Running an E-commerce Business or Building Your Online Store? Google Analytics 4 is a Must-Have!
Discover the potential of Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and gain full insight into your website’s data. By reading our latest article, you’ll learn the benefits of using GA4, explore key reports available in the platform, and find out which metrics you should monitor regularly to fully leverage your e-commerce business potential. You’ll also read about professional methods of implementing GA4, allowing you to customize your analysis to suit the unique needs of your business. Are you ready to elevate the efficiency of your data analysis?
What Value Does GA4 Bring to Your Business?
It’s common to see tools like Google Analytics treated as unnecessary when launching a website. This often stems from a lack of understanding about how much valuable knowledge it can provide. This knowledge, in turn, can be translated into concrete actions that generate significant benefits for your business.
GA4 tracks users and their behaviors on websites. The reports provide information on traffic sources, user interactions with your site, and the customer journey toward achieving your website’s key goals.
What specific benefits can you gain from analyzing this data? You will certainly be able to eliminate problematic areas on your site and effectively optimize your paid campaigns. This will result in a lower bounce rate, an increase in conversion rate, and higher revenue. You’ll also be able to adapt to emerging trends, gain deeper insights into your users, and segment them accordingly. By tailoring your brand communication to each group, you’ll engage users at every stage of the customer journey. These efforts will also improve your retention rate, helping you maintain long-term customers.
What and Where to Analyze in the New GA4?
Traffic Acquisition Report – This report reveals where your users are coming from and helps you determine which channels are driving the most valuable traffic to your site. Key metrics to monitor include:
- Engagement Rate (percentage of sessions that lasted at least 10 seconds, included one conversion event, or had at least two page views),
- Conversions (the number of events that indicate completion of your site’s primary goals),
- Total Revenue.
GA4 reports can be customized, so I recommend adding the conversion rate per session to your existing data. This metric shows the percentage of sessions in which at least one of your site’s goals was achieved.
Pages and Screens Report – In this section, you can check which pages of your website are the most popular and engaging. Key metrics include page views, user numbers, average engagement time, and the number of events and conversions.
Pay particular attention to the average engagement time, as this is a more accurate metric than the average time on page used in Universal Analytics (GA3). The average engagement time in GA4 is only counted when the page is active and in the foreground, while GA3 included time even when the page was in the background as users browsed other content.
It’s also worth adding the exit rate and bounce rate to this report. These metrics help identify pages where users are most likely to leave or end their sessions. For example, if your checkout page has a high exit rate, it’s a sign that it may require UX analysis and optimization.
E-commerce Purchases Report – This report allows you to monitor real-time user interest in specific products. For each listed product, you’ll see metrics such as the number of views, adds to cart, purchases, and total revenue. Keep in mind that you can compare different periods in your reports, allowing you to track trends and estimate demand.
Purchase Path and Payment Path Reports – These reports visualize the user’s journey toward making a purchase, broken down into two levels of detail:
- Purchase Path – from session start, product view, add to cart, and payment initiation, to purchase.
Source: Purchase Path Report, demo account with data from the Google Merchandise Store. - Payment Path – from the start of the payment process, adding delivery and payment details, to purchase.
Source: Payment Path Report, demo account with data from the Google Merchandise Store.
Both reports show where users tend to drop off during the purchasing process. In addition to identifying potential issues, these visualizations help you understand the scale of the problem. By thoroughly analyzing this data, you’ll be able to identify the stages in the purchasing process that need improvement to increase your conversion rate and total revenue.
These are just a few examples of GA4’s potential. The platform includes many more useful reports and an Explorations section. Here, you can build custom reports tailored to your e-commerce needs. During data analysis, you can also compare specific user groups by creating segments, which you can then turn into audiences for targeted paid campaigns.
GA4 is designed with the future of data measurement in mind. As privacy regulations tighten, website owners are required to activate tracking scripts only when users give consent. Failing to comply with these regulations can lead to substantial fines, while adhering to them may result in data gaps.
To address this, GA4 offers AI-powered modeled data. How does this work? AI estimates data for users who do not consent to tracking based on the behavior of those who do, filling in the gaps and allowing for effective optimization of paid campaigns and a more comprehensive understanding of user behavior. However, certain conditions set by Google must be met to use modeled data.[1]
Which GA4 Implementation Method Should You Choose?
The method for implementing GA4 on your e-commerce site depends on the type of sales platform you are using.
- SaaS Platforms (e.g., Shopify, IdoSell) – These offer ready-made integration, involving a simple setup of GA4-related settings in the store’s panel. You can find an example instruction for Shopify in the footnotes.
- Open Source Platforms (e.g., WooCommerce, PrestaShop) – For these platforms, you need to install a plugin that adds a dataLayer to the site. This data layer collects all the necessary information on purchase behavior in the required format. A technical person then configures tags and triggers in Google Tag Manager (GTM). As users browse products, add items to their cart, or make payments, tracking scripts activate and send the data to GA4.
- Custom Platforms – You have at least two options here:
- A developer can implement GA4 directly into your website’s code, where purchase events are sent to GA4 without using GTM.
- A developer can implement a dataLayer, and a technical person can configure tracking scripts in GTM to send purchase data to GA4.
I strongly recommend the second option. There are two main reasons for this. First, the developer’s time on the task will be significantly shorter, leading to lower costs. Second, implementing all tracking scripts through GTM ensures organization, convenience, and flexibility, allowing you to manage all tags securely in one place.
Key Takeaways:
- GA4 tracks users and their behaviors on websites. Using its reports, you can analyze data on traffic sources, user interactions, and the customer journey toward achieving your site’s key goals.
- By collecting and analyzing this data, you’ll be able to identify and eliminate problematic areas on your site, reducing bounce rates and increasing e-commerce conversion rates, leading to higher revenue.
- By closely observing user behavior and trends, you can segment your audience and tailor your brand communication to each group. This will ensure effective engagement at every stage of the sales funnel and ultimately improve customer retention.
- Key GA4 reports to monitor when running an online store include: Traffic Acquisition, Pages and Screens, E-commerce Purchases, Purchase Path, and Payment Path. The Explorations section allows for the creation of even more detailed and advanced reports.
- GA4 is designed for the future of measurement, offering AI-powered modeled data to fill the gaps left by users who do not consent to tracking.
- The method for implementing GA4 depends on the type of sales platform you use. SaaS platforms offer simple, ready-made integrations, while Open Source platforms require plugins and GTM configuration. For custom platforms, it is recommended to use a dataLayer with GTM for greater flexibility and ease of tag management.
About the author
Katarzyna Góraj
Senior Digital Analyst
She began her career path in social listening, after which she completely immersed herself in the world of research. At Yetiz, she is involved in analytics as well as managing PPC campaigns. Personally, she is addicted to mountain hiking and can’t imagine life without Freddie Mercury’s vocals.
