Google Analytics 4 Cheat Sheet for nonprofits

Google Analytics4: CheatSheet

AtranslationofGoogleAnalyticstermsintoa user-friendlydocumentfornonprofitprofessionals

TermsinGoogleAnalytics4

Acquisition

Howarepeoplefindingyourwebsite?Acquisitionisbasedonthesourceand mediumofyourusers(alongwithotherpossibleacquisitiondimensions).

DedicatedacquisitionreportscanbecreatedforyourtrafficfromGoogleAds, organictrafficfromGoogle,trafficfromsocialnetworksandtrafficfrom customcampaigntags.

Attribution

Whatnonprofitmarketingchanneldroveyourrecentdonationconversion?

Attributionallowsyoutocontrolhowcreditforaconversionisgiventothe marketingchannelsthatledtotheactiontakingplace.Attributionconsiders thetrafficsources(andchannels)usedacrossmultiplesessionsforauser.

Hugeconceptwithmanyattributionmodels.Learnmorehere.

Bounce Rate

BounceRateisthepercentageofvisitorswholeaveyournonprofitwebsite withouttakingaction,likeclickingalinkormakingadonation.

Userswhobouncefromyoursiteonlyviewasinglepageanddonotconvert.

WhatdoesitmeaninGA4?

bounceratehasbeenreplacedbyengagementmetricsknownas “EngagedSessions.”

Lookingtoanalyzeyournonprofitmarketingcampaigns?CampaignNameis oneofthefourmaindimensions(source,mediumandchannelaretheothers) thatwillbecriticalforreporting.

GoogleAdswillneedtobelinkedtoGoogleAnalytics.

Campaign Name Campaign Tags

InboundmarketingcanbetrackedandreportedonwitheaseinGoogle AnalyticsbyusingCampaignTags.

Campaigntagsusecampaignname,ID,source,medium,termandcontent.By addingtheseextradetailstotheendofyourURLS,youwillreceivemore detailedacquisitionandadvertisingreports.

Channel

ThinkofaChannelaswaytocombineapre-definedsourceandmedium.

Channelsprovideatop-levelgroupingforyournonprofitmarketing.

Bylookingatacombinationofcourseandmediumyouendupwithabetter understandingofoverallperformance.

Examplesinclude"Email","Social","PaidSearch"and"OrganicSearch."

Content Group

Onyournonprofitwebsite,doyouprovideinformationonavarietyofservices, subjectsandmissions?

Ifso,youmightwanttoconsiderusingContentGroups.ContentGroupsallows youtoclassifyeachpageofyourwebsiteintoaparticularcategory.

Soforexampleifyouwanttohaveananalysisonyourin-personprogram pagesfortroubledyouthvs.yourcommunityoutreachpagesyoucanreport andanalyzeyourwebsitepagesbasedonyourcontentclassifications.

Conversion

Allofyour"events"havebeendefinedinthenewGA4.Now,whenevera websiteuser"triggers"theeventyouhavewhat'scalledaConversion.

Custom Dimension/Customer Metric

Yournonprofitislookingtotrackwhatcontentbeingproducedisdriving performance.

Maybeaparticularauthor'swritingissocompelling,itdrives60%ofyour traffic.Maybeitisthecombinationofauthor+aparticularvideo.

Byregisteringanassociatedindividualeventoruseracustomdimensionor metric,youcancollectandreportonmorenuancedadditionaldatainGoogle Analytics.

Custom Audiences

Buildingcustomaudiencesallowsyoutogroupusersbasedonsimilaractionsor dimensions.Customaudiencescanbeusedforretargetingcampaignsand comparisonsinGA4reports.

Inadditiontobuildingacustomaudiencefromscratch,GA4offerssuggestions foraudiencesthatincludetemplatesandpredictivecapabilities.

Engaged Sessions

EngagedSessionsdescribethepercentageofsessionswhereusersareactively engagedwithyournonprofitwebsite.

Howarethey"engaged"?Theymustmeetanyofthefollowingcriteria:

Onapageforatleast10seconds

Hadoneormoreconversionevents

Viewedtwoormorepages

Engagement Rate

EngagementRateisthepercentageofsessionsthatwereengagedsessions.

