Your website is performing well, but conversions on your app are falling short of expectations. The effectiveness of your digital marketing depends on maximizing your conversion rate. Driving traffic to your platforms is the first objective of the marketing process, but sales transactions are the end goal. Understanding user behavior is the key to successful conversions.

Universal Analytics has long been an indispensable tool for collecting and understanding user data. UA is being phased out in July of 2023, however. Its replacement, Google Analytics 4, offers several significant improvements over the original program to take your data collection and marketing campaigns into the future.

What Does Google Analytics 4 Do?

Google Analytics 4 works across multiple platforms to show you where your marketing is effective for all points of interaction, including both your website and your apps. This new tool uses machine learning to better interpret user behaviors. The program collects data without the use of cookies or storing IP information, helping to meet the privacy expectations of your visitors.

1. Analyze Customer Behavior

Google Analytics 4 tracks your customers from point of entry on your site or app and follows their journey across all platforms.

Traffic Source

You’ll discover how visitors were directed to you. Are they coming from a Google search? Are you getting click-through traffic from your social media posts? Is Facebook or Instagram sending more visitors per advertising dollar? How is your Google Ads campaign performing?

Customer Pathways

Once visitors are interacting with your platforms, what path do they take to a purchase? Are they kicking tires, or do they move right through your sales funnel as you envisioned? This is where you learn whether you’ve made it easy and enjoyable to navigate your platforms and complete a purchase.

Resulting Data

Analytics 4 uses machine learning to improve the analysis of user behavior and provide more insightful evaluations of this data. You will learn more specifically what motivates your visitors to become buyers, and which areas cause them to lose interest. This is vital information for improving conversion rates. 

2. Improve Customer Privacy

Google Analytics 4 no longer depends on cookies. Cookies have been used for years to recognize returning customers and fine-tune user experience. Unfortunately, cookies have never been particularly well-understood nor appreciated by users; many users now often opt out of accepting them. Analytics 4 allows you to cater to your audience without the use of cookies.

The program also no longer stores IP addresses, further enhancing user privacy.

3. Use Data More Effectively

Google Analytics 4 allows you to do more with your data and improve the return on your advertising investment. Your user data analysis can now be exported directly to Google Ads and other Google Marketing Platform tools to maximize the effectiveness of this information.

Integrating your data with your marketing campaigns helps you to create new audiences and predict future interactions with your customers. Understanding your audience is a huge advantage in guiding them seamlessly across your platforms to a completed sale.

Analytics 4 gives you the insights you need to accomplish this goal and improve your ROI.

How Is Google Analytics 4 Implemented?

Implementing Google Analytics 4 is a simple process. You initiate a Google account if you don’t already have one. Your website and app are then connected to your account, enabling your platforms to send user data to Google.

Your developer will establish Google Analytics 4 as part of your digital marketing campaign. The resulting data can be exported directly to your Google Marketing Platform, your Google Ads, and used for improving your sales.

If you are considering a digital marketing program, or you would like to learn more about optimizing conversion rates and improving your online sales, get in touch with Sprout Media Lab online or give us a call at (800) 617-6975, today!