Ready or not, the time has finally come for Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to replace Universal Analytics.
As companies and their respective marketing teams come to terms with this new change, likely rushing to make the switch and asking themselves why they waited so long, our clients at DeanHouston have rest assured, knowing we’ve been ready for GA4 since last year.
The Problems with Switching to GA4
In March 2022, when Google announced that Universal Analytics would be phased out and replaced by Google Analytics 4 on July 1, 2023, our digital analytics experts didn’t hesitate to take action and examine how the change would affect our clients.
Some problems became immediately apparent.
Google Analytics 4 comes with different underlying datasets and metrics than Universal Analytics. These datasets and metrics are either completely new or are named differently. Additionally, some datasets and metrics from Universal Analytics would no longer be available on Google Analytics 4.
It became clear that switching to GA4 would impact our clients’ analytics dashboards.
These analytics dashboards, which include historical data and year-over-year comparative reporting, offer critical insights that our experts use to highlight opportunities and develop marketing strategies.
Faced with a problem that would affect our ability to successfully create, monitor and report on marketing strategies and initiatives for our clients, we knew we needed to act quickly.
The DeanHouston Solution
Updating our clients’ dashboards with the correct datasets and metrics was a meticulous and time-consuming process that required flawless attention to detail.
Fortunately, we had the right team for the job.
With some old-school determination, our digital analytics team successfully set up GA4 accounts in July 2022 to guarantee all our clients could have an entire year of year-over-year reporting data.
Our proactive approach and whatever-it-takes attitude allowed us the pleasure of telling our clients we had already solved the GA4 data transfer problem before they could even ask about it.
Looking Back on the GA4 Switch
In 2022, while many marketing teams voiced their concerns and were reluctant to the forced Google Analytics 4 transition, DeanHouston buckled down and faced the challenge head-on.
Google Analytics 4 was (and continues to be) new territory. It comes with some processes and features that require tweaking and workarounds, but fortunately for our clients, our team of experts is actively solving each problem.
At DeanHouston, we stay ahead of the digital marketing landscape to offer our clients proactive solutions. If you’re curious about Google Analytics 4 or need help with your digital marketing, contact our team of experts.