Web analytics is an invaluable tool for a business, regardless of size. It provides insight into a website's performance, user behavior, and marketing effectiveness. It can help businesses identify new opportunities for growth, fine-tune marketing strategies, and stay ahead of the competition in the rapidly evolving digital landscape. Recently, Google announced they are removing their current analytics tool known as Universal Analytics and switching it for a newer version called Google Analytics 4; this new tool will give marketers a chance to gain more insights into their customers and how the customers interact with their site.
Declassifying the Power of Web Analytics
Web analytics refers to the process of monitoring and comprehending the way people utilize your website. Its primary objective is to provide you with data-driven insights into user behavior, enabling you to enhance your site's performance and elevate user experience. With web analytics, you can:
In web analytics there are three types of metrics to track. The first is acquisition-related metrics which measures how you get website visitors. In this metric there are users which helps measure audience size, new users which tells you unique visitors, and sessions letting you know what users are doing when they are on your site.
The second metric is behavior related metrics. These metrics assess the actions of individuals upon reaching your website, providing helpful insight into their behavior patterns. An example of a behavior related metric is bounce rate which is the when a user visits a website page and leaves without making another request. Another metric is the exit rate similar to bounce rate is how often a user has left your website from a single page this helps determine which pages on your site can be improved upon. Some other metrics include pages per session and session duration.
Last but not certainly least is conversion-related metrics. Metrics concerning conversions quantify the number of users who perform a desired action on your website, thus indicating the quantity of conversions and revenue generated. These metrics include e-commerce conversion rate, allowing you to see how effectively you convert visitors into customers. Another metric is revenue which tracks your ROI for your advertising efforts.
Out With the Old, in With the Google Analytics 4
The old top dog of analytics is getting shut down. The current version, known as Universal Analytics, will be replaced by its new cooler sibling. It is set to be shut down in July of 2023, meaning that any user using Google Analytics must switch from UA to the new platform known as Google Analytics 4. If you are a marketer currently using UA here is a helpful website to help make the switch.
The big reason that Google is making this transition is cookies. Google users are demanding more data privacy, and Google is evolving to meet the increasing demands. Recent data has found that 86% of people felt growing concerns about data privacy. There are also new regulations and investigations about web privacy and cookies, like the Irish Data Protection Commission investigation, but let's assume they are doing it for the people.
The new GA4 will offer more user privacy and better user tracking to give marketers better insights into how users interact with their websites.
The New Contender to the Mix: Google Analytics 4
As previously mentioned, the big difference between UA and GA4 is how they get their data. UA used cookies, and now GA4 is switching to event-based tracking. According to Google, an event allows you to measure a particular action or incident. You can utilize events to measure various activities like page loading, link clicking, successful purchases, or even measure system behavior.
Another of the big features that GA4 is proud of is better web tracking. UA is primarily tracked using website hits and page views, whereas the new top dog will allow marketers to track up to 50 different user behavior parameters. This new feature will allow many more events to be tracked and upgrades made to measure and analyze scrolls, engagement with content file downloads, and site searches.
With GA4 we as an analytics community are experiencing the loss of some metrics like average session duration, and pages per session, and they changed the way bounce rate is calculated. However, as the saying goes UA showers bring GA4 flowers there are three new metrics that will be offered in the reports. These new metrics are:
Final Thoughts
Overall, the new GA4 is here to stay, and it looks like it is taking a step in the right direction for both marketers and consumers. The latest version is expected to provide users with increased comfort regarding their online privacy while enabling marketers to gain a more comprehensive understanding of users' online activities to enhance their websites.
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