5 Ways We Use GA4 in Experimentation

Becoming proficient in Google Analytics, especially with the latest version, GA4, requires continual learning and adaptation. Despite the challenges, the benefits lie in the potential for optimised decision-making. Here, we explore five key ways we leverage GA4 in our experimentation efforts, ensuring that people, results, and experimentation remain at the forefront. 

1. Predictive Analytics for Informed Decision Making

In GA4, machine learning and artificial intelligence take the lead, offering predictive analytics capabilities that revolutionise our understanding of user behaviour. For instance, setting up purchase events on our website triggers GA4 to automatically create predictive audiences based on real user behaviours. This allows us to anticipate customer actions and tailor strategies accordingly. 

In Practice: Let’s say a retail website sets up purchase events in GA4. The platform then identifies patterns in user behaviour, such as browsing history and time spent on certain product pages. This data enables the retailer to create predictive audiences, identifying potential customers who are likely to make a purchase. With this insight, they can personalise marketing campaigns to target these audiences effectively.

Moreover, the fact that GA4 offers these advanced features for free ensures equal access to powerful analytics tools for businesses of all sizes.

2. Custom Reporting for Tailored Insights

GA4’s custom reporting capabilities provide us with tailored insights beyond what was possible with previous versions. We can now create tables and visualisations for cohorts, paths, funnels, and segments, enhancing our understanding of user journeys and conversion funnels.

In Practice: A SaaS company using GA4 can create custom reports to analyse user onboarding. By tracking events such as account creation, feature usage, and subscription upgrades, they can identify friction points in the onboarding process and optimise accordingly. These reports can be exported in various formats, facilitating collaboration and decision-making across teams.

3. Streamlined Event and Conversion Tracking

With GA4, event and conversion tracking become more streamlined and flexible, allowing for greater visibility and control over key actions and outcomes. The increased quota of up to 300 events per property and 30 conversion events provides ample room for tracking various user interactions and goals.

In Practice: An e-commerce store using GA4 can track events such as product views, add-to-cart actions, and purchases. By setting these up as conversion events, they can monitor the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, product launches, and website changes. Additionally, the ability to easily create and delete events within the GA4 platform ensures adaptability to changing business needs. 

4. Customisable Automated Tables for Flexible Reporting

GA4’s customisable automated tables empower us to tailor reporting to our specific requirements, offering deeper insights into performance metrics. Unlike previous versions, which limited the addition of dimensions, GA4 allows us to manipulate any data in reports with unlimited dimensions and metrics. 

In Practice: A content publisher using GA4 can customise automated tables to analyse the performance of different content types across various audience segments. By examining metrics such as page views, engagement time, and bounce rates, they can identify high-performing content and optimise their content strategy accordingly. This flexibility in reporting ensures that insights are actionable and relevant to our goals.

5. Anomaly Detection for Proactive Management

GA4’s anomaly detection feature utilises AI and machine learning to identify significant deviations from expected outcomes, enabling us to proactively address issues before they escalate. Adjusting sensitivity levels allows us to fine-tune anomaly detection to our risk preferences, ensuring that we focus on the most relevant anomalies.

In Practice: A financial services company using GA4 can set up anomaly detection to monitor daily transactions. If there is a significant drop in transaction volume or a sudden increase in transaction errors, GA4 will flag these anomalies for further investigation. By promptly addressing these issues, the company can minimise financial losses and maintain customer trust.

In conclusion, despite the initial challenges of adapting to GA4's interface and functionality changes, the benefits are undeniable. With features like predictive analytics, custom reporting, streamlined tracking, customisable tables, and anomaly detection, GA4 equips us with the tools to make data-backed decisions confidently. As we continue to experiment and iterate, GA4 remains a vital asset in our pursuit of meaningful results.