Universal Analytics and GA4 is the way data is collected and processed. Universal Analytics uses a traditional tracking code that is placed on the website, while GA4 uses a new type of tracking code called a “measurement ID,” which is integrated into a site’s Google Tag Manager container. In addition, GA4 uses machine learning to automatically identify and track user interactions, whereas Universal Analytics requires manual configuration of specific events to track. Additionally, GA4 provides more advanced data analysis, including built-in analysis and reporting features, while Universal Analytics requires additional tools and customization to access similar data.
App Tracking
App Tracking in GA4 refers to the capability of tracking and measuring user engagement and behaviour within a mobile application. This feature allows developers to gain insights into how users interact with the app, such as how long they spend on the app, which screens they visit, and what actions they take within the app. This information can be used to improve the user experience and increase engagement by identifying areas where users may be dropping off or experiencing difficulty.
Hit Types

In Google Analytics 4 (GA4), there are several different types of hits that can be sent to the GA4 property from a web or mobile app. These include:

  • Event hit: This type of hit is used to track specific actions that take place within your app, such as button clicks or form submissions.
  • Screen view hit: This type of hit is used to track when a user navigates to a new screen or view within your app.
  • Exception hit: This type of hit is used to track errors or exceptions that occur within your app.
  • E-commerce hit: This type of hit is used to track transactions and other e-commerce related data within your app.
  • User property hit: This type of hit is used to set or update user properties, which are used to segment and analyse user behaviour within your app.
  • Custom parameter hit: This type of hit is used to send additional data along with a hit, such as a user ID or session ID.

These are the few examples of hit types in GA4, but there can be more depending on the requirements of the use case.

GA4 has fundamentally different ways to set up Reports using Data Models. Google recommends that you don’t (read can’t) just copy over existing Event logic from US into GA4.

Data Exporting

Exporting data from Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to BigQuery (for free!) allows for more advanced and in-depth analysis of your website data. Some benefits include:

  • Large data volume: BigQuery can handle very large data volumes, so you can store and analyse all of your GA4 data in one place, even if you have a high volume of data or a large number of users.
  • Flexible querying: With BigQuery, you can run complex SQL-like queries to analyse your data in ways that are not possible in the GA4 interface. This allows for more customised and advanced analysis.
  • Data visualisation: BigQuery can integrate with other data visualisation tools such as Tableau and Data Studio, allowing you to create interactive dashboards and reports that can be shared with others.
  • Machine learning: BigQuery also has built-in machine learning capabilities, which allows you to train and deploy ML models on your data, for advanced analytics and prediction.
  • Cost-effective: BigQuery’s pay-as-you-go pricing model can be cost-effective for large data sets, and you only pay for the storage and processing that you use.
  • Data Integration: You can join your GA4 data with other data sources you have in BigQuery, such as CRM data, Sales data, and more. This allows you to get a holistic view of your data, and gain insights you couldn’t otherwise.
Bounce Rate is dead…
Well not really, Bounce Rate still exists however in GA4 they use the main metric of Engagement Rate before they show you Bounce Rate.
Bounce rate is no longer used as a default metric in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) because it has been criticised for its limitations in fully capturing user engagement and behaviour on a website. The metric is based on the assumption that if a user only visits one page on a website and then leaves, they did not find what they were looking for and therefore were not engaged with the site. However, this assumption may not always be true, as users may visit a website for a specific purpose, such as to find a phone number or address, and then leave after finding the information they needed.
Bounce Rate is still alive but it has been deprioritised from a main metric and is only triggered when a site visit doesn’t trigger enough parameters to become an Engaged Session.
GTM matters now
GTM (Google Tag Manager) is important in GA4 (Google Analytics 4) because it allows for easy and efficient management of tracking tags and code snippets on a website. This means that users can add, edit, and remove tracking tags without needing to make changes to the website’s code. Additionally, GTM provides additional features such as debugging and error checking, as well as user permissions and access controls. This makes it a powerful tool for managing and implementing GA4 tracking on a website.
Goodbye to Views

Universal Analytics had 3 standard elements, Account, Property, View. GA4 doesn’t have Views so there is only Account and Property. GA4 uses Data Streams which are defined at the base Data Stream level with up to 50 Account Data Streams and 30 App Data Streams.

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Like most, we found the requirement to swap over to GA4 from Universal Analytics a complete annoyance but vital to our business. FIRST have helped us setup for the phasing out of Universal Analytics and ensured we would have year-on-year comparison data and custom customer journey tracking. If Google ever forces us to change Analytics again we would happily go with FIRST to complete this for us a second time.

Lucas McEntee – General Manager, SaleFunder

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