Episode #4: Top Analytics Tactics to Get More Traffic & Sales Using Google Analytics 4

Here are 5 key takeaways from the podcast:

1. Understand Your Sales Funnel: GA4 helps you visualize the stages of your sales funnel, from awareness to purchase, enabling more targeted marketing strategies.
2. User vs. Traffic Acquisition Reports: GA4 differentiates between the first touchpoint (User Acquisition) and all subsequent sessions (Traffic Acquisition) for more detailed analysis.
3. Conversion Path Insights: Track how users move across different touchpoints before converting, helping you optimize channels that drive sales.
4. Marketing Attribution: GA4 uses a data-driven attribution model, but for deeper insights, exporting data to BigQuery allows you to apply custom attribution models.
5. Blending Data for Complete Insights: Integrating data from different platforms (CRM, ad spend, etc.) with GA4 gives a fuller picture of the customer journey, enhancing decision-making.

Vadym:
Hey everyone, welcome back to The Data Crunch Podcast! I’m Vadym, Growth Marketing Manager here at OWOX, and today we’re diving into some super practical ways to boost your traffic and sales with Google Analytics 4, or GA4. I know GA4 can seem a bit overwhelming, so we’re here to break it down into simple, actionable steps. And to help us do that, I’ve got Ievgen, our Head of Marketing, with me.
Hey, Ievgen! Ready to talk GA4?

Ievgen:
Hey Vadym! Definitely—GA4 is definitely packed with potential if you know where to look. Plus it provides a good starting point for any analytics strategies going forward. Let’s get into it!

Vadym:
Awesome! Let’s talk about some of the very basic tips on how to use GA to increase traffic and sales. What would be the first thing to start?

Ievgen:
As a marketer, I always think of funnels.
So the first thing to explore is not the traffic or sales.
It’s about what’s the path your visitor, your ideal client should take in order to become your customer.
Vadym:
Great. Funnels. That doesn’t look like the first step people are making in GA.
But that’s a big deal for any marketer… understanding their sales funnel.
Especially if they’re not operating some sort of direct funnel like those that are selling digital goods with ClickFunnels. Let’s assume we are in the ecommerce or b2b SaaS. 
Ievgen:
So, we’re all familiar with the funnel stages, right?
You’ve got awareness, interest, desire, action. The AIDA model, plus maybe even retention afterward. Or that could be another funnel theory, in any case, you can get this all visualized within GA4.
Each of these stages needs a bit of a different approach in terms of channels.

Vadym: I know GA4 can help with getting this funnel, but how exactly?

Ievgen: With GA4, you can use the funnel exploration to see how people move through these stages on your website.
It would be awesome to share my screen now, but as most of you guys are listening to us, so I’ll try to explain this the way you can then go and take the steps without me showing this directly.
So you go to the Explore section in GA4,
and select the Funnel exploration template.
Select the steps you want to visualize based on the events you track.
Like first visit, session_start, specific page_view, or maybe a purchase event.
If you are in the e-commerce niche: you get the product page view, add to cart event, view cart, and then a purchase event. The most classic sales funnel for e-commerce.
Then you drag your audience segments,
Add the breakdown, like first_user_medium for example…

Vadym:
Yes, that’s a pretty easy setup for what you get.
Could you explain what is the end-result.
How to make decisions out of this funnel view?

Ievgen:
Basically, in less than one minute - You get this nice, clear view of where users are dropping off or where they’re really engaged.
You get the funnel conversion rates: From Stage 1 to Stage 2, Stage 2 to Stage 3, etc.
You understand what are the conversion rates at every step of the way,
And where do you need to improve to reach your business goals?
I think GA calls this Completion Rate and Abandoned Rate.
Whether it’s just not getting enough traffic, but the conversion rates down the line look good,
Or you need to improve the middle of the funnel,
Maybe add some retargeting ads, add some card-abandoned emails,
maybe add some testimonials.
Or you need to simplify the checkout process if you see a huge drop-off there.
You will know exactly what you’re missing and how to get better.
For instance, social media and SEO might be great for creating awareness, while email and case studies can help build interest or close sales.

