exam 1 4650 GA4

why does GA4 matter for you

• essential career skill - required for digital marketing roles

• data driven decisions - modern business runs on analytics

• industry standard - used by companies of all sizes

• certification value - GA4 certification strengthens your resume

• foundation knowledge - prepares you for advanced marketing tools

data analytics

process of collecting measuring and analyzing data from digital sources such as websites or mobile apps

what analysis does digital analytics include?

qualitative and quantitative data from your business and the competition to drive continual improvement of online experience that your customers and potential custoemrs have with translates to desired outcomes on and offline

web analytics is like what?

digital store manager!

compare contrast physical and online store

physical

• see customers in person

• watch behavior directly

• count people easily

• observe purchase decisions

online store

• cant see visitors

• dont know what theyre thinking

• cant count manually

• need tools to understand behavior

web analytics tools are like?

digital eyes and ears

why do businesses need web analytics?

• measure success - is our website working

• understand customers - who visits and what do they want

• make smart decisions - where should we invest time/money

• track roi - is our marketing actually working

• improve performance - what can we do better

qualitative

describes how who or where

quantitative

answers how many

Wants to see how many downloads the app gets, how people use the app, and what percentage pay for a pro-level subscription

Examine User Behavior

Wants to increase profit by promoting the most profitable products on the website. Looks to see how many visitors make purchases, which sneakers they buy, and which sales are the most profitable

Increase Online Sales

Wants to grow revenue by gaining new customers. Counts leads for potential new customers coming from the website — how they reach the site, which ones fill out the interest form, how valuable these leads are, and the average cost per lead

Generate Leads

Wants to attract other like-minded users by increasing the number of both new and highly engaged users on his website

Increase Awareness

what is google analytics 4

• free tool provided by google

• most popular web analytics platform globally

• automatically tracks visitor behavior once installed

• works on websites and mobile apps

what should you think of your website as?

the websites “security camera system” - always watching and recording what happens

is it difficult to measure in physical or online world?

difficult in the physical world!!!

• online we can easily measure many different activities that lead towards conversion using digital analytics

4 main report categories

• acquisition

• engagement

• monetization

• retention

what can GA4 tell you

• traffic

• behavior

• demographics

• sources

• conversions

• performance

traffic

how many people visit your website

behavior

what pages they view and actions they take

demographics

age location device type

sources

where visitors come from - google social media email etc

conversions

whether they make a purchase or complete goals

performance

how fast your website loads

user

individual person visiting your store

• think unique customer

session

single visit to your website

• think shopping trop to the store

user vs session example

sarah visits your website monday morning = 1 user 1 session

sarah returns tuesday evening = 1 user 2 sessions

event

any action a user takes on your website; any tracked user interaction

• think page view

common events

• viewing a page

• clicking a button

• making a purchase

• downloading a file

• playing a video

GA4 magic

tracks many events AUTOMATICALLY

• you dont have to set them up

key events

event important to business success

• think purchase confirmation

conversions

key event that is shared for google ads optimization; completing a desired action

• think add to cart

ecommerce macroconversion examples

• making a purchase

• adding item to cart

• starting checkout

other microconversion examples

• signing up for newsletter

• downloading guide

• filling out a contact form

conversion rate

percentage of visitors who convert

metrics

quantitative measurement - always a number so you can apply math to it (sums, ratios, averages)

• event count

• avg engagement time

• views per session

• total revenue

dimension

an attribute of your data - usually text, not number; it describes what happened who what or where

• event name

• city/country

• session source/medium

• device category

parameter

additional data attached to an event that gives context about the interaction

• aka which button, which video, which product

what creates meaning in your data?

values of dimensions and metrics and the relationships between those values

for the greatest insights dimensions are often associated with what?

one or more metric

ex of event

video_start

ex of parameter

video_title = Spring Lookbook

ex of dimension

Video title/device category/country

ex of metric

event count/total revenue

true or false: event count is an event but total revenue is a key event

true

almost any digitally connected device can be tracked using what?

google analytics

how does google analytics track on websites?

single line of javascript code placed on every page of the website

• google tag manager

• CMS sites theres typically a single place to put the code

how does google analytics track on apps?

firebase

exam concept: how can 1 ga4 property have multiple data streams?

