With the date for the permanent switch over to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) swiftly approaching, we thought we would take the time to tell you about the changes being made to the platform that most of us use to see just how well our website is doing! However, if you have a Six Ticks website there's no need to worry as everything has already been done for you.

Here is a basic explanation of the new features introduced and updates made with GA4:

Avoiding Cookies & Machine Learning

Privacy laws such as the GDPR mean google needs to rely on first-party cookies (files & data collected by websites from visitors) for data collection, however, the future is looking more and more likely to become cookieless. So whilst GA4 does utilise traditional cookie collection methods Google is looking towards the future and have implemented machine learning to stay ahead of the curve. This allows GA4 to learn and adapt to not only estimate the demographics and information of groups of people who visit your site but also estimate revenue from audience groups and inform you of trends it finds in your data. This can help you target and create audiences allowing you to improve your ad campaigns and website performance.

Improved Reporting & Increased Engagement

Although only a minor addition to reporting, the new Life Style section introduced in GA4 is still a welcome addition. This feature allows reports to include subjects such as acquisition, engagement, monetisation and retention utilising the aforementioned machine learning to predict customer actions through the marketing funnel. Alongside this, you can now separate your target audiences by creating set user definitions.

Added Goals & Events

GA4 has now automated many functions previously requiring manual set-up to implement, one of these functions being the setting up of goals and events. GA4 now includes built-in actions and events meaning you can track factors such as clicks, transactions, what files are downloaded and even the scrolling behaviour of visitors to your website. These are features that we here at Six Ticks had previously independently implemented in GA3, but have now been added directly into GA4. Also new to GA4 is more complex goals and events that you will have to set up yourself such as e-commerce goals and form submissions (also included in Six Ticks websites using GA3).

Improved User Journey

A prominent feature of GA4 is the ability to create a single set of metrics for multiple data inputs. Simply put, this allows you to now connect both a website and mobile app, for example, into a single property meaning you can easily track how users move around your various systems with whatever device they are using.

As mentioned previously, Six Ticks customers need not worry as we have already finished the process of updating all of your websites to GA4 but if not make sure you make the switch soon as the deadline of July 1st is swiftly approaching!