GA 4 : Analytics In The Era Of AI
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The Digital analytics landscape is evolving at a rapid pace . Google recently announced an update to their Google Analytics platform with improved features and capabilities .The main objective is to improve decision making and with a focus to help firms derive better ROI .
Google Analytics 4 is packed with AI driven insights , tracking users across devices , more data controls and seamless integration with various products of Google . A more intelligent version is an upgrade to App + Web property which was introduced in beta last year . The unique feature of GA 4 solution is that machine learning helps it to automatically gain key insights and gives the users a complete understanding of their customers across devices and platforms.
A quick snapshot about the new functionalities
- Predictive metrics using AI : These capabilities can help marketers to be proactive, as well as reactive, by predicting future actions customers may take. For example — alert marketers to data trends such as surging demand for a product , calculating churn probability etc
- Event tracking without any code : User actions like page scroll , video play can be tracked without adding any code or setting up event tracking via tag manager
- Focus on customer journey reporting and customer-centric data
- Deeper integration with Google Ads : Helps you to create audiences that can reach your customers with more relevant experiences . In general provides holistic view of the results with the ability to see conversions from YouTube video views, Google and non-Google paid channels, Google Search, social media, and email.
- Data Controls : More granular data controls to manage how data is collected and retained.These controls can also be used to specify how data should be used for advertising. Marketers can choose when to use customer data to optimize ads, and when to limit data use to measurement only.
Owing to privacy laws/ regulations as the original form of cookie information may crumble , machine learning has been roped in to fill in the potential gaps to maintain & track the unique identifiers .
In order to stay up-to-date with GA, Google advises creating a new ‘Google Analytics 4’ property (previously called an App + Web property) alongside your existing properties.
Vision towards future of analytics has been outlined by Google . Synergy via suite of products (product stack) has witnessed a surging trend over the years , challenge is to upgrade the products to leverage the spectrum of capabilities across the suite .
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About The Author :
Aditya Krishnan is a Digital Strategist & Consultant with 10+ years of experience across different sectors and practices . He has managed business transformation engagements ranging from setting up digital platforms , designing marketing strategies to leading analytics projects . He has authored several publications on various topics across portals and shares his views regularly on latest trends in the digital / marketing space .
