GA4: Which report to use? Predefined, Explore, or BigQuery

We know that analyzing the data from your website and booking engine is key to understanding what users do on the web, which channels generate the most sales, or how to improve conversion. At ROIBACK we have a space dedicated to web analytics in the BI PORTAL and we could dedicate an entire post to talking about its data and alternative analyses (and we will).

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But in GA4, where do you find that data?

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If you've ever gotten lost between the predefined reports, the "Explore" section, or heard of BigQuery without knowing if you need it, we'll explain it to you clearly.

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Predefined reports: fast but limited

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GA4 offers a series of standard reports on traffic, acquisition sources, and conversion events. They are useful for a quick look at key metrics such as:

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• Where the visits to your website come from.

• How many reservations have been generated in your booking engine.

• Devices and locations of users.

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But they have some particularities:

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• Sampling in some cases, which means that the data may not be 100% accurate if you have a high volume of traffic.

• Cardinality problems, if you have many custom dimensions (such as campaign names or dynamic pages), GA4 may group values as (other) when there are too many combinations of data.

• Little customization, although you can modify some views, you cannot do in-depth analysis.

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Explore: the intermediate point and probably the one you can get the most out of

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The "Explore" section allows you to go beyond standard reports and build custom analyses with pivot tables, funnels, cohorts, and other advanced analyses. With these reports you can, among others:

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• Analyze the user journey: at what point do they abandon the booking process?

• Segment by channels: what converts better, Google Ads or metasearch engines?

• Compare time periods: do I have more demand this year or did I have more last year for the same dates?

• Avoid sampling by having more accurate data.

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However, you may still have cardinality problems if there are many combinations of dimensions, such as campaign names or origin destinations.

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Datasets in BigQuery: the most advanced level, without limitations

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If you want to avoid restrictions, work with large volumes of data, and have SQL knowledge, BigQuery allows you to:

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• Access data without sampling and without cardinality.

• Create detailed reports combining GA4 data with other sources, such as your CRM or PMS.

• Ultimately, perform more advanced analysis.

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Ultimately, there is no universal truth about which is the best. The use of one report or another will depend mainly on the analysis needs and, secondly, on our fluency when customizing reports or even creating them from scratch.

We hope we have helped you get the most out of GA4 data. And if you are interested in learning more about the tool, send us a contact form requesting information about the personalized training with the specialist team, which mainly covers:

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• How to navigate the GA4 tool and its predefined reports.

• Main differences compared to Universal Analytics

• How to create custom reports in “Explore”

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See you on the dashboards!

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