July is quickly approaching and soon Google will close up shop for Universal Analytics. As we prepare to transition to GA4 for good, it’s important that we know how to analyze our information in the new platform in order to continue to report on our key metrics consistently.
Back when Google first made the announcement, we recommended everyone set up GA4 for their website as soon as possible so they would have access to year-over-year data within a single platform. Now, it’s time to jump in and start exploring the reports.
Today, let’s focus on the Acquisition Reports.
Here are the Acquisition Reports that we are all used to using in Universal Analytics:
This is where we would go when we want to analyze performance and metrics by source or channel. In GA4 we are able to find all of the same data, but the interface is a bit different.
Here’s what you will see in GA4:
The first thing you will notice is that you have significantly fewer report options under Acquisition in GA4. You no longer have dedicated reports by Source/Medium, Channel, Google Ads, Social, and Campaigns. Now the standard report options are Overview (shown above), User Acquisition, and Traffic Acquisition.
Acquisition Overview:This report will show you a broad overview of how each channel is performing. Each card will show you one metric, and give you the ability to toggle between different dimensions (channel, source/medium, campaign, etc).
To do a deeper analysis of your acquisition sources, you will want to use the User Acquisition Report or the Traffic Acquisition Report. The reports are very similar but one looks at Users (Unique Visitors) and the other looks at Traffic (Sessions).
User Acquisition Report:This is the report you would want to use to analyze how new users find you for the first time. Let’s take a closer look.
You can hover over each channel (or other dimension) below the cart to see only that information on the graph. If I hover over Organic Social, all of the other channels would be grayed out on the graph.
You can click here to change the dimension you are looking at. The default is Channel Group, but you can toggle to campaign or source/medium here. This feature replaces the additional reports that were included with Universal Analytics.
Engaged Sessions: The number of sessions that are over 10 seconds, have a conversion event, or the user visits multiple pages.
Engagement Rate: This metric replaces Bounce Rate in GA4. It is calculated by looking at the number of sessions compared to engaged sessions.
Average Engagement Time: This metric is similar to session duration. It is the amount of time a user spends on your website while in the foreground (not minimized or hidden behind another tab).
Event Count: We’ll talk a lot more about events over the coming weeks, but GA4 is much more event driven than Universal Analytics was.
Click on this + to add a secondary dimension. This allows you to dive deeper into your data.
Traffic Acquisition Report:This report can be used to discover which channels are driving new sessions to your website, and how they are performing.
This report is most like the acquisition reports we used frequently in Universal Analytics, and personally, I use this report more often than I do the User report. It is very similar but has some additional metrics including Users, New Users, and Sessions that we are already in the habit of using on our reports.
Just like the user report the + is how you would add your secondary dimension, and you can toggle between different dimensions as needed.
Keep an eye on our blog for more GA4 walkthroughs. Next time I will be taking a closer look at the Engagement Reports. For more tips, tutorials, and walkthroughs of GA4 created specifically for the homebuilding industry, join our GA4 Space in DYC All Access!
