GA4 vs Universal Analytics
How is Google Analytics 4 different than Google Analytics Universal from a reporting standpoint?
- User-centric view across devices
- Event-based measurement
- Reporting interface changes
- Softcrylic’s recommendation
In mid-October 2020, Google officially launched Google Analytics 4 (formerly known as App + Web) which makes it possible to view both web and app data in a single property. As a seasoned user of regular Google Analytics (which we will refer to as Universal Analytics), we would say GA4 gives a vastly different experience. While it is now an official product and no longer in beta, we still recommend setting up a GA4 property but don’t abandon the Web Property account just yet. This blog will go through the 3 main differences with Google Analytics 4 vs Universal Analytics.
Google will stop processing data to Universal Analytics in 2023, learn more about our GA4 migration services here.
User-Centric View of the Journey
In Universal Analytics it is possible to see web users and app users, however, they are counted separately meaning a user is potentially counted twice – once in each platform. In Google Analytics 4, users are deduped across the web and app which provides better insight into cross platform and crossdevice journeys. It is crucial that the User ID is implemented across web and app with the same identifier and type (12345 as a string vs an integer will cause mismatched User IDs across web and app). This will help provide insight as to how users are learning, shopping, and purchasing across the different platforms.
Event-Based Measurement and Reporting
Where there are different types of activities in UA such as page views and events, every user interaction type in Google Analytics 4 is an event. Page views, conversions, clicks, everything. So, a page view in UA is now a screen/page view event in GA4.
Categories of events in GA4 : automatically collected, enhanced measurement, recommended (verticalspecific), and custom (named and implemented). The first two do not require any extra code!
Instead of an event category, action, value, and label there are 25 user properties that can be passed with each event.
They key to success is measurement consistency. If the event names, parameters passed, parameter names, and parameter values are identical across web and app, they will be comparable in reporting for an accurate picture of cross-platform journey. In GA4 it is necessary to register parameters in the reporting UI so that they are available for use.
Drastic Reporting Interface Changes
The out of the box reports are grouped differently – in Universal Analytics they fall under the categories of Realtime, Audience, Acquisition, Behavior, and Conversions. In GA4 the categories are Users, Demographics, Behavior, Ecommerce, and Technology. Instead of having subcategories to drill down into like in UA, GA4 charts and graphs have dropdowns and the ability to see additional details.
The largest difference between the reports is how GA4 replaced the Customization option (along with the Dashboards, Custom Reports, Saved Reports, and Custom Alerts) with Analysis. Analysis has four options: Analysis Hub, Exploration, Segment Overlap, Funnel Analysis, Path Analysis, User Explorer, and Cohort Analysis. Analysis is a drag and drop report builder where the user is presented with a list of segments, dimensions, and metrics from which to build the report, as well as the ability to choose from a myriad of settings and filters in order to customize the report. In Universal Analytics I’ve built most custom reports as a Flat Table and Analysis is similar to that but with so many more options and is so much more user-friendly.
If reporting within the UI is too limited compared to Data Studio, GA4 does not have a data connector to it yet; it requires a connection via BigQuery.
Our recommendation
Overall, we recommend setting up GA4 measurement to gain a better understanding of users across your website and app experiences and for the new reporting experience, however keep the Web Property active at least until GA4 is more mature and you understand the way reports will differ, both in design and in content, due to the different counting methodology. When a new property is created it will default to GA4 which means this is ready for general use and we are looking forward to seeing how the product evolves and grows in the future.
The Google deadline for UA standard is next July and for 360 accounts it is next October, pushing you to migrate to GA4. Although some of the articles make it sound like a simple migration, think about how many properties your company uses. Think about how you use year-over-year data and how this transition may impact your reporting. Do you fully understand how GA4 will integrate and benefit your marketing campaigns? These are important business questions and should be addressed soon. Don’t wait and migrate your analytics at the last moment. Let us help guide your transition, estimate your migration here.
