Growing your insurance agency’s online presence requires collecting and analyzing data about your traffic.
Do you know how people get to your website? What do site visitors do when they get to your website? Are prospects getting to your service pages?
Not looking into your website analytics could waste opportunities to improve your performance. When Google retires Universal Analytics on July 1, 2023, businesses will have to turn to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) for traffic monitoring.
But is your insurance agency ready for the shift to GA4? Let’s go through what GA4 is, the upcoming changes, and how to prepare.
Google Analytics 4: An Overview
People use multiple devices to go online, from phones and tablets to laptops and desktops. Privacy and data laws have also changed across the world. With all these changes, the measurement methodology of Universal Analytics is becoming obsolete.
GA4 is the latest version of the tried-and-tested analytics tool by Google. The platform remains free and will replace Universal Analytics. It was designed to support businesses’ measurement and reporting needs amid the changing landscape of digital campaigns.
Differences Between Google Analytics 4 and Universal Analytics
Here are some of the critical changes in GA4:
- GA4 tracks user activity across platforms. Universal Analytics anchors its tracking on the desktop web experience.
- Universal Analytics implements a last-click attribution model. Meanwhile, GA4 tracks a multitude of touchpoints that lead to conversions.
- GA4 tracks events or actions that align with the goals you set. On the other hand, Universal Analytics tracks individual sessions.
- GA4 doesn’t rely on third-party cookies as extensively as Universal Analytics. It will generate more sophisticated data directly from Google with more profound insights for better reporting.
- GA4’s machine learning capabilities provide more in-depth insights about your audiences and recommend new prospects to target. It can also help predict audience behavior and potential conversion activity.
- Webmasters have greater control over the storage and retention of data in GA4.
- GA4 doesn’t store IP addresses to comply with strict international privacy laws.
- GA4 seamlessly integrates with other Google products such as Google Ads and Google Display & Video 360.
How to Prepare Your Insurance Agency for GA4
GA4 can do everything that Universal Analytics can. The tricky part is the transition, as there’s a learning curve when using the new platform. Considering this, you don’t want to wait until the last minute to start the shift.
Below are the ways you can prepare your insurance agency for GA4:
Setting Up GA4
The initial steps to start the transition to GA4 will depend on how you installed your Universal Analytics.
If you installed Universal Analytics a decade ago and still use the old analytics.js code, it’s better to set up GA4 as a separate platform. Simply use the new gtag.js script that GA4 will provide. You don’t have to connect the two platforms– you’ll have faster progress this way.
On the other hand, if you’ve set up Universal Analytics using a more recent gtag, it’s best to connect GA4 with Universal Analytics. You can send the setup from your Universal Analytics over to GA4.
Expert Tip: If you’re not using Google Tag Manager, this is the best time to start. Google Tag Manager can help you set up everything correctly and faster in GA4.
Deciding What to Track and Measure
GA4’s event-based measurement model is entirely different from Universal Analytics’ structure for recording data.
Each type of behavior requires you to set up a new event in GA4 to describe it. For instance, you’d need to have a scroll event and a click event or a separate event for add to cart and purchase action. The events you need to set up will depend on your business model.
You can start preparing for the shift to GA4 by listing all behaviors you want to track. Next, set up these events in GA4.
Learn How Reporting Works in GA4
GA4 may not be as intuitive as you hope to be right now. Initially, it would feel difficult to navigate, but Google is starting to release massive UI changes to improve user experience.
For now, you can start learning how to use the platform and find the reports you need. There’s also a library function where users can share reports with other users on their team.
You can use GA4 to store data and measure behaviors on your website and then use Google Data Studio to turn these into reports.
Is Your Insurance Agency Making the Move to GA4?
Preparing for the shift to GA4 is a crucial step in staying on top of the growing competition online.
Don’t miss out on valuable data in the upcoming transition. Ensure your insurance agency has set up events, campaign attribution, and other critical tracking parameters in GA4. Now is also the best time to familiarize yourself with its features and develop your new measurement and reporting processes.
The platform and method may change, but the purpose stays the same. These analytics tools track customer behaviors, so you can spot opportunities for conversion and improve business performance.
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