GA4 reporting capabilities – everything you need to know

Written by Naomi Greenwood, Marketing Account Manager

Here’s what we know about GA4 so far

We have some bad news for those hoping to continue using Universal Analytics… you can’t. Following the announcement of the GA4 update, Google also announced that Universal Analytics will officially stop processing data July 2023.

So, if you haven’t already, start thinking about setting up GA4 for yourself and your clients to ensure you have enough historical data before Universal Analytics goes kaput next summer.

The good news is that GA4 includes a slew of new reporting features that weren’t available in standard, old Universal Analytics. So, for Marketing Managers, Brand Managers, and Public Relations Managers alike, here are some great resources to get you started with GA4 reporting.

General GA4 knowledge and basics

Helpful for learning how to navigate the new GA4 interface and access custom reports.

Path exploration report

The path exploration techniques enables you to discover:

• The top pages users open after opening the home page as well as the rest of their journey throughout the website
• Looping behaviour which may indicate users becoming stuck
• Determining the effects of an event on subsequent users actions

Free-form exploration report

The free-form exploration report can be used to:

• Analyse and display all metrics
• Visualise data in a table or graph
• Arrange and order the rows and columns of the table as you like
• Compare multiple metrics side by side
• Create nested rows to group the data
• Refine the free-form exploration using segments and filters
• Create segments and audiences from selected data

Funnel exploration report

The funnel exploration report can:

• Help you visualise the steps your users take to complete a task and quickly see how well they’re succeeding or failing at each step to help improve inefficient or abandoned customer journeys
• For example, what’s the process of becoming a new user to submitting an enquiry? How do prospects become shoppers and then become buyers? How do one time buyers become repeat buyers?

User explorer report

The user explorer report helps you:

• Select specific groups of users, such as users who engaged with your property on both your app and website, and drill down on each individual user’s activities to help personalise their experience
• Gain insight into or troubleshoot a specific user flow

Creating segments

Segments can also be created. Segments, when combined with an in-depth understanding of specific customer personas, are an excellent way to compare and understand different customer journeys.

Types of segments you can create:

• User segments
  • User segments are subsets of users who engaged with your site, for example, users who submitted a contact form, users who went to complete contact form but didn’t finish

• Event segments
  • Event segments are subsets of events that were triggered on your site, for example, all enquiries made in a particular location

• Session segments
  • Session segments are subsets of the sessions that occurred on your site, for example, all the sessions that originated from a particular campaign

Segment overlap report

Once you understand the basics of segments, you can create a segment overlap report that can:

• Allow you to compare up to 3 user segments to quickly see how those segments overlap and relate to each other
• Help you isolate specific audiences based on complex conditions and you can then create new segments based on your findings, which you can apply to other reports

It’s a lot to take in, we know! But to ensure your business and clients are staying competitive, you need stay one step ahead of the game and use GA4 reporting to your advantage.

If you need help understanding GA4’s new capabilities and reports, please reach out. Responsive to all the latest marketing trends, tools, and software, LS Media and Marketing can provide you with current, quality marketing services for your goals.