Learn what you need to know to successfully manage key stakeholder expectations through Google Analytics 4. 7-minute read.

Managing stakeholder expectations is what sets people apart. Yes, the most important part is getting the work done, but the way you manage stakeholder expectations will directly impact your success, your reputation and your business relationships.

In this article, we'll examine 11 expectations you should consider setting as you take on the task of migrating from UA to GA4:

1. GA4 Is Not Plug & Play. It requires significant planning and testing to deliver exactly what you want.
2. New Terminology. Becuase GA4 focuses on user interactions, everything worth measuring is referred to as an event. Clicks, pageviews, downloads, session start, first visit - everything
3. Numbers Won't Match. GA4 is different. Both UA and GA4 are intended to measure trends rather that hard numbers but, the way that they do that is different. Not worse or better, simply different.
4. More With GA4. Google newest analytics tool is more flexible with far more customization however, it's much more complicated on every level. Small businesses in particular may struggle to adapt.
5. Short-term data. GA4 data will only be available for up to 14 months so, you may need a data warehouse to retain data resources longer. Also, the default is set to retain data for 2 months so be sure to adjust your setting to fit your needs.
6. Paid features that were free in UA. Get used to paying for the good stuff. Less data storage, even multiple filtered views will now require an upcharge.
7. Level up or outsource. The learning curve is real and, likely more that most small to mid-sized businesses will want to take on. GA4 managers should either take courses and/or retain outside migration, training and management help.
8. Help for those struggling with cookie opt-outs. Data Modeling in GA4 offers the potential to fill the data loss gaps of sites hit with cookie opt-outs. This is particularly valuable for sites following GDPR or similar other privacy regulations.
9. Metrics are changing and stakeholder expectations should too. While this impacts all stakeholders, managers should be strongly proactive in communicating what changed, why it changed, what the new metrics are and what the benefits of the change are. Simply put, give every stakeholder reasons to embrace GA4.

Hopefully this will help you and your business reduce your stress and successfully manage analytics migration for you and your stakeholders.

Switching to GA4 isn't a question of when but how, and quickly. Universal Analytics will stop processing data on July 1st, 2023 for all standard properties and on July 1st 2024 for 360 properties. How will you set key stakeholder expectations and what will it take to make the switch?

Switching to GA4 isn't a question of when but how, and quickly. Universal Analytics will stop processing data on July 1st, 2023 for all standard properties and on July 1st 2024 for 360 properties. How will you set key stakeholder expectations and what will it take to make the switch?
For those of you that are late to the GA4 migration game, setting key stakeholder expectations should be your prime directive. It's you opportunity to start fresh and deliver improved insights from a flexible resource that better understands, relates and reports user interactions.

First, know that GA4 is vastly different from UA. As the reporting standard for over a decade, it's widely accepted that UA over-reported activity. GA4 provides a more realistic reporting standard because tracking focuses on how users interact with pages on a deeper level. These deeper insights can benefit your business well past the cost of the GA4 migration.

To get to that point, we need to figure out how to plan your migration roadmap so that you can set expectations for internal and external stakeholders. Here's a good start:

1. Start the conversation internally and/or with your agency partner
2. Educate yourself on the migration process
3. Go through the process, create a GA4 property and get comfortable
4. Implement parallel tracking for UA & GA4
5. Flag UA reports and develop GA4 reports
6. Build a 'Migration S.W.O.T.' presentation refining it with internal stakeholder feedback
7. Present your 'Migration S.W.O.T.' presentation to external stakeholders for feedback and set the expectation of a forthcoming Migration Action Plan
8. Develop your Migration Action Plan and put it into motion as soon as possible.

When you're ready to get started, Google makes it easy with a host of step-by-step workflows and informative videos dedicated to help anyone and everyone take advantage of GA4. Learn more here.