I’m not too assured in Google Analytics 4 regardless of the thrill being handed by the Google Analytics workforce. Firms have spent tens of millions of {dollars} to reinforce and combine their websites, platforms, campaigns, occasions, and different measurement knowledge inside Common Analytics solely to seek out that it doesn’t mechanically work inside Google Analytics 4. Occasions are not any totally different…
It’s disappointing that Google continues to advertise the deadline for migration, with out truly offering any technique of automating the migration. Our shoppers didn’t funds for this work, so it’s an added expense in migration, coaching, and troubleshooting.
That mentioned, that is the place the group is available in and makes a distinction. As my digital transformation agency works emigrate our shoppers over, we’ll be sharing the work right here on Martech Zone. As at all times, be at liberty to remark, appropriate us, or present us with a greater resolution should you don’t imagine we’re hitting the mark… we’re studying, too!
Common Analytics Occasions Versus Google Analytics 4 Occasions
The whole idea of occasions has modified between Common Analytics (UA) versus Google Analytics 4 (GA4). In Common Analytics, an occasion was a handbook file that needed to be triggered in your web site, and the knowledge handed into Google Analytics. There are 4 variables:
- Occasion Class – A required variable that should be handed. Eg. Type
- Occasion Motion – A required variable that should be handed. Eg. Submitted
- Occasion Label – An non-compulsory variable that may be handed. Eg. /landingpage/demorequest
- Occasion Worth – An non-compulsory variable that may be handed for the worth of the occasion. Eg. 77
Google Analytics 4 takes extra of a data-agnostic view of occasions… that means there are each system-defined occasions in addition to occasions you possibly can add and customise. Google Analytics 4 even offers suggestions on what these occasions needs to be. All of them go knowledge in the identical format:
- Occasion Title – A required variable that should be handed. Eg. generate_lead
- Parameters – Three non-compulsory parameters (parameter_x, parameter_y, parameter_z) that you would be able to go. If you happen to customise these, they should be added as customized dimensions in your GA4 occasion. You’re allowed as much as 50 event-scoped customized dimensions. You may archive unused ones as effectively. (If you happen to use Analytics 360, the restrict is 125).
- Worth, Forex – An non-compulsory worth and the foreign money it’s measured in. Eg. 77, USD
So… the best implementation of occasions in Google Analytics 4 is to plan forward and unify your naming conventions so that you simply don’t run out of customized dimensions. It additionally implies that it’s not beneficial emigrate your present occasions. You need to deal with a Google Analytics 4 implementation as a brand new platform. Listed here are the steps that I might advocate you’re taking:
Step 1: Allow Google Analytics 4 Enhanced Measurement
One factor to remember as you’re implementing Google Analytics 4 is that among the tagging we needed to manually implement prior to now for UA may be mechanically enabled in GA4. In Admin > Property > Information Streams > [Your Stream], you possibly can allow scroll occasions, outbound click on occasions, web site search occasions, kind interactions, video engagement, and file downloads!
Step 2: Doc Your Common Analytics Occasions to GA4 Beneficial Occasions
Export your present occasions from Common Analytics right into a spreadsheet after which manually evaluate the beneficial occasions from GA4 that you simply need to migrate them to. It will decrease the necessity to construct out customized dimensions on your implementation. Google recommends the next occasions for all properties:
For e-commerce and on-line gross sales, these occasions will mechanically populate an Ecommerce Purchases report.
Step 3: Add Customized Dimensions for Your Customized Occasions
For any occasions that aren’t mapped to beneficial occasions in Google Analytics 4, you’ll must create them as customized dimensions. That is achieved in GA4 > Configure > Customized definitions > Create customized definition:
An instance of this can be monitoring a chat bot getting clicked open. Title your dimension, set the Scope as an occasion, present an outline, after which select a parameter or property from the checklist… or enter the identify of a parameter or property you’ll gather sooner or later.
Step 4: Implement Google Tag Supervisor And Add GA4 Occasions
If you happen to haven’t already, you’ll completely need to implement Google Tag Supervisor to handle all of the tags and occasions that you simply’re at the moment recording utilizing Common Analytics. Tag Supervisor lets you set off occasions seamlessly with out having to code occasions all through your web site… which is crucial as you migrate occasions to GA4.
With GA4, you possibly can add the particular occasions that you simply need to file throughout your web site. For example, we now have a set off for a consumer that we constructed when somebody submitted a Hubspot Type in Common Analytics. We had been capable of repurpose that precise set off to additionally file the GA4 Occasion generate_lead, passing the Hubspot Type GUID that we will later observe again to the shape identify.
In Step 2, you mapped your whole outdated occasions to GA4 occasions in a spreadsheet. For any occasions that aren’t mechanically captured utilizing enhanced measurement, you’ll need to create GA4 Occasion Tags for every of the Occasion Names that you simply selected after which go the non-compulsory parameters, worth, and foreign money. For the customized dimensions you added in Step 3, you’ll need to create customized GA4 occasions with the Occasion Title the identical.
You should definitely take a look at your Google Tag Supervisor configuration and manually fireplace utilizing the preview device to make sure the info is being correctly despatched to GA 4. GA4, as with Common Analytics, isn’t at all times real-time in its knowledge assortment.
Want Assist Migrating To Google Analytics 4?
Watch a Tutorial Video On Migrating UA Occasions to GA4
I need to give a shout-out to Analytics mania, who supplied an important walk-through on migrating UA occasions to GA4. That is the place I discovered most of this info… it’s well worth the watch and I’m positive his course would supply all of the coaching you want:
