Google has officially announced they will be sunsetting Universal Analytics (UA). On the 1st of July 2023, standard Universal Analytics properties will STOP processing new hits.

Have you or your team seen this warning banner pop up when you log in?

In typical Google fashion, they have announced a deadline to force everyone to migrate to their new analytics measurement platform, Google Analytics 4 (GA4).

Although this isn’t the first time, Google has ensured everyone transitions to their newest analytics platform, such as Classic Analytics to Universal Analytics. We have seen little advice on when businesses must start migrating to GA4 to minimise disruption.

GA4 is completely different to UA; please don’t make the mistake of thinking the migration deadline is a year away, it will be too late. You will have no historical data in GA4 in a year. Of all UA 360 users, Google has already advised them to migrate now.

Why migrate now?

Google has stated UA data is incompatible with the new GA4 structure. Therefore, there is no ability to migrate your historical UA data. In any business year-on-year, data is critical and GA4 has a completely different data architecture model and data collection structure than UA. To highlight the main difference here is that GA4 collects events and no longer hits.

What if i don't?

This will affect all your performance and marketing channel reports, automated dashboards and user behavioural insights. Regular business operations will be impacted as will senior management's ability to make quick and informed business decisions off the back of historical data and insight.

Why is Google doing this?

The Forrester Consulting paper reveals a gap between how machine learning can play a crucial role in creating high-value customer experiences and how marketing organisations are not harnessing their power effectively. Therefore, Google is looking to the future to help marketers move fast to a new environment with privacy-minded users. Its new analytic capabilities will provide more valuable insights in the long run.

See what GA4 brings you:

• Automatic alerts for new trends in your visitor data
• Improved Data Model & support for user privacy; dual benefit for business and protection data for end users
• Holistic view of data measurement with cross-platform tracking tools (web and app)
• Events trigger measurement performance
• Monitor key business metrics with enhanced data & reporting tools
• BigQuery integration, which used to cost
• Harnessing insights from Machine Learning resources to achieve marketing objectives
• Quicker insights for ROI and access to all Google Products, such as Google Ads conversions, deeper sharing of audiences between two systems such as social and email

In summary, this is not just about an upgrade from UA but also about unifying user behaviour across platforms and devices and ensuring a privacy-safe way.

What do you need to do right now?

Make sure you future-proof your behavioural data before the sunset of Universal Analytics. With our data team working closely with clients this year as they rebound from the pandemic, GA4 has become the priority. So join us who have already switched to GA4 and start gathering data now, and you can still collect data alongside the existing property and become familiar with the GA4.

How can we help?

Our team has been using GA4 since its release in 2020. The transition from UA to GA4 can be a complex process, and if you’re not comfortable doing this yourself, speak to our team of experts today to make your transition process seamless, before the UA switch is flicked off and time is out.

We are certified in-house GA4 specialists who can

• audit your current GA/GTM set-up
• strategically map your current UA tracking to a GA4 format
• plan the structure of your new GA4 property
• provide actionable recommendations

If you would like to know more about how we can help, please reach out to hello@digitalworkroom.co.uk so we can help your business grow through data and drive key business decisions to support long-term growth.