The Agony of Choice: Is Universal Analytics or Google Analytics 4 a Better Fit for You?

Google Analytics comes in two variants. Are you now asking yourselves whether you should use Universal Analytics or Google Analytics 4 (formerly Firebase or Firebase Web + App)? Bjoern Sjut from Finc3 explains to you which of the two Google variants best suits you and helps you make a quick decision.

If you set up a new account or a property within Google Analytics Google Analytics 4 is preset today. Google has decided that Google Analytics 4 should be the next generation of Google Analytics. Google Analytics 4 is a somewhat different and modern measurement approach for web and app analysis. However, according to Bjoern Sjut, this does not mean that Google Analytics 4 is the version you can benefit most from at present. The tool still feels very provisional in many aspects.

Tip: In the guest article by web analytics expert Maria-Lena Matysik, you can learn how to professionalise your Google Analytics setup.

So should you actually use Google Analytics 4?

This requires a little background knowledge: Google had struggled for many years with roughly the same problem as Microsoft with Windows 95. At the time, Microsoft had one foot in the DOS world and the other in the modern Windows world, but was unable to really let go of outmoded concepts. A more modern system was desirable, but it had to be backwards compatible.

And that's how classical Google Analytics, also called Universal Analytics, is built. Today, however, Universal Analytics seems somewhat outdated in terms of data models. The system does not, for example, offer a consistent data model for apps and websites, meaning that the table structures for apps and websites are very different. This aspect is, however, very relevant for some companies in the digital world. This is where Google Analytics comes into play.

These three advantages Google Analytics 4 offers compared to Universal Analytics:

1. Google Analytics 4 is based on freely configurable events and does not artificially separate page views and events. Accordingly, there are fewer standard reports, because Google does not even know what is being tracked into these events. Google Analytics 4 is thus also more complex in terms of configuration and planning.
2. Google Analytics 4 has a consistent data model across multiple devices (web and app). A company like Netflix, for example, wants to find out which films users consume - both on the web and in the app on their smartphone or SmartTV. Therefore, it is important for Netflix that the data from both platforms are consistent and can be evaluated together.
3. Google Analytics provides better user-related tracking. This is important when you offer a logged-in user experience and can agree to such tracking.

However, for most companies, Universal Analytics is still the better choice in 2021

This is mainly because many business models do not benefit as much from the advantages of Google Analytics, since they can derive much more benefit from standard reports.

For example, if you work in an e-commerce company, you need pre-configured funnels, product category analyses or an understanding of where which people are dropping out. If you are a publishing company, then page views, time-on-site and return rates are probably very important to you and you therefore want to have true session tracking. And if you work in a B2B company and mainly use the website for lead generation, you simply need pre-made funnel reports and good marketing attributions.

These functions are already predefined in Universal Analytics. You also have no advantage from a consistent data model in Google Analytics 4, as you don't even have an app. Added to this is the fact that you probably don't have a logged-in experience, as your website is not personalised for users. The question you should ask yourselves here, however, is: Will this change in the future?

Even today there are already some products or services which Google Analytics 4 is the better choice for.

For all logged-in services that are available across multiple platforms (such as app, web and SmartTV) and need consistent, user-related tracking, it can definitely make sense to implement Google Analytics 4 as the main tracking system. An example of this is again a company like Netflix. This type of company and service can be tracked much better with Google Analytics 4 than with the classical Universal Analytics.

For all other companies Bjoern Sjut recommends that you should not, at least not mainly, focus on Universal Analytics as tracking tool. Instead, you should use Universal Analytics as your main tracking system in this case, benefiting from standard reports and all other advantages of standard integrations with the platform. Nevertheless, even for these companies it is worth planning the event data model in Google Analytics 4 already now and generating test data.

In our OMR Academy 'DIGITAL MARKETING ANALYTICS - FUNDAMENTALS' you will learn more about Universal Analytics, and learn how to get the most out of your reports. We also give you a outlook on Google Analytics 4, so you can develop ideas how to setup an event data model on Google Analytics 4.