This dashboard will display baseline discrepancies between the UA and GA4 data models.
Starting on 7/1/23 Google is switching ALL Merchants from Universal Google Analytics to GA4. This Changes How Sessions are Calculated, Channel Groupings are credited and to a lesser extent it will effect you revenue reporting and transaction counts.
Dashboard Sections
Integration Overview
A side-by-side comparison of Universal Analytics and G4 Sessions, Transactions and Revenue.
Session Counts
Sessions will vary between Universal Analytics and GA4 - this report will show the overall percentage differences well as the changes over time.
NOTE: A difference greater than 10% maybe an indication of a larger issue because UA and G4 session counts should NOT be that far off.
Transaction Counts
Transaction Counts will vary between Universal Analytics and GA4 - this report will show the overall percentage differences as well as the changes over time. The Transaction Counts discrepancies should be minimum (~10%)
Revenue
Universal Analytics and GA4 revenue numbers should be more or less the same. If the numbers are different, it is likely due to missed transactions (which you can use the previous section to analyze) or differences in how you are tracking revenue metrics in UA and GA4.
For Example: If your transaction counts match but revenue does Not, you may be including shipping or tax amounts in one platform, but not the other. Ideally you want to be tracking the same revenue amount in both UA and GA4.
Channel Grouping (Brand Supplied Data Channel Mapping Sheet)
Universal Analytics and GA4 have different rules for Default Channel Groupings. Use these visualizations to understand how Google is bucketing your traffic differently in GA4.
TIP: For More Information Please read This Article on Channel Grouping Changes to GA4
The changes to Default Channel Groupings can have a significant impact on how your channel mapping rules apply to your GA4 data — particularly if a lot of your rules are based off of the Default Channel Grouping value.
Use the visualizations below to see how your Channel Mapping rules are affecting your UA and GA4 data differently and make the necessary adjustments in your Brand Supplied Data Channel Mapping sheet.
NOTE: The Reports in this section have "Cross-Filtering" turned on by default.. If you click on any "Channel Grouping" row in any of the tables, ALL of the tiles will populate to ONLY show that Channel Grouping's results.
NOTE: Many of the out-of-the-box channel mapping rules are based off of the GA Default Channel Grouping value. Those default values are changing in GA4, it will affect channel mapping.
You can expect to have more UNKNOWN channels because of New Default Channel Grouping values in GA4 that didn't exist in UA.
How can you avoid bumps in the road with channel-mapping? The most fool-proof way is to have channel-mapping rules that rely more on source & medium values and less on channel_grouping values because the source & medium values will be consistent between UA & GA4.
We RECOMMEND adding these catch-all Channel Groupings to your Channel Mapping BSD Sheet so it will look for the NEW channel values and map them similar to how they would be mapped in UA.
If you are seeing a lot of GA4 traffic classified as UNKNOWN, adding these rules to the end of you Channel-Mapping BSD (and then running a refresh & reset) should help:
Effect on BSD Channel-Mapped Channel
Side-By-Side Comparison of GA4 and Universal Analytics Sessions by Channel - with specific Source / Medium and Campaign.
