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The biggest change to digital marketing in the last five years - and how to make the most of it
Author: Andy Headington, CEO, Adido
It is no exaggeration to say that the announcement made by Google earlier this year to ‘sunset’ Universal Analytics in July 2023 is biggest thing to shake up the digital marketing world in the last five years. From the 1st July 2023, Google Analytics will no longer collect information, and if they stick to their word, you won’t be available to view any data in 2024.
Travel companies and website owners across the globe have come to rely on Google Analytics for everything online. From understanding user behaviour, calculating ROI of marketing spend and ultimately understanding where bookings are coming from. It is central to nearly everything travel companies do.
Over the last decade, GA has become our ‘go to’ tool, being used on over half of the websites across the globe. From next year, we’ll be looking at a new screen.
The huge assumption being made is that Google Analytics 4 is just the next version of analytics from Google. The brutal reality is that it’s anything but. Yes, you can track goals, sessions and channel activity. However, everything is quite different; from the way users are tracked, to the way data is processed and goals recorded, everything requires a huge overhaul in our brains and reporting tools to make sense of things.
One analytics expert likes it to the evolution of travel. We’ve been used to driving a car for a decade, now we need to fly a helicopter. They are very different ways of getting from A to B!
At Adido we’ve been working with GA4 since 2020 and have a great understanding of not only how it works, but also how to get the best of it. Held in partnership with ABTA, we are running a practical training day in November, An Essential Guide to Campaign Tracking and Google Analytics (GA4) for Travel. The day will take those new to the platform through the necessary steps to get it set up, help you understand how to transition away from the current GA set up, and save you time by giving you expert experience on where to avoid common mistakes.
Most importantly, we will introduce you to a variety of other platforms that you should be considering. Whilst Google is a name everyone will know, GA4 is far from user friendly. Many reports are missing, it can be very complicated to set up and also lead you into a world of future costs down the line. Given NO data can be transferred from your old GA set up, we look into other tools that offer greater choice when looking at website data which may well be more suitable for you and your business.
Finally, throughout the day, you’ll be able to ask questions relevant to your travel business to help you come away with everything you need to know regarding your future analytics plans for 2023 and beyond.
ABTA’s An Essential Guide to Campaign Tracking and Google Analytics 4 (GA4) for Travel will take place on 9 February and will feature sessions on tracking and measuring engagement, tracking cross-device and cross-platform engagement, how to get started with GA4 and more.