Google Analytics 4 and the Future of Media Buying
Image credit: Google
Authors: William Urciuoli and Alex Brouwer
As technology continues to evolve, we evolve! Google Analytics has been a staple for measuring website traffic, user behavior, and conversions in digital marketing and advertising. Google Analytics 4 (GA4), the latest update, brings substantial changes to how data is collected and analyzed, compared to its predecessor, Universal Analytics (UA).
In this post, we will explore the differences between GA4 and UA and how this new update will affect digital marketing and advertising.
GA4 vs. UA: What's the difference?
One of the most significant changes in GA4 is the shift from a session-based model to an event-based model. The shift in focus for GA4 is to provide better insights into user behavior beyond just actions, such as clicks, scrolls, video plays, and downloads. Additionally, GA4 allows for more customizable event tracking, enabling businesses to track the events that matter most to them.
Another significant difference is the introduction of machine learning and artificial intelligence into GA4.
In UA, businesses had to set up custom tracking and goals manually, which required time and expertise.
GA4 automates these processes, making it easier to set up tracking and analyze data, bringing real insight without requiring a data science team.
Tracking users against devices will change too. In the modern world, it is quite common for one user to have multiple devices. It is usual for a user to have a work laptop, tablet, and smartphone.
In UA, this single user would usually be tracked as 3 users, one from each of these devices. Tracking across devices was difficult and required a lot of manual configurations or a third-party service.
GA4 provides better cross-device tracking, which is essential in today's multi-device landscape. Cross-device tracking is built into the platform and works across properties like a website and mobile application.
The Impact of GA4 on the media buying industry:
ML (Machine Learning) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) inform better optimizations:
The shift to an event-based model and the introduction of ML and AI capabilities will provide more granular insights into user behavior. This will also create larger datasets for the ML and AI models to train on and provide continuously optimized models, thus allowing you to make more informed decisions about media buying strategies from predictable user behaviors.
Revamped cross-device tracking yields better user identification:
Additionally, the new and better cross-device tracking in GA4 will enable you to gain a more comprehensive view of your target audience's behavior, helping you to create more effective and targeted campaigns, and better understand the user journey through your purchasing cycle. However, you will need to adjust your tracking and measurement strategies and invest in the necessary technology and expertise to take advantage of cross-channel/device targeting.
Conclusion
Starting July 1st, 2023, Google will sunset the Universal Analytics tags (July 1st, 2024, for GA360 customers). On this date, your site tracking will stop if you have not already implemented GA4. And any data connections to Google Analytics will need to be re-established and configured using your GA4 instance.
The implementation of Google Analytics 4 brings significant changes to how data is collected and analyzed compared to Universal Analytics. The shift to an event-based model and the introduction of ML and AI capabilities will undoubtedly affect the marketing and advertising industry. Businesses will need to invest in technology and expertise to continue benefiting from the new tracking environment and to utilize that new insight to drive their media.
If your business is not ready for this transition, reach out to Eicoff for input on how best to handle this.