Goodbye Universal Analytics, Hello GA4
Google shocked marketers, data analysts, and website owners around the world last week when they announced that the traditional analytics (Universal Analytics or GA3) will stop processing new website hits starting July 2023, forcing the transition to the new Google Analytics 4 (GA4) platform.
According to Google, the switch from GA3 to GA4 was built to keep up with a changing ecosystem. Russell Ketchum, director, product management at Google, stated that GA3’s focus on desktop website visits, single sessions, and easily observable data from traditional cookie tracking, “is quickly becoming obsolete.”
Google Analytics 4, which was originally released in October 2020, operates across different platforms and does not rely on cookies, but an event-based model for measurement instead, offering a more thorough view of the customer lifecycle. According to Kethcum, GA4 boasts a far better analysis of marketing impact across the customer journey with data driven attribution that, “assigns attribution credit to more than just the last click using your Analytics data.” In short, this data driven attribution, “helps you understand how your marketing activities collectively influence your conversions.”
GA3’s focus on desktop website visits, single sessions, and easily observable data from traditional cookie tracking, “is quickly becoming obsolete.”
How will this affect me?
Fortunately, Google has given us enough time to implement the new analytics before the former generation gets the boot, meaning you’ll have some historical data to compare and work with if you implement GA4 sooner rather than later.
The more you can familiarize yourself with GA4’s interface, the better prepared you will be when it goes into effect. Be warned: GA4 is very different in terms of interface, with naming conventions and features that will take some getting used to. Many marketers and website owners have been reluctant to set up GA4 since its announcement, but this is a real wake-up call for all website owners and marketers to implement GA4 sooner rather than later.
Can The Boxoffice Company help?
We’re already working on a migration plan to support our clients and make the transition from GA3 to GA4 as seamless as possible. Our focus is on getting GA4 running alongside current analytics promptly so we can begin to measure data and iron out any issues that may result from the transition before July 2023. As our digital marketing team becomes more familiar with GA4, we will also be on hand to help with questions around the new interface and finding data points that are valuable to you.
Our customer success team will also continue to provide monthly reporting to our partners on their main KPIs even after the switch to GA4.
If you would like to find out more about the switch to Google Analytics 4, Google’s full announcement can be found here.
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