If you’ve been using it, you’ll know that Google Analytics is an amazing tool for marketing and business development. Without its insight, many decisions can end up being made by intuition, or even guesswork.

But in order to keep this tool kit in your arsenal, you’ll need to invest a bit of time upgrading to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) – because the Universal Analytics (UA) that you may have been using up to now, is soon to disappear.

The earlier you migrate, the more historical data and insights you will have in Google Analytics 4. Universal Analytics properties will stop processing new hits on 1 July 2023.

Here’s what’s going to happen and why you should consider taking action.

Important note!

Before you start the migration process, we’d strongly recommend you carry out your own due diligence and familiarise yourself with what migrating to GA4 could mean for you. It’s also a good idea to consult the team who manages the technical side of your website for their knowledge and expertise, as we have done for our Broker Mentor website.

The process of migrating

To make the transfer from UA to GA4 we followed the steps set out below. Depending on your experience you could either follow Google’s guide, or to gain a better understanding first – try searching for ‘UA to GA4 migration’ on YouTube.

GA4 migration checklist*

1. Check that you have access

   Start by making sure that you have Administrator Access to the selected account in order to perform the migration (otherwise you’ll get a ‘permission error’ message).
   
   

   Consider the account structure that you have.

   You can skip this action if you have just one website and/or app.
   
   

2. Create your GA4 property and data stream

   To help you do this, use the GA4 Setup Assistant
   
   

   Collect website and app data.

   Note that you only need to do this if the GA4 Setup Assistant can’t use an existing tag that’s already on your website. For more information on installing a new Google tag see Shopify or another website builder/CMS).

   Turn on Google Signals in Property settings.

   Note that only those seeking enhanced remarketing and reporting need to do this.
   
   

3. Set up conversion events

   This can either be done manually or by using the Goals migration tool.
   
   

4. Add, edit or delete users within your account.

   You can either do this manually or by using the Google user migration tool.
   
   

5. Copy IP exclusions from your UA account.

   This action will help to make your analytic data more accurate (but isn’t mandatory).
   
   

So, there’s the plan that we followed. As mentioned, if you need more help, check in with the team who manages the tech side of your website, or learn more from the many guides on YouTube.

Aviva Marketing Support

*Aviva and its connected suppliers accepts no liability whatsoever for any loss or damage associated with the content of this email or supplementary content herein, and the reader accepts in consideration of this content that they are responsible to carry out their own due diligence by consulting a professional. Reliance upon, all or any of the content or any supplementary content of this document, is at the users own risk.

For further information, read this Google support guide.