TLDR

Segments allow you to isolate a subset of data based on user attributes...

An analysis in analytics will always begin with a high-level overview of the data. There are features in the new version of GA that enable previously unavailable actions and quick analyses. It's much easier to report on audiences, and even if a website or app only has basic tracking, there are options to create advanced and in-depth segments based on out-of-the-box metrics.

Out of hundreds of thousands (or millions) of data points, getting to know your customers is a needle-in-the-haystack situation. The total audience will never be made up of identical users in their behavior, engagement, and decision-making. Segments allow you to isolate a subset of data based on user attributes across:

  • Demographics
  • Content interest
  • Behavior
  • Traffic

With segmentation, you can respond to some questions like these:

  • What sections of the website's content are visitors most likely to browse when they arrive there naturally via organic search?
  • What activities on the website or app are the greatest spenders participating in?
  • What age group is most likely to sign up for emails and alerts?
  • Which tailored experience is more appealing to the group of customers who added expensive products to their carts but didn't complete the purchase?
  • Do subscribers use their phones or computers more often?
  • Understanding, planning, and targeting are the three core principles of segmenting.

Using G4A Tools

When segmenting your audience, you must decide what criteria to use. A good place to start is to assess what is already being tracked and what is available in the Lifecycle Reports collection.

You can create a set of rules to specify who and what should be included in a particular group. There are several to choose from, each with a specific application:

  • Comparisons
  • Explorations
  • Audiences

Comparisons

Comparisons are the simplest and highest level of investigation. These additions are available throughout the interface at the top of the screen as you navigate through the reports from overviews to specific elements like Pages and Screens. If you've used Google Analytics before, this is similar to the older functionality.

Within the slider, you can add up to five conditions to include or exclude groups from reports. That's not much of a limitation because all scorecards, visualizations, and table rows are replicated for each segment. They are temporary and serve as a quick way to identify trends and generate ideas for further segmentation with Explorations and Audiences.

Explorations

Explorations is another data visualization and interactive reporting feature option. This reflects the stage of analysis where more specific reports must be retrieved and questions must be resolved. More advanced conditions are available in the segment builder, and explorations can have up to ten segments. It's an efficient way to collaborate since Exploration reports are easily shareable. These custom reports also include automated anomaly detection, which applies a statistical model to your data and visually displays any unusual behavior.

Audiences

The Audiences feature in Google Analytics 4 is the most powerful segment tool. It moves faster than Comparisons and Exploration. Because audiences collect rather than calculate data, it will only begin to include users when it is created.


Audiences can even be combined with a previously unattainable method for most marketers: predictive analytics. Audiences become their own dimension, so user segments can be used in reports in the interface, Data Studio, or any platform you're using to build visualizations and dashboards with GA4 data. Audiences will also be available in the linked Google Ads account and can be used in other Google Marketing Platform integrations, such as Optimise, Google's A/B testing tool. Hocalwire CMS includes fantastic automation features that help traffic from various sources focus on your website. You may drastically increase your traffic with the aid of Google Analytics and potential choices with Hocalwire. To learn more about Hocalwire CMS's limitless potential, schedule a demo.