Abetterwaytothinkaboutthisistothinkofitastheexactoppositeofa bouncerate.

Events

AnyactionausertakesonyournonprofitwebsiteorappiscalledanEvent.

UnlikeUniversalAnalytics,whichtrackedusersbysessions,GoogleAnalytics4 tracksusersbyEvents,monitoringtheuser'sjourneythroughseveralsessions.

Typesofeventsinclude:

Automaticallycollectedevents,fromsimplyloadingapageonyourwebsite tocompletingdonations.

Enhancedmeasurementevents,orinteractionswithcontentonyour website.

Recommendedevents,oreventsthatyouimplement.

Customevents,orself-definedevents.Customeventsdon’tshowupin mostbuilt-inreportsandinsteadrequirecustom-builtreports.

Event Parameters

Yournonprofitwebsitehasanewvisitor.

Andtheyhavedecidedtoclickandwatchanembeddedvideo.Butwhatother additionalpiecesofinformationdoyouwanttoknowaboutthem?

EventParametersinGA4allowyoutoautomatically-collectmoreinformation, likepagetitle,pagelocation(URL),sessionIDandmore.

ButmaybeliketheexampleaboveyouneedCustomerEventParameters addedtogainmoreinformation.Theseneedtoberegisteredasacustom definitioninreports.

First User Medium

Thefirstwaysomeonefoundyournonprofitwebsite.Thankgoodness somethingassimpleasitsounds.

"Medium"tellsyouhowthewebsitemessagewascommunicated(thinkorganic vspaid.)

First User Source

SimilartotheFirstUserMediumBUTreportsonthesource,orwherethe messagewasfirstseen.

"Source"indicateshowsomeonefoundyourwebsite(thinkGooglevsBing search).

Medium

Oneofthe4dimensionsforreportingandanalyzinghowpeoplefoundyour website.

Mediumtellsyouhowthemessagewascommunicated.Ex."referral"for inboundlinksfromotherwebsites.

Metric

AMetricistypicallyanumber(count/percentage/ratio)thatispresentedasa columnofdatainaGoogleAnalyticsreport.

Ex.Total#ofuserswhohavevisitedyournonprofitwebsite.

Organic

Didyoupayforthatusertocometoyourwebsite?

Well,ifyoudidn'ttheyareofficiallyan"organic"orfreeresultuser.Theycould havecometoyourby"OrganicSocial"or"OrganicSearch".

Referral

Maybeyourusercamethroughtoyourwebsitefromanotherorganizationwho thinksyournonprofitisincredible.

Thiswouldbea"Referral".

Source

Oneofthe4dimensionsforreportingandanalyzinghowpeoplefoundyour website.

Sourcetellsyouwherethemessagewasseen.Didtheyfindyoufirston Google?Bing?Yahoo?

WherethingsgetMOREinterestingiswhenyoucombinesourcewith"Medium" formorein-depthinsights.

Ifyousetupyourmediumas"organic"andyoursourceas"Google"youwould haveanideaofhowmanyinternetsearchesresultedinauserarrivingtoyour website.

User Engagement

Soyouhaveausertoyournonprofitwebsite.Yeah!Buthowlongdidtheyview yourcontent?

GA4willcalculateengagementtimeusingtheuser engagementevent. RememberthoughthattimeisONLYcountedwhenthepageorscreenisvisible totheuser.

User

Anyindividualwhointeractswithyourwebsiteorapp.Usersaregivenaunique UserID,butbecareful-thiswon'tcountacrossmultipledevices.

Someonefirstcomingviacomputerandtheninthefuturebyphonewillhave twoID's.

Views

"Views"reportsthetotalnumberoftimeseventshavebeencollected.

Forexample,auserwhonavigatestoyour"donatenow"page,thenthe "mission"pageandthenbacktothe"donatenow"pagewillresultintwoviews ofthe"donatenow"pageandoneviewofthe"mission"page.

Overwhelmedby GoogleAnalytics?

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