Events are Google Analytics 4’s Superpower: Here’s How to Use Them
There are a lot of differences between the new Google Analytics 4 and Universal Analytics. And while people are worried about transitioning from the software they know and love to a new version, there is so much potential power in GA4.
Yes, there will be a learning curve, but when you start to unpack the capabilities of GA4, you'll be amazed at what you can learn and do with your data.
Events are a new feature in Google Analytics 4, and when used strategically, they are GA4's superpower! Let's dig into events, and you can use them in your business to track and analyze your data effectively.
The biggest difference between GA4 and UA
The main difference between Google Analytics 4 and Universal Analytics is the data model—both tools capture and measure data differently.
In Universal Analytics, the data model is based on a session (aka when someone visits your site) and a page view—the page firing and loading pings Google to start tracking and measuring data. If a visitor didn't move to another page, you didn't get much more information about what they did when they came to your website.
In Google Analytics 4, the data model is based on events—when an event happens, it triggers data collection. And the great news is that the new parameters in GA4 mean anything can be classified as an event making it easy for you to track a wide range of actions on your website.
Events in Universal Analytics
Before we dig further into what events have become in Google Analytics 4, it is important to note that you did (or do if you have not yet switched to GA4) have the ability to create events in Universal Analytics.
But compared to the juggernaut capabilities of GA4 events, they were very limited. The way events are set up in Universal Analytics makes them highly rigid—you have to follow precise requirements, and there are strict limitations on what you can put in each condition and how the requirements interact with one another.
Additionally, no events are available out of the box—they all require work from a developer and the use of Google Tag Manager to create.
Because Universal Analytics tracks data based on page loads, events in UA are used to track actions taken within a page. Did they scroll your site, click a button, start filling in a form, play a video, or download a document—these are things you can track with custom events in UA.
Events in Google Analytics 4
As mentioned above, the way events are created in GA4 makes them flexible—you can track anything as an event and therefore have the freedom to see your data in a way that works best for you and your business.
That is why you need to think through how you want to visualize your data. Before you start creating events, spend some time thinking through what is essential for you to see when you open Google Analytics.
For example, if the primary metric you spend time optimizing is your contact form, you need to see how the form performs quickly. But do you want to see an event that shows you "contact_form_completions"? Or do you want an event named "form_completions" and add a parameter like "form_name"?
Both options are correct and give you the information you need—it's about how you want to see your data. An event will appear on your Events report, but if you use a parameter as a subset of your event, you will need to use your Explore tab to create a custom report.
What is a parameter?
A parameter is a factor that sets the conditions of its event. In the contact form example, contact_form or newsletter_form would be examples of parameters on the form_completion event.
The great news is that, as of the publication date, there is no limit* to how many custom events you create for free Google Analytics 4 accounts. For each event, you can add 25 parameters per event.
This means you will need to think strategically about what information you need to track for each event because parameters allow you to collect detailed information.
*Note: If you have an app, there is a 500-event limit currently.
What events are tracked in Google Analytics 4?
There are four categories of events that GA4 is currently tracking.
1. Automatically collected events. These are events that Google Analytics automatically tracks when you set up Google Tag Manager. Think pageviews and session start.
2. Enhanced measurement events. These events are tracked when you enable enhanced measurement in your GA4 account. Think scroll rate, video plays, and exit links.
3. Recommended events. These are events that you need to implement yourself but have names and parameters that Google has defined. These need to be set up through Google Tag Manager.
It's important to note that there are no longer any ecommerce events found in either automatically collected or enhanced measurement events. If you are an ecommerce store, learn more about setting up custom ecommerce events in GA4.
4. Custom events. These are events that you create from scratch through Google Tag Manager. You should only use these when there are no other events that meet your requirements—so be sure to check the recommended events first because those events will automatically pull the parameters that Google has already identified. And if they update those parameters in the future, you will also get the updated version.
Let's explore two ways to use custom events that will be extremely valuable for your business.
Content Engagement Analysis in Google Analytics 4
If you want to understand how visitors engage with your content, creating events and parameters that allow you to analyze your content engagement is a great way to use events in GA4.
This is exceptionally powerful for large content sites with multiple writers and verticals. Not only do you want to understand how visitors engage with your content, but you also want to know which writers and verticals have better engagement.
You can do this all manually outside of Google Analytics—creating a spreadsheet for each blog category and writer and filling it in each month. But with GA4 and events, you can easily capture all of this detail and pull the information from one location.
For example, you can create an event called "blog_post_engagement" and then create parameters that connect to that to give you the finer details you are looking for, such as:
page_location
author
category
scroll
reading_time
blog_tags
date_published
page_title
In GA4, you can connect all these points, analyze them against all your other data, and ask questions about your business.
Funnel Analysis in Google Analytics 4
Whether you realize it or not, your business has funnels, and you need to be analyzing them. You're doing your business a disservice if you aren't analyzing them.
You can make it easy to analyze your funnels by creating events for each step of your funnel.
You want to understand how your services page performs because it discusses what you do and leads visitors to a booking page. It is a simple funnel, but still worth analyzing.
View Services Page > View Form Page > Complete Form Page
You could track this using pageviews, but when you use events, you can start to track the smaller details to provide more clarity and detail on your visitors' journey.
With events, each step in the funnel would be tracked as an event:
Event 1: view_services_page
Event 2: view_contact_form
Event 3: complete_contact_form
Now you don't have to pull out pageviews or clicks—with events, you'll see how many times each step happens and easily calculate the completion rate for each step. You can also make it more detailed to understand what is happening at each step.
For example, if you are seeing a big disconnect in the number of people who view the service page and those who view the contact form, you can find out why visitors aren't converting. Are they scrolling far enough on your page? Are they spending enough time on your services page?
To answer these questions, you can create an event called services_page_interest and define it based on how long they need to be on the page and how far they have to scroll.
services_page_interest = scrolled 50% of the page and spent 15 seconds on the page
If this event isn't firing, you can assume that something on your services page isn't resonating with your users because they are not moving through your content. With this data, you can start asking questions about your services page layout, user experience, and more to help you increase your conversion rate.
You can apply this strategy to any funnel in your business. Remember that every step in the funnel should be set up as an event. Then, think about the important actions within those steps that could be parameters within those events.
Curious about what else you can do to make events work for your business? Book a call today, and let's make events your business's superpower!
A few helpful links about events from our friends at Google: