GA4 adds Key Event Rate Metrics to User Acquisition and Traffic Acquisition Reports

Google yesterday announced an update to its Google Analytics 4 (GA4) platform. The update introduces new metrics, "User key event rate" and "Session key event rate," to the User Acquisition and Traffic Acquisition reports.

What are GA4 User Acquisition and Traffic Acquisition Reports?

GA4 provides various reports to analyze website traffic and user behavior. The User Acquisition report focuses on new users, showcasing how they find your website (e.g., organic search, social media). The Traffic Acquisition report offers a broader view, including all website sessions, new and returning users.

What are Key Events in GA4?

Key events are user interactions within your website or app that signify valuable actions or milestones. Examples include purchases, signups, content downloads, or completing a specific step in a checkout process. These events are designated as "key" because they indicate user engagement and contribute to your overall business goals.

What do the New Key Event Rate Metrics Measure?

The newly introduced "User key event rate" and "Session key event rate" metrics provide insights into user engagement within your website or app.

User key event rate: This metric calculates the percentage of users who trigger at least one key event during a specified time frame (e.g., day, week, month). It helps you understand how many users within your acquired user base are actively engaging with your website or app.

Session key event rate: This metric represents the percentage of website sessions that include at least one key event. It provides a broader picture of user engagement across all sessions, encompassing both new and returning visitors.

Benefits of the New Key Event Rate Metrics

These new metrics offer valuable insights for website owners and marketers by:

Identifying Acquisition Channels with High Engagement: By analyzing the User key event rate segmented by acquisition source (organic search, social media, etc.), you can identify which channels deliver users who are more likely to take desired actions on your website.

Evaluating User Engagement Across Different Traffic Sources: The Session key event rate segmented by traffic source allows you to compare engagement levels across different sources of website traffic (direct traffic, referral traffic, etc.).

Measuring the Effectiveness of User Acquisition Campaigns: These metrics can be used to assess the effectiveness of user acquisition campaigns. Campaigns that drive users with a higher key event rate are likely to be more successful in terms of user engagement.

How to Access the New Key Event Rate Metrics

The User key event rate and Session key event rate metrics are automatically included in the User Acquisition and Traffic Acquisition reports within GA4, provided you have already added these reports to your report navigation.

The addition of User key event rate and Session key event rate metrics to GA4's User Acquisition and Traffic Acquisition reports empowers website owners and marketers with valuable data to assess user engagement across different acquisition channels and user segments. By analyzing these metrics, you can gain a deeper understanding of how users interact with your website or app and optimize your strategies to drive more meaningful user engagement.