Certainly, you're already aware of the importance of analyzing user behavior on your website for effective management. Whether you run an online store, a blog, or simply want to showcase your services online, it's valuable to continually expand your knowledge about your audience.
Today we will show you how to use the basic tools offered by Google Analytics 4. Thanks to them, you will check where users are coming from to your website, why they are leaving without completing conversions, and how to adjust subpages to avoid this phenomenon. Log in to your GA4 account and click along with us!
The difference between user acquisition and traffic acquisition in GA4
The user acquisition report is based on the first_visit event, which is the first time a specific user views the page. Therefore, the source of the first visit is an attribute of the user assigned forever (i.e., until cookies expire or are deleted).
To illustrate how it works, let’s use an example. If user X lands on the website and:
for the first time from the CPC channel (and doesn’t convert),
returns after 3 days from organic (converts),
returns after 10 days from direct (converts),
in the user acquisition report, 2 conversions will be attributed to the CPC channel.
Source: GA4 panel
The traffic acquisition report is based on the session_start event, which occurs when a user interacts with the website. The source of the session is the source that initiated it, except for the exception described below.
If a user enters the website directly (direct), the source of their session will be the source of the previous visit, if there was one. It’s also worth noting that direct visits include not only typing the exact website address into a search engine but also accessing the site from a bookmark. If there are many direct visits from direct, then:
exclude referring websites (client’s website, payment gateways, or other redirecting websites),
inquire about conducting activities in other marketing channels and whether the activities are tagged with UTM parameters.
Source: panel GA4
How Does Google Analytics 4 Collect Data for Reports on User Engagement on the Website?
Let’s start from the very beginning. If you’ve never studied your users’ behavior and you’re not sure where to find such reports, take a look at the menu on the left side. You’ll find “Reports” > “Lifecycle,” and among them, the “Engagement” section. When you expand it, you’ll see all the categories by which you can check what actions users are taking on your site.
Source: GA4 panel
The Events Section
After implementing a goal into GA4 (which can be done directly within GA4, through GTM, or via a plugin), in the basic view, in the event section, you can check how many times users have performed a specific event on the website, the total number of users, the number of events per user, and total revenue within a specified time.
Source: GA4 panel
Additionally, we can expand this report with other parameters by clicking on the “+” sign. For example, if we want to check how many people performed events from a specific channel, we select the option “session – source/medium”.
Source: GA4 panel
Source: GA4 panel
If you don’t see any data in your GA4 report and the charts are empty, it’s possible that the events weren’t uploaded correctly. To troubleshoot this issue, you should verify the correctness of the event implementation.
The Pages and Screens Section
Here, you can observe the subpages where the page view event occurred. However, this report isn’t limited to just the first visit but includes all events triggered on these pages. The metric here is flexible and allows us to tailor it to our needs by adding our own criteria or detailed data simply by clicking on the “+” button.
Source: GA4 panel
The Landing Page Section
In the “Landing Pages” report, we measure the pages where the user session started (session start). This means that these specific pages were the entry points for the user to our website or application. This is important because it allows us to understand which pages are most attractive to users, drawing them in and encouraging them to engage with our content or offer.
Source: GA4 panel
Description of Selected Metrics in Google Analytics 4
Impressions – this option will show you how many users visited your website.
Users – also referred to as active users – had at least 1 engaging session.
Engaged session – is one in which users were on the site for at least 10 seconds, completed a minimum of 2 pageviews, or a conversion was recorded.
Sessions – are all sessions, both engaged and unengaged.
Average engagement time – is the average time users spend on the site. It is calculated by dividing the total time by the total number of users.
Engagement rate – is calculated as: all sessions / engaged sessions. The inverse of this rate will be the bounce rate (less than 2 pageviews, no conversions, or less than 10 seconds on the site). For example, if we have an engagement rate of 62%, then the remainder, i.e., 38%, will be the bounce rate.
Summary
Still wondering if tracking user behavior is really worth it and if your efforts in analyzing data will give positive results? We can confidently say that studying user behavior on your website is key to effectively managing it to be as user-friendly as possible and to generate maximum revenue for you. So, get to work! Let Google Analytics 4 hold no more secrets for you.
A Management and Economics graduate. She started her adventure at Delante with an SEM internship in December 2021. She currently holds the position of SEM Specialist. Her special interest from the professional angle is Internet marketing, and she is no stranger to Google market changes. Privately, she enjoys traveling, sport, especially gym.
A Management and Economics graduate. She started her adventure at Delante with an SEM internship in December 2021. She currently holds the position of SEM Specialist. Her special interest from the professional angle is Internet marketing, and she is no stranger to Google market changes. Privately, she enjoys traveling, sport, especially gym.
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