Google Analytics is an essential tool for marketers who want to understand how their website is performing, where their traffic is coming from, and how users are interacting with their content. For many years, Universal Analytics (UA) has been the go-to version of Google Analytics. However, Google recently released a new version of the tool called Google Analytics 4 (GA4), and marketers are wondering whether it’s worth switching from UA to GA4. In this blog post, we’ll explore why marketers should use GA4 instead of UA.
Better cross-device tracking
One of the biggest advantages of GA4 over UA is that it offers better cross-device tracking. In today’s digital world, users often switch between devices when browsing the web, making it difficult for marketers to track their behaviour accurately. GA4 addresses this problem by using machine learning to identify users across devices and collect data from multiple touchpoints. This provides a more complete view of the user journey, enabling marketers to make better-informed decisions.
Enhanced user privacy
As privacy concerns become more prominent, GA4 offers enhanced user privacy features that address some of the concerns users may have about their data being collected. GA4 allows marketers to set data retention periods and manage user-level and event-level data deletion. Additionally, GA4 enables cookieless tracking, which reduces the need for third-party cookies that can be blocked by ad-blockers or browser privacy settings.
Improved event tracking
Event tracking is an essential feature of Google Analytics, as it enables marketers to track user interactions on their website. GA4 takes event tracking to the next level by offering more flexible and granular event tracking. It also introduces new event types such as scroll tracking, video engagement, and file downloads. This provides marketers with deeper insights into how users are engaging with their content.
AI-powered insights
GA4 uses machine learning to provide AI-powered insights that help marketers identify trends, predict user behaviour, and optimize their marketing campaigns. This includes features such as automated insights, predictive metrics, and audience discovery. By leveraging AI-powered insights, marketers can make more informed decisions that lead to better results.
Future-proofing
Finally, GA4 future-proofs your analytics tracking. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, it’s important to have an analytics tool that can adapt to new trends and technologies. GA4 is built on a new data model that enables it to collect data from a variety of sources, including mobile apps and offline data. This makes it a more versatile and future-proof tool than UA.
In conclusion, while UA has been the go-to version of Google Analytics for many years, GA4 offers several advantages that make it a better choice for marketers. It provides better cross-device tracking, enhanced user privacy, improved event tracking, AI-powered insights, and future-proofing. If you’re a marketer looking to get the most out of your analytics data, it’s time to make the switch to GA4.