• 1 website

• 1 ios app

• 1 android app

what is page/site level information for data collection

• page visits

• ecommerce info

• video views

• downloads

• pages per session

• time on site

what also counts as user information in data collection

• browser

• language

• device (mobile or desktop)

• operating system

does traffic source count as data collection?

yesss even traffic source like search email or display ads

different types of traffic sources

• organic search

• direct

• social

• referral

• paid search

• email

organic search

found you through google bing etc

direct source

typed your url or used bookmark

social source

came from facebook instagram linkedin or other forms of social media

referral

clicked link from another website

paid search

clicked on google ads/other paid ads

email

clicked link in email newsletter

what question does traffic sources answer

how did people find your website?

what questions does analytics help answer

• which marketing channels bring the most valuable customer?

• what contents/products are most popular

• where do we lose potential customers in the buying process

• is our website performing better or worse than last month

• what should we spend our marketing budget on

elements of ga4 setup and configuration

• now self paced

• account structure

• connecting a site or app

• enhanced measurement

• confirming data flows

• governance and permissions

now self paced

covered hands on in your gaiq certification modules

account structure

accounts → properties → data streams

connecting a site or app

google tag for web

firebase sdk for app

enhanced measurement

autotracks pageviews scrolls clicks downloads

confirming data flows

realtime report shows active visitors

governance and permissions

administrator editor marketer analyst viewer roles

conversion =

completing a desired action

conversion rate

% of visitors who convert

ga 4 as a filing cabinet

everything is organized into specific drawers or report categories so you can find exactly what you need

• reports

• admin

• advertising

• explore

• home

reports

pre built summaries of your data

admin

set up tracking and goals

advertising

attribution, conversion paths

explore

custom analysis tools

home

dashboard overview

acquisition

how do people find us?

• traffic sources, campaigns, user acquisition

engagement

what do people do on our site?

• page views, events, user behavior

monetization

are we making money?

• revenue, purchases, conversion funnels

retention

do people come back?

• returning users, lifetime value

key question for acquisition reports

where should i spend my marketing budget

traffic acquisition

• sessions by source/medium

• which channels drive the most traffic

• bounce rates by channel

use acqusition

• new users by source

• first time visitor channels

• cost per acquisition (if ads connected)

business insight for acquisition reports

if organic search brings 60% of traffic but social media has higher conversion rates, what should you do?

key question for engagement reports

is our content working? where do people get stuck

pages & screens

• most popular content

• bounce rates by page

• exit rates

events

• user actions (clicks scrolls downloads)

• video plays, form submissions

• custom events you set up

red flag for engagement reports

high bounce rate on your homepage

• means people aren’t finding what they expect

key question for monetization reports

are we actually making money? whats working?

ecommerce purchases

• revenue transactions average order value

• top selling products

• revenue by traffic source

publisher ads revenue

• ad revenue (if you display this)

• ad performance metrics

• revenue per user

business gold for monetization reports

which traffic source brings customers who spend the most money

key question for retention

how many customers come back and how much are they worth over time

user retention

• returning vs new users

• retention rate by cohort (day 1, 7, 28)

• churn signals: drop off after first visit

lifetime value

• predicted revenue per user over time

• purchase frequency and repeat rate

• ltv by acquisition

business insight for retention

if paid search brings high ltv customers but organic search brings more volume, where should you invest

essential metrics

• users

• sessions

• engaged sessions

• engagement rate

• event (page views)

• key even rate

• event count

• revenue

users

unique individuals who visited the site

sessions

number of visits to your site

engaged sessions

average time spent per visit