4 Reasons Why GA4 is Crucial for B2B Marketing
Ask any marketer worth their weight in salt, and they’ll tell you that GA4, the newest version of Google Analytics, continues to be a hot topic. But, does the GA4 hoopla really matter for your B2B marketing efforts? In this blog, we'll explain what GA4 is and why it's crucial for your business’s online presence right now and into the future.
In the marketing world, there’s a whole lot of buzz about Google Analytics 4, aka GA4, Google’s latest data measurement platform. In a nutshell, GA4 offers a more technologically advanced, comprehensive, and holistic view of your business's online presence and marketing efforts. But does this matter for your business? Yep. It does. And we’ve compiled 4 reasons why.
What is GA4?
GA4 helps understand how people interact online by tracking user behavior. While tracking isn’t a new concept for Google Analytics, GA4 is designed with privacy compliance in mind, with better data privacy controls to help businesses comply with new regulations.
GA4 goes about tracking differently than its predecessor, Universal Analytics. GA4 uses new event-based tracking that monitors detailed actions that users take, across multiple devices, like mobile, tablets, and desktop, as well as multiple platforms, including social media and other channels.
So, why all the buzz about GA4? Beyond the “newness” of GA4 and the tech advancements, there is an urgency to switch to GA4. Universal Analytics is going away. As of July 1, 2023, standard Universal Analytics properties will stop processing data. Unfortunately, this means that if you haven't already made the switch to GA4, you risk losing access to valuable data and insights that can help you improve your marketing efforts and grow your business.
What are the Benefits of GA4 for B2B Marketing?
1. Gather Detailed User Behavior Data
The more insight into your customers’ online actions, the better —especially given the longer, more complex B2B sales cycle. GA4's event-based tracking provides more granular data on user behavior and specific actions they take. For example, GA4 tracks how far down a page a user scrolls, how long they watch a video, if they submit a form, and if they download a file. With this data, businesses can better understand how users interact with a website and optimize their marketing campaigns to improve conversions.
Organizations that leverage customer behavior data to generate behavioral insights outperform peers by 85 percent in sales growth and more than 25 percent in gross margin.
Source: McKinsey
2. Track Across Multiple Devices and Touchpoints
GA4 is designed to track user behavior across multiple devices, including desktop, mobile, and tablet. GA4 also tracks customer actions across multiple touchpoints beyond a website, including social media, email, and advertising. Put together, GA4 provides a much more holistic view of users and their interactions with your website, ads, emails, and posts, making it easier to segment, filter, and analyze data, create custom reports, allocate marketing budgets, and pinpoint actions to improve performance.
3. Seamlessly Integrate with Google Ads
One of the biggest advantages of GA4 is its ability to integrate with other Google products, such as Google Ads and Google Tag Manager. This makes it easier to track and analyze the impact of your marketing efforts across multiple channels and platforms. For example, GA4 allows you to see your ads' performance in real-time and make adjustments as needed, helping to optimize campaigns for better ROI and drive more leads and sales.
4. Leverage AI Machine Learning Capabilities
GA4 includes advanced AI machine learning capabilities to provide more comprehensive insights into user behavior. For example, GA4 uses predictive analytics to identify trends and patterns in data to track and predict which users are most likely to convert based on their previous behavior and offer personalized recommendations to improve conversions.
Should You Switch to GA4?
It’s a no-brainer. By switching to GA4, B2B businesses can take advantage of event-based tracking, improved cross-device and cross-platform tracking, enhanced machine learning capabilities, and better data privacy and compliance. Plus, you won’t lose valuable data when Universal Analytics goes away.
Switching to GA4 is a straightforward process, but it’s important to approach it with some planning and strategy in mind. Not sure where to begin? That’s a no-brainer too. We can switch you to GA4, and now is the time.
It’s time to switch to GA4. We can help.
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Written By
Lori Weisberg
Lori lives by the mantra, “It’s not what you say; it’s how you say it.” As Director of Content and Client Strategy, Lori is the wordsmithing wind beneath many of our clients’ wings. Known for capturing our clients’ brand voices with compelling clarity and consistency, she also is a frequent Tuna blog contributor. When not perusing a thesaurus, Lori can be found adding more zing to her arrabbiata sauce or searching for an easier way to pill a cat.