Leverage Google Analytics 4 (GA4) Demo Properties

Universal Analytics will sunset in 2023! GA4 Demo Account - two properties. In this blogpost you will learn different strategies to get up to ... SkiptomaincontentSkiptoprimarysidebarSkiptofooterLearnbyexperimentingwiththeGoogleAnalytics4demoimplementationsandproperties.Thisisamustdoifyoudon’thavea(fullyfunctioning)GA4propertyyet.Getstartedtoday! Atthetimeofwriting,GoogleAnalytics4(GA4)isstillevolvingandis notthereyet.Thenumberofpowerfulfeaturesandintegrationsareincreasing,butsomekeyfeaturesarestillmissing. Youcan’ttransferyourUniversalAnalyticsdatatoGA4.So,IrecommendsettingupyourGoogleAnalytics4property verysoonifyouhaven’tyet.UniversalAnalyticswillsunsetin2023! InthisblogpostyouwilllearndifferentstrategiestogetuptospeedwithGA4evenifyoudon’thaveyourownGA4propertyyet. TableofContents GA4vsGA3Ecommerceimplementation GA4DemoProperties GA4andBigQuery ConcludingThoughts Let’sstartwithanintroductiontoGA4’sEcommerceimplementation. GA4vsGA3EcommerceImplementation TheGA4(Ecommerce)implementationcanbedauntingatfirst. HerearethreeresourcesIrecommendreadingwhenyouneedtosetupGA4Ecommerceonyourwebsite. [UA→GA4]MigrateecommercedatacollectionfromUAtoGA4(Google) GoogleAnalytics4:ImplementationGuide(GTM)(Google) GoogleAnalytics4:EcommerceGuideforGoogleTagManager(SimoAhava) Inaddition,youcanreviewtheGA4coding(gtag.jsandGTM)fromasimpliedGoogleAnalytics4demoEcommerceimplementationonalivewebsite. Thissiteishelpfultogetaninitialfeelingabouttheimplementationrequired. GA4DemoProperties WorkingwithandanalyzingGA4datafromexternalaccountscanbeyourdoorwaytogettinguptospeedwithGA4! Ofcourse,owningawebsitewithafullyfunctionalGA4implementationisideal.However,thisisnotrealisticforeveryone. TheGoogleAnalyticsdemoaccountisanaccountfromGoogleeverybodycangetaccessto. Pleasenotethatyoucanonlyget readaccesswhichaffectswhatyoucan/can’tdoandseeintheiraccount. Clickheretogetaccesstotheirdemoproperties: GoogleAnalytics4property:GoogleMerchandiseStore(webdata) GoogleAnalytics4property:Flood-It!(appandwebdata) Note:youcanalsogetaccesstotheirUniversalAnalyticsproperty(GoogleMerchandiseStoredata). GoogleMerchandiseStore IwillfirstshareabitabouttheGA4propertyfromGoogleMerchandiseStore. Admin ThisiswhereyoucanexploremostofthepropertysettingsfromthisGA4property. Pleasenotethat(almost)allsettingsaregrayedoutasyoucanonlyviewandnotchangethem. MakesurethatallrelevantsettingsareinplacewhenyousetupyourownGA4property. Hereisalistofsettingsyouneedtorunthrough. Reports Inthissectionyoucangothroughallthereportsthatare(currently)availableondefault. ImentioncurrentlyasIexpectGoogletomakesomechangeshereinthenearbyfuture. Inthenavbarunder“Reportssnapshot”youcanclickonseveraldifferentreports.Irecommendexploringthissectiontogetfamiliarwiththestandardreports. Tip: Customizethestandardreportsandtemplateswhenyouhaveedit/administratoraccesstoaGA4property(thatyouown). [GA4]Customizereportnavigation [GA4]Customizereports [GA4]Customizeoverviewreportsand“Reportssnapshot” *ThisisnotapplicabletotheGoogleAnalytics4demopropertiesduetoaccesslevelrestrictions. Explore Thesecondtabinthemainmenuis“Explore”.Thisiswhereyoucanuseadvancedexplorationstodigthroughyourdataforinsights. Previously,thisfeaturewasonlyavailableinGA360(paidaccounts)andnowyoucanaccessitforfree! Youhavetwooptions,asyoucancreateyourownexplorationsaswellaslearnfrom“shared”explorations(byGoogle). InafutureblogpostIwillexplainhowtoeffectivelyusethisfeatureinGA4. Advertising