Segments in GA4: A Comprehensive Guide

Gazing at website traffic data in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) can be like staring at a starry night sky – vast and full of potential insights, but overwhelming without a telescope. Segments in GA4 act as your analytical lens, allowing you to zoom in on specific user groups or actions. This guide will equip you with the knowledge to unlock the power of segmentation in GA4.

We’ll delve into the different types of segments (user, session, and event), explore the suggested segments offered by Google to jumpstart your analysis, and finally, walk you through the steps of creating your own custom segments. With this newfound skillset, you’ll be able to transform your website traffic data from a starry expanse into a clear roadmap for optimizing user engagement and conversions.

Key Takeaways

• Understanding the Basics of Segments: What is it and Why it is important
• Types of Segments in GA4
  • User Segment
  • Session Segment
  • Event Segment
• Learn how to create segments in GA4
• Suggested Segments in Google Analytics 4
  • General
  • Shopping
  • Templates
  • Predictive

Understanding the Basics of Segments: What is it and Why it is important

Let’s analyze your website traffic beyond the basic metrics. While viewing overall website traffic (sessions, pageviews, or conversions) offers a general idea of performance, it doesn’t tell the whole story. Segments in GA4 come in handy here. They function like specialized lenses, allowing you to zoom in on specific user groups within your total dataset. This enables a deeper understanding of how different user segments interact with your site.

For instance, imagine you run an e-commerce store. You can create a segment to isolate mobile app users and analyze their behavior. This segment might reveal pages viewed more frequently on mobile compared to desktop, highlighting areas for mobile optimization. Unlike filters that modify data for a single report, segments are dynamic and can be applied across various explorations in GA4.

Types of Segments in GA4

GA4 provides three-types of segments, let’s have a quick look at what they describes.

User Segment

User segments are like creating custom groups within your website or app visitors. These groups are formed based on shared characteristics or actions users take.

Example: Let’s say you run an e-commerce store. You can create a segment for “engaged shoppers” who have browsed multiple product pages but haven’t purchased yet. This segment allows you to target them with special offers or retargeting campaigns to nudge them towards a conversion.

Event Segment

Event segments act like filters for specific actions users take on your site or app. Instead of focusing on the users themselves, they zoom in on individual events.

Example: Imagine you manage a news website. You can create an event segment for “video_play” events to analyze which video categories or topics have the highest engagement. This helps you understand user preferences and tailor your content strategy accordingly.

Session Segment

Session segments are like slices of your website traffic based on specific criteria. Instead of seeing all sessions jumbled together, you can isolate groups that share a common trait.

Example: Let’s say you manage a travel booking website. You can create a session segment for users who landed on a specific destination page but didn’t book anything. This segment allows you to investigate potential roadblocks in the booking process for that particular destination and optimize it for better conversions.

Learn how to create segments in GA4

The initial steps to creating segments are the same across the board within explorations in GA4. Let’s dive into creating segments:

Step 1: Navigate to the ‘Explore’ Section and click on ‘Start a new exploration’ (i.e. means ‘+’ sign)

Step 2: Click on the ‘+’ icon in the variable section to create a new segment.

Step 3: Now, select the types of segment which you want to create, i.e., User, Session, and Event.

Step 4: After defining segment conditions, click “Save and Apply” in the top right corner.

Step 5: Apply segments using drag-and-drop or double-click in “Segment Comparisons.” Edit or delete with the three-dot menu when hovering over them.

While you can create up to 10 segments per exploration in GA4, only 4 can be actively compared within the “Segment Comparisons” section.

Suggested Segments in Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics 4 jumpstarts your segment creation with these four suggested segment categories:

1. General
2. Shopping
3. Templates
4. Predictive

General

GA4 offers six pre-built “General” segment suggestions to kickstart your analysis:

• Recently Active Users: Focuses on users who interacted with your site or app recently.
• Purchasers: Users who have completed a purchase.
• Non-Purchasers: Isolates users who haven’t made a purchase yet.
• 7-day inactive users: Users who are once active, but not have been active for last 7 days
• 7-day inactive purchasers: Purchasers who were once active, but have not been active for last 7 days

Shopping

Ecommerce websites rejoice! Google Analytics 4 offers pre-built “Shopping” to save you time:

• Lead: Focuses on potential customers who have shown initial interest.
• Registered Users: Users who have created an account.
• Wishlist Users: Identifies users who have added items to their wishlists.
• Item Searchers: Isolates users who have searched for specific products.
• Billable Users: Users with valid billing information on file.
• Cart abandoners: Captures users who added items to their cart but didn’t complete the purchase.
• Checkout Starters: Identifies users who initiated the checkout process.
• Item Viewers: Isolates users who have viewed product pages.

Templates

While offering a starting point, the “Templates” segments lack customization. You can’t add additional conditions beyond choosing pre-defined filters within each segment type:

• Demographics: Pre-built based on user demographics (age, gender, location etc.).
• Acquisition: Users based on how they found your site or app (organic search, paid ads etc.).
• Technology: Isolates users by device type (desktop, mobile etc.) or browser used.

Predictive

Unlike other segments, these leverage Google’s machine learning muscle. They identify users with a high likelihood of specific actions, like becoming a purchaser or churning (stopping engagement).

However, this feature isn’t universally available. Smaller businesses might not meet the eligibility criteria for “Ready to use” status (refer to Google’s documentation for details).

• Likely 7-day purchasers: Identifies users likely to make a purchase within the next week.
• Predicted 28-day top spenders: Users expected to be high spenders in the next 28 days.
• Likely 7-day churning purchasers: Isolates existing customers likely to churn (stop buying) within the next week.
• Likely 7-day churning users: Identifies users likely to disengage from your site or app entirely within the next week.
• Likely first-time 7-day purchasers: Users with a high chance of making their first purchase within the next week.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) empowers you to delve deeper into your website or app traffic than ever before with segments. These segments act like filters, allowing you to isolate groups of users, sessions, or events based on specific criteria. By segmenting your data, you gain valuable insights into user behavior, identify areas for improvement, and personalize the user experience.

GA4 offers a helping hand with pre-built segments in various categories including general user behavior, e-commerce actions, common marketing goals, and even predictive segments powered by machine learning (availability depends on business size). Understanding how to create and leverage these segments will unlock a new level of understanding of your audience and fuel data-driven decisions for optimizing your website or app.