GA4 is designed to provide more advanced features and insights than previous versions of Google Analytics. This can help the dealership to track website traffic, local user behavior, and other key metrics. This data can enable them to make data-driven decisions about their marketing and advertising strategies.
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the newest iteration of Google’s analytics venture. Moving from session-based to event-based data collection enables GA4 to the entire customer journey across websites and mobile apps, making it the future of web analytics. The data collected by GA4 can be used for several purposes, but it is most valuable to digital marketers. By analyzing trends and customer behavior, marketers can further tighten up their marketing campaigns to get better returns on investments.
Today, users are engaging with Universal Analytics (UA), Google’s data collection platform that provides detailed user behavior reporting. On July 1, 2023, Google will no longer collect data into UA, so dealers need to get ready to support GA4 now.
Businesses, especially car dealerships, can massively benefit from GA4.
Let’s discuss how you can improve your analytics tracking with GA4 for marketing purposes and ultimately increase sales.
Why Should Businesses Implement Google Analytics 4?
First and foremost, Google is sunsetting its current Universal Analytics platform. On July 1, 2023, they are launching Google Analytics 4 so it’s adapt or die. Being proactive can reduce the transition stress and prepare you for the many new and powerful features GA4 will deliver.
Enhanced Understanding of Consumer Behavior
GA4 provides more accurate tracking of user behavior across different devices and platforms, including mobile apps and websites. This can help website owners and digital marketers better understand their audience.
It also provides deeper insight into audience behavior and how they interact with digital assets. It offers multiple parameters for each event rather than just a single action and label.
Advanced Machine Learning Capabilities
GA4 provides more advanced machine learning capabilities to help users gain previously impossible insights. For example, GA4 can use machine learning to predict future customer behavior and provide recommendations for improving website performance. This makes it even more important to ensure consumer actions are measurable and indicated in GA4.
Tools like Dynamic Number Insertion (DNI) become even more valuable and can connect offline behavior to site visits and send intuitive events into GA4.
Privacy Focused Analytics
GA4 is designed to provide more privacy-focused analytics, becoming increasingly important as privacy concerns grow. GA4 now offers improved consent management features. These features help website owners comply with privacy regulations, like General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
Opportunities for Better Understanding of Car Buying Behaviors
A new feature offered by GA4 is the ability to use debug mode. This works hand-in-hand with Google’s Tag Manager or a Chrome Plug-in to allow users to emulate website consumer behavior and see how Google Analytics is recording the behavior quickly. It also helps you determine how often people engage with costly website tools.
New Analytics Means a New Opportunity to Learn
For many business operators, Google Analytics has been frustrating for a long time.
The learning curve felt steep, and the data-first design made it less than intuitive. GA4 offers a level playing field for everyone to learn and grow with it together. Those unfamiliar with the former glory of GA3/Universal Analytics will not have to unlearn former structures. Starting now gives you an advantage over competitors who have decided to wait until they have to learn it.
Why Should Car Dealerships Use GA4?
Car dealerships spend countless hours perfecting their sales and service processes to ensure customers receive the best experience possible. Much time is focused on how internet leads are responded to. The tools used in the drive and ensuring sales reps are armed with proper product knowledge are also considered.
Imagine if you had to run your sales team without understanding your CRM.
How difficult would it be to lead the service team without understanding how to pull reports in the DMS?
Almost every customer visits the website before engaging your dealership in any business. Their behavior is measurable in Google Analytics, and unlike CRM or DMS, it’s free. When configured and used correctly, the information guides you to know whether or not marketing efforts are working.
GA4 is designed to provide more advanced features and insights than previous versions of Google Analytics. This can help the dealership to track website traffic, local user behavior, and other key metrics. This data can enable them to make data-driven decisions about their marketing and advertising strategies.
With GA4, car dealerships can better understand their customers and create more personalized experiences that drive engagement and loyalty. And DNI technology can be especially valuable. Many customers still prefer to call and speak with a salesperson when researching or purchasing a car. By using DNI with GA4, dealers can:
- Track which marketing campaigns are driving the most sales phone calls
- Identify which salespeople are converting the most leads
- Measure additional important metrics related to the phone sales process
This information can help optimize your sales process. It can also improve your customer experience, reduce ineffective ad spend and ultimately increase your bottom line.
DNI + GA4 can uniquely help dealerships better understand the customer journey by tracking which pages a visitor has viewed and helps to identify what actions have been taken before making a phone call.
This can provide valuable insight into which pages and campaigns drive the most engaged and qualified leads. Utilizing this information to optimize marketing and sales strategies will assist in attracting more qualified leads and converting more sales.
Final Thoughts
GA4 is the future of market analytics.
It helps businesses track metrics that they could not possibly have measured before. As a result, marketing campaigns are getting more incisive – this is especially true for car dealerships.
Overall, Google’s new GA4 with DNI capabilities can provide Dealerships and Dealer Groups with valuable insights. These insights can help them better understand their customers and make data-driven decisions to improve their marketing and sales strategies. This can lead to more effective campaigns, a better customer experience, and ultimately increased revenue and profits.
