Using first-party data in GA4
With Google Analytics, you can gain comprehensive insights into visitor behavior, provided the data is collected accurately and completely. By utilizing Server-Side Tagging, you can make the most of your first-party data as it is processed more accurately and securely, with reduced impact from privacy restrictions. This section explores the most popular and important reports in Google Analytics and how to interpret and leverage the data collected in these reports. For each key report, we will outline the insights you can gain, the conclusions you can draw, and the possible actions to take based on those conclusions.
Traffic Acquisition & User Acquisition
The traffic and user acquisition reports in GA4 provide insights into the channels driving visitors to your website. These reports allow you to evaluate which channels generate the most traffic and which contribute to acquiring new users. This gives a clear picture of your overall marketing performance and helps identify the strongest and weakest channels.
The user acquisition report focuses solely on new users, those not previously detected by GA4. The traffic acquisition report, on the other hand, includes all users—both new and returning. By default, visitors are categorized into different channel groups based on their source. GA4 automatically organizes traffic into standard channel groups such as ‘Organic Search,’ ‘Direct,’ ‘Paid Search,’ ‘Social,’ and more.
To ensure these reports are as accurate as possible, it’s essential to add UTM parameters to the links in your campaigns. UTM parameters provide additional information about the source, medium, and campaign of your traffic, which is vital for GA4 to categorize it correctly. Without UTM parameters, traffic might be recorded as ‘Direct,’ leading to inaccurate insights and missed opportunities to evaluate specific campaign performance.
Key Insights from These Reports
Primary Traffic Sources: Identify which channels generate the most traffic and attract the highest number of new users. This helps prioritize marketing budgets and efforts for optimal returns.
User Quality by Channel: Compare not just the number of visitors but also behavior metrics such as average session duration, bounce rate, and conversion rate by channel. This reveals whether users from a particular channel are engaging or converting.
New vs. Returning Users: Determine whether a channel mainly attracts new users or encourages returning visitors, providing insights into its contribution to audience reach and loyalty.
Possible Next Steps
• Optimize Underperforming Channels: If a channel generates traffic but shows low engagement, reevaluate your strategy for that channel. This might involve improving targeting, content, or ad frequency. Often, there is a mismatch between visitor expectations upon clicking a campaign and what they encounter on the landing page.
• Adjust Budget Allocation: Allocate more budget to high-performing channels to maximize returns. Conversely, scale back or stop investing in poorly performing channels.
• Develop Channel-Specific Campaigns: Create tailored campaigns for high-performing channels to attract new users or encourage returning visitors to convert again.
ages and Screens & Landing Pages
The ‘Pages and Screens’ report shows which pages/screens on your website or app are visited, along with key metrics like session duration and bounce rate. The ‘Landing Pages’ report focuses on the first pages users encounter when visiting your site and evaluates their effectiveness in engaging and retaining visitors.
Key Insights from These Reports
Top-Performing Pages or Screens: Identify which pages generate the most traffic and engagement and where users linger or drop off quickly.
Effectiveness of Landing Pages: Assess which landing pages are most popular and drive conversions, or conversely, cause users to leave quickly. What is the first impression visitors have of your site and brand?
Possible Actions
• Optimize Landing Pages: Improve pages with high bounce rates by adding more relevant content and stronger call-to-actions. Also, check the load time of your most popular pages and look for improvement opportunities.
• Expand Popular Content: Enhance successful pages with additional content or optimize them to function as landing pages for campaigns.
• Refine Conversion Paths: Identify points where visitors often drop off during the conversion process and enhance those areas, such as simplifying the UX.
Technology: Overview
The ‘Technology: Overview’ report in GA4 provides insights into the technical characteristics of users visiting your website, such as their device, operating system, and browser. This information is invaluable for optimizing your website and user experience.
Key Insights from This Report
Device Performance: Discover which device types (desktop, mobile, tablet) are most commonly used and how users experience your site across different devices.
