Should you switch to Google
Analytics 4? In this video, we're gonna answer that question. Hey there Measure geeks, Julian here
back with another video. Today, we want to answer the question that was
frequently asked in the last few past weeks. Should I switch
over to Google Analytics 4? And to be honest right up
front, no. Why would you? Let me explain this in a
little bit more detail. Now, if you're asking the question, should
I switch to Google Analytics 4? Then you're probably asking the question, should I switch from Universal Analytics? That is the older Google Analytics
version to Google Analytics 4, even upgrade to it. If you have
been using Google Analytics, you probably put some time
into understanding the reports, understanding how everything works, maybe even integrating custom
tracking into your system. And you are generally happy with
what Google Analytics delivers. And you maybe also pulling reports, sending this on to clients
or your stakeholders. If you have laid eyes on
Google Analytics 4 previously, you probably don't really
recognize anything because Google Analytics 4 is like a new analytics
tool that you now would be using. Which means there's a
new data model behind it. There are different tracking points, different metrics that you would find
in the system. The UI has changed. So you wouldn't find the reporting as
you had in Google Analytics Universal Analytics. So generally, there's
a whole new learning curve, a whole new thing that you need
to get used to and try out. Especially for those of you who work
with Google Analytics professionally. So you build your reports around this. You have integrated certain other
systems into Google Analytics. So it tracks custom information for you, or you have built custom reports
of the data that you have available. We'll have a hard
time to now just switch over. Their data model has changed in a way we
only have events available now that you would need to model your whole
data structure on this new data model and then make it work. So you have the same data
available in the system as well. Then it will be much harder to find your
old reports inside of the new Google Analytics 4 interface, but also build custom reports like
in Data Studio of that data set. Just because there are new metrics there,
there are also some old metrics there, but generally the pool of metrics
has become much smaller and Google Analytics 4 is banking model. You send custom data into the system
rather than Google Analytics 4 making all the different decisions
of what data should be in the system. So in general, there is a much different paradigm
around Google Analytics 4, and this is a whole new way
to get used to analytics, but also you would need to put
some time into learning the system. So I don't really see any reason why it
would completely switch over from one analytics tool to the next. But I would say there is a case to be
made if you want to stay in this Google ecosystem, of course, that you
get used to Google Analytics 4, and this means you should track in
parallel. So instead of switching, you should send data to your
universal analytics property, but then also to your
Google Analytics 4 property. And once data is coming into
your Google Analytics 4 property, you can check out what
metrics do I have available. Can I re replicate this different
report inside of Google Data Studio with my GA4 property? Am I able to see certain data points
that I was able to see in this report? And are you able to actually integrate
your systems that are most important for you into this new data model as well. And then at some point you might get
to the case that you are using GA4 much more than the universe analytics and
your reporting is not based on universal analytics anymore. And then yeah,
then it's time maybe to switch. But I would also predict that at
this time we probably have more information, more resources out there to actually
learn the best practices around Google Analytics 4, and we'll be all much smarter and half
a year down the line or a year down the line when Google Analytics 4 is much
more built out and all the features are built in and we are
able to really base our whole web analytics on a system like GA4. All right, so there you have
it, this is my little take on, should you switch to Google Analytics
4?if you have any kind of opinions around this, please let me know
in the comments down below, and also let me know how you like this
format of this video. If you haven't yet, then I could recommend to you, or I would encourage you to subscribe to
our channel right over there because we bring you new videos every week.
My name is Julian, till next time.
