Personas with Google Analytics 4

What does the switch to Google Analytics 4 mean?

The changeover must be mandatory. Experts estimate that around 80% of websites that use Google Analytics (UA) will have to renew the software. Because: The data processing of other applications that are still based on UA will no longer work from July 01, 2023. Newer analyses will then be fed solely from GA4 data. Users will therefore be forced to switch to Google Analytics 4.

The change has been met with a lot of criticism, because compared to the previous update, significant changes have been made to the way Google Analytics works. The new basic idea: everything is now an event. Another point of criticism: the migration of data from Google Universal Analytics to GA4 is particularly complex and difficult to understand for non-experts.

All changes can be read in detail directly at Google.

The most important change is likely to be the change in data models. Where data protectionists see a gap, new perspectives could open up for persona creation.

The following changes in data collection affect Google Analytics 4:

• Hit types
• Events/Events
• Page impressions and screen impressions
• Sessions
• Custom dimensions/metrics
• Content grouping
• User ID
• Customer ID
• Parameters (GA4 properties)
• User property (GA4 properties)
• Data collection settings that can be migrated
• Data collection settings that have no equivalent in Google Analytics 4
• Event stacking for Google Analytics 4 properties
• Comparison of reporting data in your Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4 features.

Create personas using Google Analytics 4

The new Google Analytics update is particularly exciting for the development of personas. The reason: A large amount of data can be collected simply. If you use the SDK or gtag.js, you don't need to write any additional code to collect specific user dimensions from the website or app.

These user dimensions include:

• Age by age group (18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65+ years).
• App store used to download and install an app
• App version: the version name (Android) or the bundle version (iOS).
• Browser from which the user activity originated
• Continent from which user activity originated
• Subcontinent from which user activity originated
• Country from which the user activity originated
• Geographic region from which user activity originates
• City from which the user activity originated
• Device brand: Brand name of the mobile device (e.g. Apple, LG or Samsung).
• Device model: Model name of the mobile device (e.g. iPhone 5s or SM-J500M).
• Device category: category of the mobile device (e.g. cell phone or tablet)
• Gender of the user
• User interests (e.g. arts & entertainment, sports, games)
• Language: Language setting of the operating system of the device (e.g. en-us or pt-br).
• New/established:
  • New: first opening of the app within the last 7 days
  • Established: App was opened for the first time more than 7 days ago
• Operating system used by visitors to the website or mobile app
• Operating system version used by visitors to the website or mobile app
• Platform on which the website or mobile app ran (e.g., web, iOS, or Android).

If this data is combined with event tracking, personas can be created from the GA4 data. This data must first be collected, selected and segmented according to relevant categories. Search personas can then be developed by comparing the data with the existing buyer personas. To learn how to create Search Personas for SEO and SEM from website data, see our related article.