Google Analytics 4 (GA4) – Advantages and Recommendations
As of July 1, 2023, Google Analytics 4 will replace the previous Google Universal Analytics.
In this article, we explain the advantages of Google Analytics 4 and why it is still worth switching over now.
Switch to GA4
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Switch to GA4 〰️
Starting July 1, 2024: All Universal Analytics services will be disabled. ⚠️
Google will discontinue all Universal Analytics services on July 1, 2024, and replace them entirely with Google Analytics 4. From this date onwards, all old Universal Analytics data and functions will no longer be accessible.
Ensure that you have switched to Google Analytics 4. Download your old data now or export it from Universal Analytics, otherwise it will be permanently deleted.
Data and settings used in Universal Analytics will no longer be available. For example, new conversions (key events) will no longer be measured, which may affect the performance of your advertising campaigns.
From July 1, 2023: Universal Analytics will discontinue data collection and analysis.
From October 1, 2023: 360 Universal Analytics will discontinue data collection and analysis. Data that has already been processed will remain available to you for at least six months after the deadline.
The old data will remain available for at least six months after the respective deadline above and can be downloaded as a backup. After that, the old Google Analytics will disappear completely.
Time pressure: Why switching to Google Analytics 4 is so important
Since Google Analytics 4 is based on a completely new model, it cannot be updated in the same way as conventional software. You will need to set up Google Analytics 4 from scratch.
The sooner you switch to the new Google Analytics, the more historical data will be available in your account in the long term. This allows you to compare data across months and years.
You can start building new data sets right now, even before Universal Analytics data processing is completely discontinued.
Here you will find support for the transition.
6 advantages of the new GA4
1. Understand customer behavior along the user journey
Previous measurement models were geared toward individual platforms or organized into individual sessions. Now, these measurements are event-based and provide a complete overview of all activities. This gives you an overall impression of the course of the customer lifecycles (the steps a person takes to become a customer and brand ambassador), all websites and apps, and the purchasing behavior of your customers.
Google Analytics 4 is designed to keep pace with a changing operating system.
2. Increase your return on investment (ROI) through data-driven attribution
With Google Analytics 4, you can use data-based analysis to measure the impact of your marketing across the entire customer journey . This means that it is not only the last click that is decisive for attribute assignment, but the entire analysis data.
These help you understand how your marketing activities influence conversions . The data can be viewed in Google Ads and the Google Marketing Platform. Campaigns can thus be optimized in a targeted manner and the customer experience further improved.
3. Benefit from valuable data
Google Analytics 4 provides you with valuable information from your first-party data, based on a strong measurement foundation. Machine learning provides results for predicting user behavior and conversions. The analytics tool creates new target groups that are highly likely to buy or churn. It automatically provides important insights that help optimize and target it even more effectively.
4. Optimize your online campaign across all channels
By combining web and app data, Google Analytics 4 offers advanced integration options for other Google products. This means that results can also be transferred to Google Ads, allowing campaigns to be targeted even more precisely.
These features make it easy to use insights from Google Analytics 4, such as predictive audiences, to optimize your ad campaigns . This provides you with a helpful way to, for example, increase your sales in a short period of time and target potential customers.
5. Collect and manage data in accordance with legal data protection requirements.
Google Analytics 4 puts data protection first. The tool therefore offers comprehensive and detailed control functions for data collection and use. This allows for easy adaptation to changing user needs and requirements.
With the privacy control, which can be set for individual countries, you can control the collection of data at the user level, such as cookies and metadata – while retaining important measurement functions. Users gain more control over the use of their data. Data protection regulations, both national and international, can be easily implemented.
6. Meet your company's data protection requirements
The structure of Google Analytics 4 properties can be flexibly and easily adapted to the data management requirements of a company. a company's data management . This ensures that partners such as advertising agenciescan access your data in accordance with company guidelines.
Google Analytics 4: Overview of features
Google Analytics 4 offers the most comprehensive solution for companies to tailor their campaigns even more closely to the needs and expectations of users . The analytics tool offers the flexibility to measure a wide variety of data types and link them across channels.
While the old Google Analytics model is still heavily focused on desktop web and cookie data, Google Analytics 4 offers cross-platform solutions.
This gives online marketing provides a tool for more comprehensive and detailed control of data collection and use.
The tool is designed to help achieve business goals such as increasing sales, acquiring new customers, and linking online and offline customer engagement.
The latest standard in analytics tools is not based exclusively on cookies and an event-based data model. Instead, it draws on cross-platform and user-centered measurements. This makes Google Analytics 4 a future-proof solution.
It also offers better privacy protection. For example, IP addresses are no longer stored.
Today's data protection requires comprehensive protection of user data (more information on the GDPR can be found here). The new measurement tool takes these requirements into account.
Set up Google Analytics 4
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Conclusion
The sooner you switch to the new Google Analytics 4 (GA4), the more data you can use in the long term.
Since June 30, 2023, no new values have been recorded in the old Google Universal Analytics (UA). Historical data will remain available for export until approximately the end of 2023, but after that, the data will be completely gone.
GA4 offers the following advantages:
You can better understand the customer journey and draw conclusions from it. To do this, Google Analytics 4 uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.
Thanks to advances in machine learning, tracking is now possible even when cookies are not available.
You can also track data across multiple devices thanks to cross-platform and user-centered measurements.
It is easier to understand which marketing activities influence conversions.