Vadym:
Oh, I see! So, it’s not just about knowing the stages, and what is the event that corresponds to them,  but actually seeing very clearly how people are moving through your stages in close to real-time.
That’s huge for knowing when to tweak things.
I Love that!
Now, I know GA4 has different reports for tracking visitors, like the User Acquisition and Traffic Acquisition reports.
They sound a little similar—can you explain the difference?

Ievgen:
Definitely, this can be a little confusing.
That is confusing.
The User Acquisition report is all about the very first time someone lands on your site.
So, if someone finds you on Google, that’s their initial touchpoint.
And this is very important - by saying someone, we mean a mix of a visitor as a person, plus a device, plus their browser.  So to say Vadym visiting the website from a mobile phone or from a laptop using Safari would be 2 different Vadyms for GA.
So User Acquisition report is about the first user session.
And it’s about Users. New users, returning users, this kind of details. 

Then we have the Traffic Acquisition report, which focuses on all sessions, new or returning.
So if a user finds you through Google but later comes back directly by using a link on Facebook the User Acquisition report credits Google for bringing the user in, and the Traffic Acquisition report shows the sessions, so the same user will be counted twice: one would specify Google as the session source,
Another - for Facebook.
So Traffic Acquisition report is about sessions, the number of engaged sessions, etc.
Not about unique users. That’s the way they are different.

Vadym:
Oh, got it! So, one’s about that first impression, and the other is about the latest touchpoint, right?

Ievgen:
Nope. Basically, the User Acquisition report is all about users,
Just the main breakdown is by the first traffic source.
And you use Traffic Acquisition Report when you want to analyze sessions.
If I were building a report based on Google Analytics data using another interfaces or just using the Explore Section, I would bring that all together into the same report.
Vadym:
Makes sense now. User Acquisition Report sounds like a great way to figure out what makes people get to the website for the first time but also to return.
But how do I analyze the returning audience?
How to make sure they are getting back?

Ievgen:
The best way is to create a custom audience of returning visitors.
Go to Configure → Audiences. Click "Create Audience."
Select "Returning Users" as the audience type.
Define the number of sessions and time frame for the audience (e.g., users who have visited your site more than 2 times in the last 30 days).
Save the audience.
Then you can use this audience as a filter for any kind of report.
For example, just filter you traffic acquisition report by applying it to only this audience and that’s it.

Vadym:
Nice!
Because, returning visitors usually show brand loyalty, so it’s super valuable to know what brings them back.
Plus, those are the cheapest clients.
You’ve already paid for acquiring them.
On average that’s 10 to 20 times cheaper than acquiring new clients…

Ievgen:
Exactly. It’s very important to keep track of things and know what are the best channels not just overall, but by different audiences and funnel stages…

Vadym:
So, moving on to conversions—everyone’s favorite topic.
How can we use GA4 to actually see how people become customers?

Ievgen:
That’s where we use the Conversion Paths report.
Just the same as with the funnel - you need to go to the Explore section and select the Path view.
It shows you the exact path users take before converting, like a flow of how they went from a casual visitor to a paying customer. You might see that a user clicked on a blog, then on a retargeting ad, and then finally signed up or made a purchase.
Or if you’re in the e-commerce niche, that’s about product pageview, similar or popular product pageview, cart, checkout - that’s it. The cool thing is that you can see the order of touchpoints. It’s really helpful for figuring out which channels are the most influential in the whole journey.

Vadym:
So, this isn’t just showing us conversions, it’s showing us how they happened.
That’s super valuable for figuring out where to focus our marketing!
But that’s about the paths. Is there a way to build the same report with the channels?
Like what’s the channel sequence that leads to conversions?
If you see that social ads are popping up right before a lot of conversions, you know that’s a channel worth investing in. But how to figure this out?

Ievgen:
This is a perfect time to talk about Marketing Attribution.
It’s about how to credit the channels all the way down to conversions.
For example if you are running Facebook ads, and the folks visiting your website are converting right away - that gives 1 credit to Facebook Ads as a Traffic source.
But if it’s a Google Ad first, then a Facebook retargeting - you have to split that 1 credit between Facebook and Google Ads.

