In today’s digital age, understanding your website’s performance and user behavior is crucial for the success of any small business. Recently, I hosted a webinar specifically designed for female small business owners, aiming to demystify Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and provide practical insights on leveraging its features to enhance their online presence. In this blog post, I will outline the key topics covered in the webinar and introduce the embedded video for those who missed it.
Understanding Key Terms
Before diving into the advanced features of GA4, it’s essential to grasp the foundational terms:
- Users: Individuals who visit your website.
- Views: The number of times your site’s pages are viewed.
- Sessions: A group of user interactions within a given time frame.
- Engaged Sessions: Sessions that last longer and have higher interaction levels.
- Events: Specific actions users take on your site.
- Key Events: Important actions that are critical to your business goals, such as purchases or sign-ups.
Events and Key Events
Events in GA4 are user interactions tracked on your site. Understanding the difference between events and key events is vital for both service-based and e-commerce businesses:
- Service Businesses: Key events might include form submissions, bookings, or downloads.
- E-commerce Businesses: Key events typically involve actions like product views, add-to-cart actions, and purchases.
Top 5 Pre-Built Google Analytics Reports
One of the most powerful aspects of GA4 is its pre-built reports, which provide invaluable insights into various aspects of your website’s performance. Here are my top five favorite reports:
- User Acquisition: This report shows how users arrive at your site, helping you understand which channels are most effective.
- Landing Page: It highlights the first pages users see, revealing which pages draw the most traffic.
- E-commerce Purchase: For sites with products, this report tracks what items users buy, offering insights into sales performance.
- Events: This report details the actions users take on your site, which is crucial for understanding conversion activities in service-based businesses.
- Pages and Screens: It illustrates how users navigate through your site, providing a clear picture of their journey.
Introduction to Filters and Comparison Filters
Filters in GA4 allow you to customize and refine the data you see. During the webinar, we explored how to apply filters to your reports to focus on specific segments of your audience. Comparison filters are particularly useful for contrasting different user groups, such as new versus returning visitors, to uncover deeper insights.
Building Audiences in GA4
Creating audiences in GA4 enables you to target specific groups of users for marketing campaigns or further analysis. Here’s a brief introduction on how to build audiences:
- Go to Settings.
- Select Audience.
- Click on New Audience.
Some recommended audiences for service-based businesses include:
- Users who did not make a purchase but visited the sales page.
- Visitors to the freebie page who did not download the offer.
- Users who downloaded an offer but did not make a purchase.
For e-commerce businesses, useful audiences might be:
- Users who added items to their cart but did not check out.
- Visitors who viewed best-selling products.
- Users who viewed specific product pages.
Setting Up a Thank You Page Conversion
A critical aspect of tracking conversions for service-based businesses is setting up a thank you page conversion. This involves configuring GA4 to recognize when users reach a thank you page after completing a desired action, such as filling out a contact form or making a booking. This setup allows you to accurately measure and analyze your conversion rates.