Browsers and Operating Systems: Analyze the most popular browsers and operating systems to ensure your site or app performs well across major platforms or to identify potential compatibility issues. This is particularly important as some systems and browsers employ tracking prevention methods.
Screen Resolutions: Understanding common screen resolutions helps ensure your site displays correctly across different screen sizes.
Possible Actions
• A/B Testing on Specific Devices: Conduct A/B tests on devices or browsers with lower performance to identify improvements in user experience. For example, test different layouts for specific device types.
• Optimize Content and UX for Mobile: If mobile traffic is growing but performance lags, optimize content and UX for mobile devices by using larger buttons, simpler navigation, or faster load times. If over half of your visitors access your site via mobile, mobile optimization should be a top priority.
• Monitor and Optimize Load Times: For visitors on slow networks, optimize pages and media content (like images) to reduce load times and enhance the mobile experience.
E-commerce Purchases
The ‘E-commerce Purchases’ report is specifically designed for eCommerce websites that track the entire customer journey via an eCommerce DataLayer. This report provides insights into customer purchasing behavior, from viewing specific products to completing a purchase. For businesses that process sales through external systems or sales funnels (outside their website), this report may be less relevant, as tracking often cannot capture the entire customer journey.
Be aware of differences in values between this report and others. Other reports show the value of the purchase event, which includes the total transaction amount (products, taxes, shipping costs). The E-commerce Purchases report breaks down the value of individual products, helping to see each product’s contribution to total revenue and performance.
Key Insights from This Report
Product Performance: Identify which products sell best, their average value per sale, and the number of units sold per product.
Purchase Behavior and Funnel Analysis: Examine the customer journey, from product views and cart additions to final purchases. This highlights where users may drop off during the buying process.
Possible Conclusions
• Identify Top Products: Analyze frequently purchased or high-revenue products to pinpoint popular and profitable items.
• Optimize the Funnel: Address issues where users add products to their cart but don’t complete purchases, or where products are frequently viewed but rarely added to the cart. Understand barriers preventing conversions.
• Focus on Specific Products: Run targeted campaigns for high-converting products or poorly performing ones to boost conversion rates. Introduce cross-selling or upselling by showcasing related products or discounts during checkout to focus attention on underperforming items.
Traffic Acquisition & User Acquisition
The traffic and user acquisition reports in GA4 provide insights into the channels driving visitors to your website. These reports allow you to evaluate which channels generate the most traffic and which contribute to acquiring new users. This gives a clear picture of your overall marketing performance and helps identify the strongest and weakest channels.
The user acquisition report focuses solely on new users, those not previously detected by GA4. The traffic acquisition report, on the other hand, includes all users—both new and returning. By default, visitors are categorized into different channel groups based on their source. GA4 automatically organizes traffic into standard channel groups such as ‘Organic Search,’ ‘Direct,’ ‘Paid Search,’ ‘Social,’ and more.
To ensure these reports are as accurate as possible, it’s essential to add UTM parameters to the links in your campaigns. UTM parameters provide additional information about the source, medium, and campaign of your traffic, which is vital for GA4 to categorize it correctly. Without UTM parameters, traffic might be recorded as ‘Direct,’ leading to inaccurate insights and missed opportunities to evaluate specific campaign performance.
Key Insights from These Reports
Primary Traffic Sources: Identify which channels generate the most traffic and attract the highest number of new users. This helps prioritize marketing budgets and efforts for optimal returns.
User Quality by Channel: Compare not just the number of visitors but also behavior metrics such as average session duration, bounce rate, and conversion rate by channel. This reveals whether users from a particular channel are engaging or converting.
New vs. Returning Users: Determine whether a channel mainly attracts new users or encourages returning visitors, providing insights into its contribution to audience reach and loyalty.
Possible Next Steps
• Optimize Underperforming Channels: If a channel generates traffic but shows low engagement, reevaluate your strategy for that channel. This might involve improving targeting, content, or ad frequency. Often, there is a mismatch between visitor expectations upon clicking a campaign and what they encounter on the landing page.
