Sadly, many small businesses still underuse Google Analytics and miss out on the various benefits the tool can offer. But it is time to understand that to make your business stand out from the crowd, you need the power of analytics. After all, understanding how people interact with your website is no longer a luxury, but it’s a necessity. Especially with the power of Google Analytics 4 or GA4, small businesses can gather more data from their sales and marketing, and make the most optimised decisions.
This tool is the latest iteration of Google’s free analytics platform. While it’s a departure from its predecessor, Universal Analytics (UA), GA4 offers powerful benefits that can genuinely help small businesses thrive online, even without a marketing degree. In this blog, Adivorous, one of the leading digital marketing companies in the city, will help you know all the benefits of Google Analytics 4.
What is Google Analytics 4?
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the latest version of Google’s web and app analytics platform, designed to provide a more holistic and privacy-conscious view of user behaviour across devices and channels. Unlike its predecessor, Universal Analytics, GA4 uses an event-based data model rather than session-based tracking, allowing for more flexible and detailed insights into user interactions.
It integrates data from both websites and mobile apps into a single property, enabling businesses to understand the full customer journey. GA4 also includes advanced features like predictive analytics, cookieless tracking, and enhanced privacy controls, making it better suited for today’s businesses. Meaning, you will have a better and accurate reading of the behavioural pattern of your audience.
Google Analytics 4 Moves from Session-Based to Event-Based
As mentioned before, the latest update of Google Analytics 4 makes a huge upgrade in its core functionality. Before this change, GA was session-based, also known as Universal Analytics. The basic premise of this system was that it used to count how many people visited your website, thus a traffic-focused approach. However, GA4 takes this a step further by analysing the action taken by each visitor on your website. In particular, how much time did they spend, on which pages did they dwell more, where they clicked the most, and from which page they bounced off.
Thus, in GA4, everything is an event; for example, a page view is an event, and a button click is an event as well. Moreover, if your visitors are watching a video, even that is an event. This granular approach gives you a much deeper and more accurate understanding of how users are truly engaging with your website and even your mobile app, if you have one. Thus, to total collection of data on each and every move of your users on your website gives you the power to profile their behaviour and make adjustments to your website accordingly.
Benefits of Google Analytics 4 that Every Small Business Owner Should Know
Many small businesses have both a website and a presence on social media or even a mobile app. Previously, tracking user journeys across these different platforms was a fragmented mess. However, the latest GA4 allows you to combine data from your website and app into a single property. This means you can see the complete customer journey, from how they first discover you to their interactions across different touchpoints. Understanding this full picture helps you optimise your marketing efforts and refine the overall user experience.
On the other hand, Universal Analytics, often used to focus too much on “bounce rate,” which could be misleading. A quick visit doesn’t always mean a bad visit. Contrary to that, Google Analytics 4 introduces “engagement rate” and other metrics that highlight truly active users. Those who spend a certain amount of time on your site, view multiple pages, or complete a specific action. This gives you a more meaningful understanding of how valuable your content is to your audience.
Moreover, in case you want to know if people are clicking on a specific download button or scrolling to the bottom of your long-form blog post, in UA, this often requires a complex setup. However, GA4 makes tracking many of these “enhanced measurement” events automatic, saving you time and technical headaches. You can also easily define what a “conversion” means for your business, whether it’s a contact form submission, an email signup, or a purchase; GA4 can track it effectively.
Why You Need to Opt for Google Analytics 4?
GA4 incorporates machine learning to provide predictive metrics. This means it can offer insights into the probability of a user purchasing or churning (leaving your site). For a small business, this can be incredibly powerful for anticipating trends, optimising your inventory, or proactively engaging with customers. Furthermore, with increasing global focus on data privacy, GA4 is designed with more robust privacy controls. It is offering features like cookieless measurement and enhanced consent controls.
Thus, this helps you build trust with your audience and comply with evolving regulations. Moreover, if you use Google Ads or other Google marketing tools, GA4 offers more seamless integration. This allows you to connect your marketing spend directly to your website’s performance. Therefore, helping you understand your return on investment and refine your ad campaigns for better results. So, it can be seen that there are numerous benefits of using Google Analytics 4 in order to make your business more functional.
Adivorous Uses the Power of Digital Marketing for Your Success
The first service that we provide to our clients is setting up their Google Analytics, which integrates well with their website and even their mobile app. We properly set up their GA4 property so it can act as a proper point for collecting data. After this, we start the process of connecting your website (and app, if applicable) to GA4. Furthermore, we start focusing on acquisition (where users come from), engagement (what they do on your site), and monetisation (if you have an e-commerce store).
Remember, Google Analytics 4 is more than just an update; it’s a powerful evolution that empowers small businesses with a deeper, more accurate understanding of their online audience. By embracing its event-driven model and leveraging its insights, you can make more informed decisions about your website content, marketing strategies, and ultimately, drive growth for your business. Here, Adivorous will guide you, make adjustments to your website and bring more success to your business.
FAQs
- What’s the main difference from the old Google Analytics (UA)?
- GA4 tracks events (clicks, scrolls, video plays) instead of just page views. This means you see what users actually do on your site, not just that they visited.
- Do I need a mobile app to use GA4 effectively?
- No, absolutely not! GA4 is excellent for websites alone, offering deep insights into user behaviour and engagement without needing an app.
- Is GA4 harder to learn than the previous version?
- It’s different, but many complex tracking setups are now automated in GA4. Once you get used to the new layout, it’s very powerful for understanding user journeys.
- How can GA4 help my website’s content and marketing?
- GA4 shows you exactly what content engages users and helps connect your marketing spend (e.g., Google Ads) directly to results, so you can optimise both.
- What’s the best first step for a small business with GA4?
- Set up your GA4 property, add the tracking code to your website, and then start exploring reports on user Acquisition (where they come from) and Engagement (what they do on your site).
