Once you've established your fundamental Google Analytics (GA4) measurement, it is time for you to harness the power of GA4's Audiences tool. With Audiences, you can build subsets or groups of users based on various dimensions, metrics, and/or events and use this data to target your adverts. This short, step-by-step guide will show you how to create audiences in Google Analytics 4!
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In case you prefer to watch a video explanation instead, you can also find our quick 5-minute tutorial from XYZ Lab's Youtube Channel!
Topics Covered:
Step 1: Navigate to Admin
Step 2: Navigate to Audiences under the Property column
Step 3: Click on "New Audience"
Step 4: Click on "Create a custom audience"
Step 5: Customise your Audience
In the "Include users when" section, you can build the conditions/parameter for the audience based on various dimensions that are available.
Example 1: Audience based on Country
We can create an audience relevant to a certain country such as Singapore. We can select the dimension Country ID with the condition that contains SG.
Example 2: Audience based on Channel
We can create an audience relevant to a certain channel. Navigate to the Traffic source section and select Session source/medium as the dimension with the condition that contains [specific channel]. For example, we have created an audience relevant to the Session source/medium that contains google / organic.
For channels, you can also use the session default channel group as the dimension.
Example 3: Audience based on Events
You can also create an audience based on events tracked on your website. Under the Events section, find the event that you'd like to use. For example, we can create an audience based on all the people who scrolled to the bottom of the page or click on the request training button.
Adding an AND/OR Condition:
You can create audiences with multiple conditions using the AND/OR function.
For example, with the AND condition, we can create an audience for people who took a certain action (event) and came from a specific channel or visited a specific page. For example, we can create an audience for people who requested training and also came organically to the site.
For example, with the OR condition, we can create an audience based on those who took one action or another. For example, we can create an audience for people who requested training or those who scrolled to the bottom of the page.
Step 6: Save your Audience
Once you've saved your audience, it will show up in your Audience list.
Now we can use it in our GA4 reports. For instance, we can navigate to the Traffic Acquisition report and add a filter for the audience we just created.
You can also use it as a comparison. We can create two audiences and then build a comparison between the two. For example, you can compare between the audiences who logged in and didn't log in.
Why do we need to create an audience?
There are two main ways you can use the audience in GA4 reports:
As a filter or comparison in GA4, so we can quickly and easily access data relevant to certain audience segments.
To share the audience in Google Ads and use it for remarketing purposes.
In general, there is a lot of flexibility in what you can include in your audience. You can customize the audience according to your needs and what kind of data you're looking for.