Earlier in 2020 Google launched a new version of Google Analytics which is GA4 aka App + Web Property. The new GA4 comes with more flexibility and an ability to better understand users’ journey across online interactions through the use of predictive metrics and machine learning. This means GA will focus on the user, irrespective of the device or platform. The insights derived from GA4 will benefit your business after an initial minor investment for migrating to GA4.
While businesses would continue to use the existing version of Google Analytics (aka. Universal Analytics), you must know why GA4 migration is worth the effort.
However, to get to that point, we want to stress the importance of not putting off the GA4 migration. Even if you’ve gotten started, it may take between six to twelve months (or longer) for GA4 to be your source of truth. Like Universal Analytics, tracking and configuration cannot be applied retroactively (at least for most of the part) so you could be missing out on valuable data. The longer you take to plan and implement, the longer it will be before you can reap the full benefits of GA4. As we know, the complete transformation to GA4 is on the horizon. If not immediately, eventually yes.
Having said that, we recommend figuring out a plan for the migration and fitting it into your roadmap and/or budget. The more you plan now, the less rework there will be later. To make your migration decision a bit easier we have prepared a flow that might help you decide when your organization should consider migrating to GA4.
Reasons why to consider Migrating to GA4
There are instances where immediate migration might not be feasible owing to factors like resource crunch, lack of capabilities, or even digital maturity of an organization. However, in such cases, we would suggest planning at least a dual step up so that the data starts getting collected in the GA4 property as well and we are future-ready to make the shift when the time comes.
It will be a while before GA4 becomes your source of truth. You need to build it up and get accustomed to using it, just like you did with Google Analytics the first (or few) time(s) around. There’s no rush to make GA4 your single source of truth right away, but we can work towards that starting today.
In case you have any questions related to your GA4 Migration for your organization, you can talk to us at hello@www.tatvic.com.
