GOODBYE SESSIONS, HELLO EVENTS!

For years, we built marketing strategies around sessions-based tracking, neatly packaged interactions that told us stuff like how many times users walked into our virtual store but ignored what they actually did inside.

1. UA: “Cool, you had 1,000 visitors today.”
2. GA4: “500 of them scrolled 80% down your pricing page, 200 clicked ‘add to cart,’ and 50 rage-quit at checkout.”

Last month our marketing team spent 3 hours trying to figure out why our bounce rate suddenly jumped 25%. Turns out, in UA-land, a user who lands on our blog, reads for 5 minutes, and leaves is counted as ‘bounce’. Facepalm.

If your website was a house party, UA will tell you how many people showed up, while GA4 can tell you who danced, who raided the snack table, and who left without saying goodbye. With GA4, every interaction is an event, whether clicks, scrolls, video views or purchases. This means more data, more insights and fewer assumptions.

CROSS-DEVICE TRACKING: BECAUSE PEOPLE DON’T LIVE ON ONE SCREEN

Remember the nightmare of tracking website and app data separately in UA?

Picture this:

1. You see an ad on Instagram while having breakfast
2. You check out the website on your work laptop at lunch
3. You abandon your cart when your boss calls
4. You finally complete the purchase on your iPad back at home

In UA tracking, that’s three separate users. But with Google Analytics 4 cross-device tracking, it’s one seamless customer journey.

GA4 uses Google Signals and AI-driven insights to track users across devices, giving you a single customer journey instead of fragmented data. 

That’s marketing gold.

PREDICTIVE METRICS: YOUR MARKETING CRYSTAL BALL

Raise your hand if you’ve ever wished for a marketing psychic at some point. 

GA4’s predictive metrics are the closest thing we’re going to get (until Google releases actual psychic technology, which is probably in beta somewhere).

1. Churn Probability: Want to know which users are about to ghost you? GA4 will tell you.
2. Purchase Probability: Predicts how likely a user is to convert so you can send that discount email before they slip away.
3. Revenue Forecasting: No more blind budgeting, GA4 estimates potential earnings based on trends.

Imagine knowing that 25% of users who watched your promo video are likely to buy. You would obviously double down on video ads, right? It’s like having a cheat code for your marketing strategy. UA was great for showing historical data, but GA4 is proactive.

PRIVACY FIRST: NO MORE STALKER VIBES

The world said ‘enough’ to creepy tracking, and Google listened. GA4 is built for a post-cookie world. No more IP tracking, it’s designed to keep you compliant with GDPR, CCPA, and whatever privacy rule pops up next.

So, while other marketers scramble to track users ethically, GA4 has you covered. With its reduced reliance on cookies and increased focus on first-party data, GA4 is like that friend who prepared for the apocalypse while the rest of us were binge-watching Netflix.

Unlike UA, which relied heavily on invasive tracking, GA4 allows marketers to collect valuable insights while respecting user privacy. When the cookie crumbles completely, you’ll be glad you made the switch.

CUSTOM REPORTS: DATA THAT ACTUALLY MAKES SENSE

If UA’s reports were a fixed menu, GA4’s Analysis Hub is a build-your-own gourmet experience.

Want to track how users who watched your product video on mobile later purchased on desktop during Mercury retrograde? You can. With GA4’s Analysis Hub, you can create custom funnel reports that automatically update with exactly the metrics your business needs:

1. Funnels: See where users drop off in the buying process.
2. Path Explorations: Track how people navigate your site.
3. Segment Overlaps: Find trends between different customer types.

BOUNCE RATE vs ENGAGEMENT RATE

Marketers obsess over bounce rate in UA, but GA4 introduced Engagement Rate – a far better way to understand user interactions.

● UA Bounce Rate: If a user reads your blog for 10 minutes but doesn’t click anything, it’s still considered a ‘bounce’.

● GA4 Engagement Rate: Measures actual user interaction, so high-quality visits aren’t unfairly penalized.

If you’re tired of misleading bounce rate metrics, GA4’s engagement tracking is a game-changer, giving you a clearer picture of content performance.

FINAL VERDICT: TIME TO BREAK UP WITH UA

Okay, but let’s be real, learning GA4 isn’t a walk in the park. It can be frustrating initially but you can rest assured, it will be ultimately rewarding. Because GA4 isn’t just change for change’s sake. It’s the analytics platform we need for more accurate tracking, smarter predictions, and better privacy. It’s a no-brainer.

Still clinging to UA like an ex you can’t forget? Here’s the deal: Google is shutting it down.

The longer you wait to embrace GA4, the more data (and money) you will lose. The marketers who adopt GA4 now will not be just early adopters, they will be the ones laughing all the way to the bank while the rest scramble to catch up.

So, rip off the Band-Aid right now and start using GA4! Your future marketing self will thank you (probably with a really impressive ROI chart built in the Analysis Hub).

If you want to know more about how GA4 can boost your business, let’s connect.