Vadym:
But how to split that credit? What are the rules here?

Ievgen:
There is no correct answer here.
That’s the art and science of marketing attribution.
Each business is unique.
That’s why there are so many attribution models out there: first click, last click, last non-direct click, linear, u-shaped, time-decay, funnel-based… and each of those could and should be customized for every business's unique model.
Vadym:
Can you do all that in GA4? 

Ievgen:
Unfortunately, not. Google is applying it’s own model which is called a data-driven attribution.
It’s a machine-learning model by Google that credits the sources according to some logic behind that nobody knows.
It’s like a black-box.
It’s suitable for most of businesses, but just until they want to dig deeper into their analytics,
Until they want to know more about their customers.
Before they want to invest more into the channel strategy and so they need to figure out what really drives their conversions on each step of the funnel.
And to make those decisions they need to compare different models,
Apply that to their business model,
And figure out which one is suitable for them.
Or maybe those are 2 models serving different purposes and they want to keep control of it.
Vadym:
You’ve mentioned that it’s hard to build those models in the GA interface. Is there another way to do this?
Ievgen:
Yes, basically you can use GA4 data to build those models.
You just need to export that GA4 tracking data into BigQuery,
and then you’ll be able to apply some SQL to build different models.
We at OWOX have a lot of templates for doing this,
But there is also a way to do that yourself just using SQL.
No complex tools are required for that.
And if you still think whether or not you need to start exporting GA4 data into BigQuery - you need. Just trust me.
We have a video, where I explain 8 BOLD reasons for doing that right now, whether or not you are ready for advanced analytics today.
Vadym:
Good to know. Now, let’s switch gears a bit.
Many businesses, especially in SaaS or education are using some sort of lead magnets for driving sign-ups and building a list.
How can GA4 help us track those? Because that’s not the sale. That’s just the starting point in the journey.

Ievgen:
Lead magnets—things like e-books, guides, or templates—are fantastic for attracting leads.
In GA4, you can track how well these magnets are working by using event tracking.
You just need to set up event tracking for actions like downloads or form submissions, so you can see how many people are actually opting in. And then you back to the Funnel exploration we’ve discussed in the very beginning,
And put that event as a funnel step after the page_view. 

Vadym:
Oh, I like that!
So, we’re taking our best content and turning it into something people can download.
And then we track it, so we know exactly which ones are driving the most leads. It’s smart!

Ievgen:
Exactly—it’s all about giving some value to your audience for free, but then measuring what works best,
So you can optimize the funnel. 

Vadym:
Alright, now let’s talk about a situation we all dread—a drop in conversion rates.
How can GA4 help us figure out what’s going on if conversions suddenly dip?
How to keep track of things? Compare different periods, etc?

Ievgen:
Yeah, it’s tough when you see those numbers go down, but GA4 can help you get to the bottom of it.
It’s probably not the most user-friendly way, but still.
So you’ve already built the Conversion Paths report I’ve mentioned.
You can now start comparing it over different time periods, like 28 days, my favorite, or by months or weeks or 10 days to spot any changes in user behavior.

Look at things like traffic sources—maybe there’s been a drop in one channel—or check if there were any website changes around the same time. You can even look into specific dimensions, like device type or location if that's what’s important to your business, to get a clearer idea of where the dip is happening.

Just an important note here. You can compare 2 periods side-by-side, but you can’t compare more. Like 3, or just put things monthly.
If you need that level of detail in your reports, I use that every day for example, you need that GA4 BigQuery export I’ve mentioned earlier.
You need to make your data accessible by a language data understands - SQL.
And that allows you to build any possible or impossible report you’d like to get to make business decisions to optimize growth.

Vadym:
So, GA4 isn’t giving us that “why” too often yes?

