Does GA4 Measure Purchase Behavior? Where Can It Be Found?

Effective online marketing activities are now a key part of most companies’ business strategy. Running online campaigns is primarily a matter of being able to accurately measure their effectiveness. Google Analytics 4 is a tool that significantly helps us in this. 

In this article, we will explore how to measure the effectiveness of online marketing activities in GA4. We will analyze how to do it quickly, efficiently. We will also highlight the differences in measuring the effectiveness of lead (b2b) and e-commerce activities.

When you’re running an online store, tracking the number of transactions and revenue is key. This information provides valuable insights into business performance, product popularity and the effectiveness of marketing strategies. They allow you to understand, among other things, which products are the most popular, which bring the best profit, and what actions you should take to increase sales and revenue. Are you curious where to find this key report? The answer to this question is the revenue generation section. This is where we can find this detailed information.

Source: GA4 panel

E-commerce Purchases Section

This report shows the exact name of the products, the number of pieces purchased, the revenue of the product, the number of times the product has been viewed and added to the cart. It is important to remember that delivery costs are not included here, only the product price itself. Of course, this report, as well as others, can be expanded to show additional metrics.

Source: GA4 panel

Purchase Journey Section

Purchase journey report illustrates to us how many people abandon the transaction at given stages of the path. With this report, we can identify the specific steps in the purchase process where users interrupt their interaction with our site. This allows us to understand which steps on the path to purchase need improvement and where there may be barriers to completing the transaction.

Source: GA4 panel

In addition, when we go lower in the report, we can select metrics we are interested in for analysis, such as device category, country, region, city, language, browser.

Source: GA4 panel

Checkout Journey Section 

Checkout journey section, provides information about the number and percentage of users who started the payment process on an e-commerce site and completed each step in its path. Similar to the purchase journey, analyzing this report allows you to understand how users are moving through the payment process, where potential problems or delays may occur, and where improvements can be made to increase conversions and improve the user experience.

Source: GA4 panel

The advertising report is a valuable data resource that provides a more accurate understanding of the impact of your ads on generating conversions, both directly and indirectly.

Source: GA4 panel

Attribution Path Section

This report shows how different channels (we are particularly interested in the cpc channel here) contribute to achieving conversions. You can also see how many times users enter the site before making a purchase, and how many days from the first entry it takes them to complete a transaction. This allows you to understand how long it takes a customer’s journey from first contact to final purchase.

Source: GA4 panel

Attribution Models Section

We also have the ability to see how GA4 allocates the share of conversions to a particular source in each attribution. Data-driven attribution uses conversion data to calculate the actual share of specific interactions with an ad at different points in the conversion path. In the last-click model, GA4 allocates the entire value of a conversion to the last touchpoint the user made before converting.

Source: GA4 panel

Google Ads Section

Google Ads section in GA4 provides information on which campaigns contributed to generating conversions, and also allows you to track, among other things, the cost of campaigns, the number of clicks and the average cost per click on an ad. This makes it possible to analyze the effectiveness of ad campaigns not only in the Google Ads panel, but also in GA4.

Source: GA4 panel

When promoting B2B services, gaining the client’s trust is crucial. Unlike consumer products such as clothing or wallpaper, where the customer often already has specific expectations and knows what they are looking for, building trust in acquiring B2B clients requires a different approach.

Retail products tend to attract customers who already have some idea of what they want. For example, if someone wants to buy wallpaper, they probably already have an idea of the pattern, color or style they are interested in. In this case, the customer is focused on finding a product that meets their specific aesthetic or functional expectations. The buying process is relatively simple and is based on comparing available options and their prices.

In this context, gaining the customer’s trust is key. The sales process must be more educational and less transactional. Customers need to have confidence that the product or service offered will indeed meet their needs and bring benefits. Therefore, building relationships based on trust becomes a priority. Salespeople must demonstrate their expertise, provide valuable information and respond to customers’ questions and concerns. Transparency, reliability and listening skills are key elements in this process. In addition, personalization of the offer is important in sales leads. Every customer is different and has unique needs and expectations. A well-designed sales lead takes these differences into account and tailors the communication and offer to individual requirements. This makes the customer feel understood and appreciated, which further builds trust and increases the chances of completing the transaction.

In the service industry, it is worth paying attention to, among other things:

• which landing pages users enter and how they behave on them (e.g., number of conversions, average engagement time). To check this, go to: Reports > Engagement > Landing page

Source: GA4 panel

• how users complete events. Go to Reports > Engagement > Events
  

Source: GA4

• on which devices do users most frequently perform events
  

Source: GA4 panel

We hope that after reading the above article, your knowledge has been enriched with information that will help you better understand the benefits of your online marketing efforts.

Skillful use of Google Analytics 4 can help you understand how your customers (or other website users – potential clients) behave and what actions you can take to encourage them to use your company’s services or purchase products, thus achieving the highest possible return on investment.