With the Oct. 14 announcement of Google Analytics 4, it’s time to understand how user-centric analytics can help your organization progress it’s digital maturity. Prior to this announcement, Google Analytics 4 had been known as App + Web.
What is Google Analytics 4?
Google Analytics 4 (also called GA4) is a much-anticipated update within the Google Analytics (GA) product. With the proliferation of new platforms—like mobile applications and IoT (Internet of things) devices—there is a huge influx of new data sources in analytics and a need to both unify tracking and enable data science and artificial intelligence within GA. Until recently, web analytics remained distinct from app analytics or data collected on other platforms within the Google Analytics product. And while dimensions and metrics are unique to each platform, conversion goals are largely the same across devices—a purchase, a sign up, a download, or any defined objective.
Simply put, analysts can gain more value by combining data on user actions and conversions for insights across different platforms.
With new analytics concepts of user-centricity and micro-moments, digital marketing analysts must now gather and interpret data across devices to fully understand the customer’s journey.
Resources for Marketers and Analytics Professionals
- Google Analytics 4 User-Centric Analytics Insights Guide (PDF)
- App + Web 101: An Intro to Google Analytics’ Newest Properties (Article)
- Getting Started with App + Web Reporting (Article)
- Understand Customer Behavior Across Platforms with App + Web Properties (Article)
- App + Web 101 for News, Media, and Publishing Organizations (On-demand webinar)
- 3 Tips for Tagging App + Web Events (Article)
[Book] Crawl, Walk, Run
The new release from InfoTrust—Crawl, Walk, Run: Advancing Analytics Maturity with Google Marketing Platform—includes a detailed chapter on App + Web properties, which serves as the basis of Google Analytics 4. In fact, Crawl, Walk, Run is the only book currently on the market (as of October 2020) that covers the key functionality of Google Analytics 4. Visit this page to learn more about the book.
