For a tool that helps analyze business growth and take it forward, businesses across the world trust Google Analytics (GA). They hold complete confidence in its potential to track user behavior and customer experiences.  And yet, these millions of businesses demand more from Google Analytics to be able to measure returns on their digital marketing investment.

According to a recent survey, despite GA’s ability to determine your traffic source, examine website performance, and track user activity, marketers still fail to get a 360 degree view of customers and extract far-reaching insights on them.

This is why even though 84% of decision-makers consider cross-platform analytics “very important,” not more than 43% have actually implemented cross-platform analytics tools.

Consumer sentiment and behavior has shown a paradigm shift in how they interact with brands and make buying decisions. Google Analytics could not seem to match the pace and meet marketers’ expectations with its existing highlights.

Hence, the latest release from Google Analytics—Google Analytics 4.

What’s new in Google Analytics 4?

The latest GA version is a more streamlined tool with various AI-based advances such as better data controls and comprehensive predictive user insight.

The new release is an extended version of the App + Web property that was launched by Google in beta last year.

At the core of GA 4 sit machine learning and privacy concerns. The aim is to provide you with a  multi–platform and device view of the user without breaching their privacy even when any industry changes are introduced.

Therefore, you can make more informed decisions as well as every penny invested count and then some.

Here is a detailed view of the major features introduced in the new Google Analytics:

Detailed and predictive insights

Machine learning is known to Analytics for quite some time now. Then what’s different with Google Analytics 4?

With the insights that GA 4 can provide, you will:

• Get automatic alerts to the ever-changing buying trends.
• Be notified about an increase or decrease in a product’s demand, for instance, if your customers’ needs change.

^{Source: Google}

With the new predictive metrics being introduced, you will be able to:

• Estimate potential revenue from a particular group of customers.
• Predict users’ future behavior, determine high value customers, and find more efficient ways of valuable customer retention.

Enhanced integration with Google Ads

The new Google Analytics can be easily and deeply integrated with Google Ads, which is what allows you to:

• Create audiences that only come across your happy customers across the web.
• Automatically update your audience list when a user takes an action on the web but ends up making a purchase via the app. Therefore, you will not retarget the user with ads.

The upgraded version’s ability to examine web and app interactions at once further allows you to:

• Analyze conversion reports from YouTube engaged views from both in-app and on the web.

Holistic view of the customer journey

Considering how marketers have been unable to gain a complete picture of user engagement across devices and channels, Google aims to provide a holistic view with its latest Analytics release.

Rather than focusing on device- or channel-based measurement, it aims at measuring customer centricity on the whole. You can

• Learn how your customers interact with your brand as you provide your user ID or a unique Google signal to remove any duplicate user data before targeting them through ads.
• Look into particular aspects of a customer’s journey. Therefore, you can understand their complete lifecycle and make decisions in real time.

Granular data controls

Meticulous data controls is another extraordinary feature of the latest Google Analytics, which allows you to manage collection and retention of user data in improved ways.

Google has introduced consent mode for websites that need users’ permission to gather their data in Analytics. This way, Google has made a wonderful effort to make Analytics a valuable product for your customers or users too.

In addition, you will be able to:

• Respond to increasing and varying demands of customers as well as to the technology norms that keep changing for maintaining user privacy.
• Gain complete control over ad personalization, thereby being able to decide whether you want to use Analytics data for ad optimization or limit it to measurement.

What more can be expected of GA 4?

What’s unimaginable is how Google doesn’t fail to remain future-proof in the developments it makes. Google Analytics 4 is no different. As third-party cookies are being discontinued, Google has introduced machine learning to the upgrade to fill any possible data gaps.

"Now we have a brand new model that incorporates automatic conversion tracking, reusable slots, and a new server-side event system for ad-hoc conversions."

Creating Custom Conversions in Google Analytics 4 https://t.co/NSXUk3MNuR /by @CharlesFarina #measure pic.twitter.com/S0o7PNH68z

— Google Analytics (@googleanalytics) October 29, 2020

Apart from this, you can leverage:

• Codeless event tracking which helps cut how companies perform Google tracking code to measure user activity and behavior such as video views.
• Data deletion tool that eliminates any security issues when users do not want to provide their action information anymore.

Hence, with Google Analytics 4, you can effectively evaluate all your marketing efforts.

Makes it a deal to steal yet?

A smarter Analytics tool will allow you to meet customer expectations, no matter how much uncertainty the future holds. With granular controls over data, you can use customer data better to only improve your digital marketing strategy down the line.

With the introduction of GA 4, Google recommends you either use it for any new property or use both Google Analytics 4 and Universal Analytics correspondingly.

If you want a complete understanding of the new Analytics, consult our experts at Growth Natives and we will help you determine and improve how your customers interact with your brand.