Google Analytics 4 audience builder gets a refresh

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has made significant enhancements to the audience builder. New dimensions and metrics, enhanced alternatives for manipulating event value and event count, and a novel option to match dates have been added.

Here’s what’s new.

New Dimensions and Metrics in the Audience Builder. The GA4 audience builder now supports the creation of audiences via new dimensions and metrics. The following dimensions and metrics are freshly introduced in the audience builder:

Item-Scoped Dimensions

• Item ID
• Item affiliation
• Item brand
• Item category
• Item category 2
• Item category 3
• Item category 4
• Item list name
• Item name
• Item promotion ID
• Item variant

Item-Scoped Ecommerce Metrics

• Item revenue
• Items added to cart
• Items checked out
• Items purchased
• Items viewed in list

Event-Scoped Ecommerce Metrics

• Item-list click events

Session-Based Metrics

• Low engagement sessions

Low engagement sessions help identify users showing low engagement with a website or app. For instance, it allows the creation of an audience segment of users having more than three low-engagement sessions within the past five days.

Once you’ve identified such users, you can then target them with ads to prompt them to return (e.g., retailers highlighting upcoming sales or events).

Independent Use of Event Value. Event value can now be used independently without associating it with a specific event.

In earlier versions, the event value parameter was only used to modify specific events, such as locating users who completed “event X” where the event value exceeded 50. 

An example of this would be creating an audience of users who have any event with a value above 50.

Expanded Operators for Event Count. The update also expands the operators that can be used when creating audiences using the event count metric. While earlier only greater than (>), less than (<), and equals to (=) were available, and only when selecting “the most recent time period,” the update introduces a complete set of operators.

These include:

• Greater than or equal to (>=)
• Less than or equal to (<=)
• Not equal to (!=)

These operators are available when choosing “at any point in time” and “most recent time period.”

Matching Between Dates. A new “between match types” option has been introduced for dates.

This feature could be used to, for example, build an audience of users who visited a website during Black Friday and target them with ads in the run-up to Black Friday the following year. The selected range, such as November 24 to November 26, would include all three days.

Why we care. These new dimensions and metrics, more robust manipulation of event value and event count, and being able to match dates can all lead to more targeted and effective advertising. Being able to identify users with low engagement sessions, or matching event value across various events, can help you create more nuanced and relevant audience segments.

What’s new in GA4. These updates were announced via the Google Analytics Help page, which you can find here.