Migrating your eCommerce business to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) comes with many benefits, but it also has its own set of challenges. You can pay for Google Analytics 4 services to make the entire process easy, but it also helps to know your way around the platform so you can get the most out of it.
For eCommerce businesses, GA4 can potentially provide plenty of useful insights that help you improve sales and customer satisfaction. However, you would first need to configure the tool correctly so that it works according to your needs.
To do this, one of the new concepts you’ll need to learn deals with Events. GA4 uses an events-based model for processing data, which is different from UA’s session-based framework. This is one of the main challenges when migrating to GA4, but Google has fortunately provided a list of Recommended Events to help you out.
4 Event Types in GA4
Before diving into our list of Recommended GA4 Events, let’s first discuss the different types of events you’ll encounter on the platform:
- Automatically Tracked Events
- Enhanced Measurement
- Recommended Events
- Custom Events
The first two are readily enabled on GA4, so you’ll only have to create Recommended and Custom Events.
If you want to track an event with GA4, you should first check whether that event is not already covered by Automatic Tracking or Enhanced Measurement. If not, then check the list of Recommended Events to see if it’s covered there. You would only need to create Custom Events if what you want to track isn’t already in the previous three types.
Recommended GA4 Events for eCommerce
Check out this list of fifteen important GA4 Events to find which ones apply to your business. Generally, we recommend enabling all of them so that you can track every instance a user interacts with your business. This will allow you to gather as much useful data as possible on your audience.
| Recommended Event | Triggers When |
|---|---|
|
add_payment_info |
A user submits their payment information |
|
add_shipping_info |
A user submits their shipping information
|
|
add_to_cart |
A user adds items to their cart
|
|
add_to_wishlist |
A user adds items to a wishlist
|
|
begin_checkout
|
A user begins the checkout process
|
|
generate_lead
|
A user submits a form or a request for information
|
|
purchase |
A user completes a purchase
|
|
refund
|
A user receives a refund
|
|
remove_from_cart
|
A user removes items from their cart
|
|
select_item |
A user selects an item from a list
|
|
select_promotion |
A user selects a promotion
|
|
view_cart
|
A user views their cart
|
|
view_item
|
A user views an item
|
|
view_item_list
|
A user sees a list of items/offerings
|
|
view_promotion
|
A user sees a promotion
|
How Are Recommended Events Helpful?
According to Google, “adding these events to your website or mobile app helps you measure additional features and behaviour as well as generate more useful reports.”
For example, setting up the “purchase” event will enable you to measure instances of users completing store or in-app purchases, as well as track other important data points surrounding their decisions. This information can help you improve conversion rates and the quality of support you provide, as well as help you with planning and forecasting.
Setting up the “purchase” event also means that related events will be displayed in the appropriate report for effective tracking, which in this case would be the Monetisation report.
Set Up Google Analytics 4 Events with Expert Help
Still feeling a little lost with GA4? Let our experts lead the way. We’ll handle all your GA4 migration needs and set it up for maximum results. Contact us for Google Analytics 4 services and pick from one of our pre-bundled packages.