On July 1, 2023 Google threw everyone the GA4 curve ball and most everyone struck out. So dont feel bad if you are feeling inadequate. Its not you per se.
Granted, Google gave a lot of advanced warning that it was coming, but after four months, all the dealers I work with are struggling in one way or another to find some solid ground – their Analytics reporting is not uniform, and therefore not very insightful.
Even if you have made the transition, you find the reporting is erratic compared to the prior UA. I see User numbers gyrating by 20% month to month for websites that have been around for decades and formerly (with UA) had maximum 5% swings. Its Google’s reporting that is erratic. It seems Google has its own problems to resolve. Its not the actual visitors. Take the reporting with a grain of salt.
But now lets move to the important element of this transition – Goals or (as they are now called) Events. It is ultimately up to you and your website (vendor) to create Events that mean something to you. Most Goal/Events that we care about are Conversions.
Fortunately the https://automotivestandardscouncil.com/ created by Pasch has been widely accepted by vendors, and most have implemented the ASC Events. But those vendors have not implemented the Events uniformly. Some asc_(events) are firing and some are not. Even Brian is blogging about that problem as ongoing and pervasive. What to do?
Job #1. Creating your own Events is a must. Because that “migration” of your UA Goals into GA4 Events that Google performed for you automatically didn’t really work as expected, did it? Some work, some don’t. (and its not your fault) Nonetheless, bite the bullet. You have got to Create or edit your Events manually .
Admin > Data Display > Events | Create event
Get it done ASAP! You loose valuable data everyday this goes on. You need good Analytics reporting to run your online marketing.
#2. You should get your website vendor support to address any asc_(events) that are not firing. I don’t care about asc_cta_interactions (I dont even know what those are, nor do I care), but I care very much about asc_form_submission and asc_click_to_call. Set an appointment with your vendor. Go through the Events together and note what is not there. They know what to do once they see what needs fixing.
#3. Mark As Conversion – This affects your $ directly. So make sure you are not counting something like asc_element_configurations as Conversions. Everyone is different, but a disciplined approach to Conversions is necessary to run Google Ads efficiently. Your XYZ Widget Vendor may think everything their widget does is a Conversion and Mark it as a Conversion, but its not when it comes to attributing what brought the User to your business’s doorstep. Think about what is and what is not a Conversion and switch those On or Off in…
Admin > Data Display > Events | Mark as conversion
#4. Then (you have to wait a day or so) and important those real Conversions into your Google Ads. Otherwise, your Ads campaigns will perform poorly.
Thats it! Its not a big to-do list, but its not easy either. Good luck.