When should you prepare for a Google Analytics: App+Web migration?
From a Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager implementation perspective, I am excited about what 2020 will have in store for us. Here are some of my thoughts based on my recent attendance at MOA’s Digital Analytics Congres 2019 in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
UPDATE Download my free Google Analytics App + Web guide to quickly learn all you need to know with regards to updating from Universal Analytics to App + Web.
With many blogs available I am not one to frequent conferences often. A lot of industry news can be obtained by other means these days yet conferences are still good for one thing. It is great to surround yourself among peers, and not feeling like the tag management lovin’ oddball.
This specific conference had a bonus. I had the opportunity to hear first hand from industry leading experts, like Krista Seiden, in combination with insights from Google’s Weiwei Liu-Schröder on what Google Analytics: App+Web’s roadmap looks like for 2020, unofficially though...
Krista Seiden’s Digital Analytics trends
In Krista’s presentation that focused mainly on Google Analytics’ new App+Web update, Krista walked us through the various changes functionalities currently available in its Beta.
If you keep up with industry news and Krista’s great blog posts on the topic then there was not much new to learn. Asides from the Enhanced Measurements functionality, which Krista labeled as “something tag management people won’t be too thrilled about” (more on this topic later), it was a question from the audience that piqued my interest.
Krista’s response to the question from a conference attendee if companies, without an app, who now suffice with Universal Analytics, will be forced (maybe ‘required’ sounds more friendly) to migrate to the Google Analytics: App+Web data collection methodology and accompanying data model was:
The writing is on the wall.
In the past, a.k.a. ‘the wall’, we have seen Google make it possible for companies to upgrade from Classic Analytics to Universal Analytics by, and I am oversimplifying here, upgrading their properties and ecommerce tracking code. Result (with some development effort), users upgraded to Universal Analytics in droves and in the process gained access to a bounty of new data.
Migrating to Google Analytics: App+Web
I feel confident in saying that history will repeat itself and that companies will have to start considering the reality that upgrading will be necessary, but also benefit their business in the long run.
As a tag management expert I try to assess and offer strategic advise on my client’s Google Tag Manager application and how to keep their implementations scalable, organized and producing high quality data.
Google Analytics: App+Web will change the way the data collection game is played. Now, the event tracking approach is not new. Tools like Segment, Mixpanel, Keen and more have already adopted this approach.
Companies using Google Tag Manager to implement Google Analytics will be doing the right thing at putting aside resources to rethink, define and implement a new strategy. In its current Beta state I think that a ‘property update’ will not suffice like it did with Universal Analytics.
When to start planning your migration?
Now the big question floating around my mind is when to starting seriously considering migrating to Google Analytics: App+Web. This question was partially answered by Weiwei’s presentation later in the afternoon. In it, Google’s Future Vision and Roadmap for the Google Marketing Platform was shared.
UPDATE October 10th, 2019 at 15:36 ~ Unfortunately Google have asked me to remove any visual or textual reference to the contents of Google’s Future Vision Roadmap slide. I have decided to comply.
As some of you might know, functionalities like Ecommerce tracking are not present in the current Google Analytics: App+Web Beta amd will most likely not become available until sometime in 2020.
When we take that, probably one of the largest missing features, into consideration it is safe to say that migrating to Google Analytics: App+Web will be most effective sometime beyond 2021 when it is likely that, for 360-clients at least, SLA’s are put into effect.
Does this mean that you should wait with migrating? If you have better things to do, sure, go ahead and wait. Personally, I will be recommending that clients who actively utilize both the web and mobile apps to conduct online business and want to test Google Analytics: App+Web to learn more go ahead and do so this year or early 2020, guiding their implementations along the way.
TL;DR No time like the present to start testing and experimenting with Google Analytics: App+Web if you conduct business on both platforms.
Google Analytics: App+Web Support
If you or your company is interested in migrating to Google Analytics: App+Web there are many ways to get started.
Want to try it yourself? I highly recommend reading Simo Ahava’s blog on How to get started with Google Analytics: App+Web.
If you would like some assistance, please feel free to contact myself or connect with me on LinkedIn.