TheAdvertisingsectionisadifferentsectioninGA4thatallowsyoutoanalyzetheconversionjourneyandtouchpointsinmoredepth(attribution). Advertisingsnapshot:Getaquickoverviewofbusinessmetrics,andthendigdeeperintotheareasyouwanttoexplore. Modelcomparison:Comparehowdifferentattributionmodelsimpactthevaluationofyourmarketingchannels. Conversionpaths:Seeyourcustomers’pathstoconversion,andlearnhowdifferentattributionmodelsdistributecreditonthosepaths. YouhavetheoptiontoselectoneormoreconversioneventswhenanalyzingtheGoogleAnalytics4Demodataset. Bydefault,allconversioneventsareselected.Irecommend(inmostcases)isolatingoneconversioneventswhenanalyzingthereportdata. Configure Thelasttab“Configure”ismainlyaboutconfigurationelementsinGoogleAnalytics4. Itisveryhelpfultogothroughthissectionasyouwilllearn: WhicheventsaredefinedandtrackedintheGoogleAnalytics4demoproperty. Theconversion(events)thataredefinedbyGoogle. DetailsaroundAudiencestheyhavesetup. Eventparametersthatarespecifiedasacustomdimensionorcustommetric. Userpropertiesthataremeasured. Ihaveleftthe“DebugView”outinrelationtothisGA4demoproperty.Thisisbecauseusuallymanydevicesareconnectedtothisfeaturewhichwillmakeit(almost)impossibletoeffectivelyusethisfeature. Hereisanexample,78devicesareactiveandyouneedtoselectyourdevicetodebugyourspecificGA4data. Flood-It! Theotherpropertyyoucangetaccesstoisshownbelow. AbigdifferencebetweenthispropertyandtheGA4DemoMerchandiseStore,isthatthispropertycontainsbothappandwebdata. Youcanexploreallthetopicsmentionedbefore,butbareinmind TheAppdataisfundamentallydifferentintermsofwhatistracked/visible. Events Userproperties Customdimensionsandmetrics Channelsandattribution IrecommendfocusingontheGoogleAnalytics4GoogleMerchandiseStoreif you(expectto)mainlyworkonwebsites. But,exploretheGA4Flood-It!environmentsifAppsareyourmainbusiness! GA4andBigQuery GoogleAnalytics4comeswitha“free”BigQueryintegration. AreyouinterestedtoexploretheGA4BigQuerydataschema,butyoudon’thaveaGA4BigQueryintegrationsetupyet? Noworries,thereisagreatpossibilityforyoutoexploresomeGA4dataalready! FollowtheinstructionsinthisGooglesupportdocandyouwillsoonhaveaccesstoBigQueryandGA4data! ThedatasetisprimaryusefulforexploringthebenefitsofexportingAnalyticsdatatoBigQuery. *ThesampledatasetcontainsobfuscatedAnalyticsdatafromtheGoogleMerchandiseStore,arealecommercestore. ConcludingThoughts GoogleAnalytics4demodataisinstantlyavailableviaavarietyofmethods. Ihighlyrecommendexploringtheseresourcesifyouhaven’tsetupyourGA4propertyyet.Then,youwillgetamuchbetterfeelingofhowGA4worksandwhatdatatoexpectwhenyousetupGoogleAnalytics4. Thisisitfrommyside. WhatareyourthoughtsonGA4and(free)educationalresources?Anytipsarewelcome! Onelastthing...MakesuretogetmyautomatedGoogleAnalyticsAuditTool.Itcontains25keyhealthchecksontheGoogleAnalyticsSetup. GetFreeAccesstoTheGoogleAnalyticsAuditTool(Visited1,671times,1visitstoday)ReaderInteractions LeaveaReplyCancelreplyYouremailaddresswillnotbepublished.Requiredfieldsaremarked*Comment*Name* Email* Website Δ ThissiteusesAkismettoreducespam.Learnhowyourcommentdataisprocessed.PrimarySidebarAboutPaulKoks Hi,I'mheretoenhanceyourdataqualityandinsightssothatyoucanimproveyourbusiness.Withover30.000happy,monthlyreadersandapopularnewsletter.Continuereading SubscribetoOnlineMetricsNewsletter SubscribeandgetyourcopyofthepopularautomatedGoogleAnalyticsAuditToolforfree. ReviewourPrivacyPolicyandTermsofUse. AsSeenOn PopularArticles TheUltimateGuidetoMasterRegularExpressionsin…TheCompleteGuidetoGoogleAnalyticsContentGroupingsHowtoQuicklyDiscoverandSolve(NotSet)Issues…SixChallengesofQualitativeDataAnalysisUltimateGuidetoUsingGoogleAnalyticsFilters FooterContact paul(at)online-metrics.com ABOUTUS OnlineMetricsenhancesyourdataqualityandinsightssothatyoucanimproveyourbusinessresults. 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