Introduction
In the Blue Bite Experience Studio, we allow users to add Google Analytics tracking on their Experiences to gain insights on consumer behavior.
Google now requires all customers to move to a new version of the platform, Google Analytics 4 (GA4). This article explores the changes you’ll need to make to ensure Google Analytics continues to function properly with the Experience Studio.
What is Google Analytics 4?
Google Analytics 4 is Google’s next-generation analytics platform. It replaces the previous Google Analytics offering, Universal Analytics (UA).
Beginning July 1st, 2023, Universal Analytics properties will no longer collect analytics data. You will be able to see historical UA reports for a period of time after July 1, 2023.
Find more information in Google's migration guide.
What is changing between Universal Analytics and GA4?
Event Data
In Google Analytics, events are the type of action that is being tracked (e.g. a click or a page view). For each Universal Analytics event, you were able to include the following data points:
- Event category, event action and event label.
- Custom Dimensions
In GA4, these Event data points have been redefined:
- Each event must have an Event Name.
- All other data points (Event Category and Label, Custom Dimensions) should be reported as custom event parameters.
Custom Dimensions
In Universal Analytics, dimensions in Google Analytics were Hit, User, Session, or Product scoped. In GA4, dimensions are Event, User, or Item scoped. We advise users to leverage GA4’s Event-scoped dimensions, which are equivalent to Hit-scoped dimensions in Universal Analytics.
In GA4, Custom Dimensions are, for the most part, a way to create “friendly” names for event parameters in Google’s interfaces for reporting purposes. So, if you had a custom data point called “dimension1”, you could give that dimension a friendlier name, like “Project Name”. That said, GA4 supports descriptive event parameter names (e.g. "project_name" or "destination_url" instead of "dimension1").
What is changing in the Experience Studio?
Global Event Configurations
- Users will be able to specify more than one Measurement ID (formerly known as a “Tracking ID” in Universal Analytics). This will allow you to report to multiple Google Analytic properties at once. Each property will receive the same event data.
- Users can provide custom event parameters (formerly known as “Custom Dimensions”) at the Experience-level. Event parameters configured here will still be reported for all events on all components in your Experience.
- These custom parameters no longer need to be in the form dimension1 = “My Cool Project”. Instead, users can configure event parameters like project_name = “My Cool Project", or object_id = {{tag:data:uuid}}.
Component Event Configurations
- If analytics is enabled (for the Experience and the component), users will be able to specify an event name specific to each component.
- Users can provide custom event parameters (formerly limited to “Event Category”, “Event Action” and “Event Label”) for each component.
- These custom parameters no longer need to be in the form “Event Category” = “some value”. Instead, users can configure event parameters like “destination_url” = “https://bluebite.com” for a URL Link button.
Event Parameter Limitations
Each GA4 event sent from the Experience Studio will be limited to 20 custom Event Parameters. For click events, that means that the sum of Global and Component-specific event parameters must be less than 20.
Impact on Existing Experiences
The content of your Experiences will not be changed unless you take direct action. If you do nothing, Events will be reported to the same Universal Analytics property you have configured. Events from your Experiences will include the same Custom Dimensions, Event Category, Event Action and Event Label.
What do I need to do before July 1st, 2023?
There are two approaches you can take to migrate off of Universal Analytics.
Option 1 (Recommended): Reconfigure Experiences to Report to GA4 Exclusively
The best way to maintain clean analytics data during the transition from UA to GA4 is to switch from reporting a UA Tracking ID to a GA4 Measurement ID on all of your Experiences. This means there will be a clear cut off date when your UA property stopped receiving data, and your GA4 property began receiving data. It also allows you to leverage new GA4 features, like custom event parameter names, from day one of using GA4.
Option 2: Transitional period with Dual Reporting
If you’d like to have a transitional period where you are reporting to both UA and GA4 properties, you may do so from the Studio by reporting to two tracking IDs. If you do this, you must report to both properties using the event reporting structure that UA recognizes. This means you must use “event_category” , “event_action,” and “event_label” as the only component-level custom event parameters, if you provide them. If Event Name is configured in the Experience Studio it will be reported as Event Action to UA. Learn more about this from Google.
More
Tutorials
