Some questions about the migration from UA to GA4

Dear Data-Traveller, please note that this is a Linkedin-Remix.

I posted this content already on Linkedin in March 2022, but I want to make sure it doesn´t get lost in the social network abyss.

For your accessibility-experience and also for our own content backup, we repost the original text here.

Have a look, leave a like if you like it, and join the conversation in the comments if this sparks a thought!

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Google Analytics 4 migration week.

But what if I do need help? This all sounds complicated, and we have no knowledge in our team on how to set up Google Analytics 4.

First of all, that is ok. And trust me, 95% of all teams using Google Analytics at the moment will feel like that.

So, most likely, you need to check for external support. This also will become complicated since many companies are now asking for these projects.

One reflex could be to ask agencies you are already working with. Most likely online marketing agencies. And I assume most of them will try to help you. And there are 100% some who have the knowledge and can help you. But I fear a little bit that most of them don’t have any experience setting up Google Analytics 4 or setting up good analytics setups in general. And not everyone is transparent about it.

Here are some questions you can ask to see how well they get answered:
– what is the significant difference between the old Google Analytics and Google Analytics 4 (the answer should include something about the data model and the event-based focus)

– how are you going to use user properties in our setup (check for any answer at all)

– how do I use custom dimensions, and why do I need them (answer should be around that custom dimensions are necessary to show custom attributes in reports)

– can I migrate my data from the old to the new Google Analytics 4 property? (nope)

And if you like, some tricky questions:
– how do I set up views in GA4? (that is not possible)
– can I reuse my old event structure in GA4 (possible, but not recommended, you should do a new structure)
– can add my session-scoped custom dimensions (not supported)

In a nutshell, make a conscious and well-thought decision about who is doing your new analytics setup.

Here are some people (and their companies) from my network who know about GA4 and can do great setups (and can also talk about alternatives):
Mark Edmondson, Mikko Piippo, Siobhan Solberg ,Maik Bruns, 📊 Markus Baersch, Dumky de Wilde, Markus Vollmert, Steen Rasmussen, Markus Muendecke, Jared S.,…

And we at deepskydata ApS also do well thought and fast GA4 implementations. Just DM me to learn more. We still have free slots.