Install Google Analytics 4 to track and collect data to better understand the customer journey.
About This Feature
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the next-generation analytics tool to Google's Universal Analytics (UA). Google Analytics' main purpose is to track and store data about how your users interact with your site, using “privacy-first” tracking, x-channel measurement, and AI-based predictive data.
Key Features of Google Analytics 4
- Built with Google's Machine Learning to automatically uncover insights from your data that will improve marketing performance.
- Provides a more complete understanding of your full customer lifecycle, from acquisition to retention, by bringing together data from web and app at scale.
- Built to be durable and future-proof by scaling with your business. It will work with or without cookies and will take advantage of modelling so that you can learn about your customers with gaps in your data.
Learn more about Google Analytics 4's reporting and exploration capabilities.
The Google Analytics 4 app tracks page views and purchase events (including begin_checkout, add_to_cart, and purchase) out of the box, no additional setup required for standard GA4 reporting.
Important Considerations
- If you are running Google Ads and need to pass dynamic purchase values (e.g. actual revenue amounts) into Google Ads for conversion tracking and ROAS optimization, you will need to set up Google Tag Manager first and then follow these instructions: How Can I Track the Sale Amount in Google Ads.
- It can take 24-48 hours for data to sync between Google Analytics 4 and your Thinkific site.
How to Set Up a Google Analytics 4 Property
Option 1: Set up Analytics data collection for the first time
Do this if you’re new to Analytics and ready to collect data for your website and/or app.
Option 2: Add Google Analytics 4 to a site with Universal Analytics (Analytics “classic”)
The GA4 Setup Assistant will add a Google Analytics 4 property alongside your existing Universal Analytics property. Your Universal Analytics property will continue to collect data. You can access both using the property selector in the Admin area. Please keep in mind that Universal Analytics will be retired starting July 1, 2023.
How to Integrate Google Analytics 4 with Thinkific
- Locate the Google Analytics 4 app in the App Store
- Click Accept & Install
- Once the app has been successfully installed, you will be taken to the Google Analytics 4 details in Thinkific.
- Under Google Analytics Measurement ID, paste your "G-" ID
- Click Save
Frequently Asked Questions
I have previously used Universal Analytics (UA). What is the difference between UA and GA4?
Google Analytics tracking using Universal Analytics (US) was deprecated on July 1, 2023 and is no longer available. There are many notable differences between UA and GA4. Check out Google’s Help Center articles on Comparing metrics: Google Analytics 4 vs Universal Analytics and Universal Analytics versus Google Analytics 4 data for an in-depth overview.
If you used UA previously, your historical data will not automatically migrate. Google recommends exporting data from your Universal Analytics property instead.
Are purchases through the Thinkific Checkout tracked through Google Analytics 4 (GA4)?
Yes. The GA4 app automatically tracks the following events for purchases made through Thinkific Checkout:
-
begin_checkout: a learner has started the checkout process -
add_to_cart: an item was added to the cart (fires for primary product, then again for any order bump) -
purchase: one or more items were purchased
These events will appear in your GA4 reports with no additional configuration needed.
To track conversion values in Google Ads, you will need to use Google Tag Manager and configure your variables to read from Thinkific's data layer. Learn how to do it here: How Can I Track the Sale Amount in Google Ads.