• Adjust Budget Allocation: Allocate more budget to high-performing channels to maximize returns. Conversely, scale back or stop investing in poorly performing channels.
• Develop Channel-Specific Campaigns: Create tailored campaigns for high-performing channels to attract new users or encourage returning visitors to convert again.
ages and Screens & Landing Pages
The ‘Pages and Screens’ report shows which pages/screens on your website or app are visited, along with key metrics like session duration and bounce rate. The ‘Landing Pages’ report focuses on the first pages users encounter when visiting your site and evaluates their effectiveness in engaging and retaining visitors.
Key Insights from These Reports
Top-Performing Pages or Screens: Identify which pages generate the most traffic and engagement and where users linger or drop off quickly.
Effectiveness of Landing Pages: Assess which landing pages are most popular and drive conversions, or conversely, cause users to leave quickly. What is the first impression visitors have of your site and brand?
Possible Actions
• Optimize Landing Pages: Improve pages with high bounce rates by adding more relevant content and stronger call-to-actions. Also, check the load time of your most popular pages and look for improvement opportunities.
• Expand Popular Content: Enhance successful pages with additional content or optimize them to function as landing pages for campaigns.
• Refine Conversion Paths: Identify points where visitors often drop off during the conversion process and enhance those areas, such as simplifying the UX.
Technology: Overview
The ‘Technology: Overview’ report in GA4 provides insights into the technical characteristics of users visiting your website, such as their device, operating system, and browser. This information is invaluable for optimizing your website and user experience.
Key Insights from This Report
Device Performance: Discover which device types (desktop, mobile, tablet) are most commonly used and how users experience your site across different devices.
Browsers and Operating Systems: Analyze the most popular browsers and operating systems to ensure your site or app performs well across major platforms or to identify potential compatibility issues. This is particularly important as some systems and browsers employ tracking prevention methods.
Screen Resolutions: Understanding common screen resolutions helps ensure your site displays correctly across different screen sizes.
Possible Actions
• A/B Testing on Specific Devices: Conduct A/B tests on devices or browsers with lower performance to identify improvements in user experience. For example, test different layouts for specific device types.
• Optimize Content and UX for Mobile: If mobile traffic is growing but performance lags, optimize content and UX for mobile devices by using larger buttons, simpler navigation, or faster load times. If over half of your visitors access your site via mobile, mobile optimization should be a top priority.
• Monitor and Optimize Load Times: For visitors on slow networks, optimize pages and media content (like images) to reduce load times and enhance the mobile experience.
E-commerce Purchases
The ‘E-commerce Purchases’ report is specifically designed for eCommerce websites that track the entire customer journey via an eCommerce DataLayer. This report provides insights into customer purchasing behavior, from viewing specific products to completing a purchase. For businesses that process sales through external systems or sales funnels (outside their website), this report may be less relevant, as tracking often cannot capture the entire customer journey.
Be aware of differences in values between this report and others. Other reports show the value of the purchase event, which includes the total transaction amount (products, taxes, shipping costs). The E-commerce Purchases report breaks down the value of individual products, helping to see each product’s contribution to total revenue and performance.
Key Insights from This Report
Product Performance: Identify which products sell best, their average value per sale, and the number of units sold per product.
Purchase Behavior and Funnel Analysis: Examine the customer journey, from product views and cart additions to final purchases. This highlights where users may drop off during the buying process.
Possible Conclusions
• Identify Top Products: Analyze frequently purchased or high-revenue products to pinpoint popular and profitable items.
• Optimize the Funnel: Address issues where users add products to their cart but don’t complete purchases, or where products are frequently viewed but rarely added to the cart. Understand barriers preventing conversions.
• Focus on Specific Products: Run targeted campaigns for high-converting products or poorly performing ones to boost conversion rates. Introduce cross-selling or upselling by showcasing related products or discounts during checkout to focus attention on underperforming items.
Updated on: 22/11/2024
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