Ievgen:
Basically GA doesn’t!
It’s a great tracking tool.
Plus it’s free. You don’t have to pay a penny for using it for it unless you have really a lot of traffic.
But it’s very limited.
It’s very helpful when you’re just starting out or for making quick adjustments.
If you want to dig into the details and know exactly where to make changes for growth,
I’d want to build a solid analytics system - you’ll need to go beyond the GA4 interface quickly.
You can still use it for collecting data. Just make them truly yours and analyze them. 

Vadym:
Good to know! Now, I know tracking organic keywords has gotten a bit trickier with all the recent privacy changes. In the past, we could easily see which keywords were driving traffic, but now, a lot of that data is hidden or shows up as “not provided.” Any tips on how we can still get valuable insights on what’s working organically, even with those limitations?

Ievgen:
It’s definitely tougher now, especially if you compare to another Google’s tool - Search Console, but here’s a little trick.
Go to the Traffic Acquisition report, filter for organic Google traffic, and add “Landing page + query string” as a dimension. And you will see some of the pages and query strings driving conversions.
Then, hop over to Google Search Console to explore those queries in details.
But without a direct connection to the actions after the session started.
It’s a bit of a workaround, but it lets you see which pages are pulling in organic traffic and then sales or conversions,
And you’ll see the keywords.
You just won’t be able to analyze them in detail.

Vadym:
Love it! So, we can still optimize content based on which pages are performing best, even without a direct connection to keywords. Nice workaround!

Ievgen:
Exactly! It’s all about using the tools we have.
We live in the privacy era.
Let’s just say thank you Google for having those opportunities. We may lose them shortly.
Vadym:
Yes, exactly, we’ve recorded a podcast about privacy and server-side tracking a few weeks ago, you can also check it out if you want to learn more about privacy and what to expect in this post-cookie world

Vadym:
Alright, moving on.
For those of us, marketers, using multiple ad platforms, not just Google Ads… ad spend is not available in Google Analytics. So we have the conversion data there, but how to get the ROAS calculated?
How can we get a full view of our ad spend and performance in GA4?

Ievgen:
Great question! If you’re running ads across platforms, you can import ad costs from non-Google sources into GA4.
This way, you can compare all your advertising efforts side by side.
And if you want to make it super easy, OWOX can automate this process for you, saving time and reducing the risk of errors. And from what I’ve recently heard, GA doesn’t require the utm_id, the campaign_id to be filled.

Vadym:
That makes budget allocation so much easier for businesses…

Ievgen:
Look, Google Analytics is a tracking platform.
It’s not the best out there visualization tool for any marketing or business use-case.
So you would get a better view of the overall performance if you get all of the data into BigQuery and then map it all using SQL and visualize in Google SHeets or Looker Studio.
We have all of the templates for the dashboards and required SQL available.
When you start being serious about your analytics - that helps you get the best return on your ad spend by making smarter budget decisions.
Yes, you can do that in GA, but better do that in BigQuery, Sheets & Looker Studio.

Vadym:
Great stuff so far! Now, you mentioned that GA4 can be even more powerful when we blend it with data from other sources. Can you walk us through how combining data from different platforms actually helps us make better decisions?

Ievgen:
That’s exactly what we’ve been talking about when discussing non-google ad costs in GA4.
When you connect the dots between ad spend and revenue,
Between specific keywords and ads with the final conversion - that’s what blending is all about.
Blending gives you the ability to see a complete view of your performance.
Or for example, when combining GA4 data with info from CRM systems about the real orders, not just only the online conversions, plus ad platforms, plus email marketing and other tools, you get a full picture of the customer journey.

With blended data, you can create custom dashboards that let you drill down into what really matters. 

Vadym:
Absolutely.

This has been fantastic, Ievgen. Thanks for breaking it all down. And to everyone listening, if you’re ready to start optimizing your analytics, check out OWOX BI. 

Start a free trial at owox.com, and don’t forget to subscribe to The Data Crunch Podcast for more insights! And I look forward to seeing you in our future episodes.

Ievgen:
Thanks, Vadym! And thanks, everyone, for tuning in. Remember, GA4 isn’t just for tracking numbers; it’s for understanding your audience and driving growth. Catch you next time!