7 Essential Google Analytics 4 Metrics for SMBs in 2025

Want to grow your UK small or medium business online? Focus on these 7 Google Analytics 4 (GA4) metrics to improve marketing ROI and track performance effectively:

1. User Numbers (Daily, Weekly, Monthly): Measure active users to track traffic trends and campaign performance.

2. User Engagement Score: Understand how well visitors interact with your content.

3. Time Spent on Site: See how long users stay and engage with your website.

4. Sales Success Rate: Track conversion rates and revenue from user actions.

5. Quick Exit Rate: Identify pages where users leave and improve their experience.

6. Income Tracking: Monitor revenue and marketing ROI by channel.

7. Traffic Origins: Analyse where your visitors come from to optimise campaigns.

Quick Tip: Prioritise metrics tied to your business goals, like conversions for sales or engagement for content sites. GA4’s advanced tools, like predictive analytics and event tracking, make it easier to uncover actionable insights.

Key Metrics Overview

Start tracking these today to make smarter marketing decisions and grow your business.

The Most USEFUL Metrics & Dimensions in Google Analytics 4

What GA4 Metrics Mean for SMBs

This section dives into GA4 metrics and their relevance for your business. Think of GA4 metrics as a digital roadmap, helping you measure online performance and make informed decisions. These metrics translate user actions into actionable insights, giving you a clearer picture of what drives results.

Understanding the Basics

GA4's event-based model goes beyond traditional pageviews, capturing a deeper level of user engagement. Instead of just tracking visits, it focuses on meaningful interactions that can directly influence your business outcomes.

Here’s a quick look at some key metrics and their practical applications:

Making Metrics Work for Your Business

To get the most out of these metrics, tie them directly to your business objectives. For instance, if boosting sales is your goal, focus on tracking conversions, understanding average order values, and mapping the customer journey.

Smart Metric Implementation

• Custom Event Tracking: Set up events for crucial actions like newsletter signups, product enquiries, or file downloads.

• Segmentation Strategy: Break down data by traffic source, user behaviour, location, and engagement levels to find trends.

• Predictive Analytics: Leverage GA4's machine learning to identify valuable customers, predict churn, and estimate purchase likelihoods.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls

Interpreting GA4 metrics can be tricky for many SMBs. A common mistake is focusing too much on total users. Instead, prioritise active users to get a more accurate picture of engagement.

1. User Numbers (Daily to Monthly)

Tracking user numbers helps you understand how visitors interact with your website. GA4's active user metrics go beyond traditional visitor counts, offering deeper insights into your site's performance.

Breaking Down User Metrics

GA4 provides several user metrics to give you a detailed view of your traffic:

These metrics help you pinpoint how your audience interacts with your site over different timeframes.

Why These Metrics Are Important

These numbers focus on engaged users - those who spend more than 10 seconds on your site, complete a conversion, or view multiple pages. Analysing these behaviours helps you respond more effectively to user needs and optimise your strategy.

How to Use This Data

The average SMB website generates 1.26 sessions per user. Use this as a benchmark to compare your site's performance. If your ratio is lower, it might be time to rethink how you engage your audience.

Expert Advice

"GA4 requires re-learning how to set up and navigate the GA interface." - Molly Lopez, Founder & CEO at Sparo

Tips for Maximising User Data

• Track Growth Patterns: Compare month-on-month and year-on-year metrics to identify trends.

• Focus on Engagement: Look at which users are returning and spending time on your site.

• Spot Trends: Examine spikes in user activity and tie them to marketing campaigns or other events.

Each metric tells a different story. Daily data highlights immediate campaign performance, weekly data uncovers short-term trends, and monthly data shows whether your site is growing or losing momentum.

Avoid These Mistakes

Focusing solely on total user counts can lead to missed opportunities. Instead, analyse the balance between new and returning users. This will give you a clearer picture of how well your content is building a loyal audience.

2. User Engagement Score

The User Engagement Score, also known as the Engagement Rate in GA4, reflects the percentage of engaged sessions. It’s a key indicator of how well your content connects with visitors.

What Engagement Rates Tell You

An engaged session happens when a visitor:

• Stays on your site for more than 10 seconds

• Completes a conversion event

• Views at least two pages

The median engagement rate across industries is 56.23%. This figure provides a benchmark for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to evaluate their website's performance against industry norms.

Understanding what qualifies as an engaged session helps you analyse how users interact with your content.

Breaking Down Your Score

Improving Pages with Low Engagement

If certain pages have low engagement, consider these adjustments:

• Simplify the page structure and make content easier to follow

• Use more whitespace and refine visual elements

• Strengthen calls-to-action to guide users

• Speed up page loading times

• Fix technical issues like broken links

Using Data for Better Decisions

When engagement metrics highlight problems:

• Reevaluate your audience targeting

• Refresh your content strategy

• Ensure tracking is set up correctly

• Align your content with what users are looking for

Technical Updates in GA4

GA4 now includes the is_engaged_session_event parameter in all events. This update improves measurement accuracy, offering businesses a better view of user behaviour.

With these technical tools, you can take a more informed approach to boosting engagement.

Taking Action

Start by focusing on high-traffic pages with low engagement. Analyse these pages to uncover:

• Content that needs updates

• Technical issues affecting usability

• Opportunities to improve conversion paths

• Marketing channels that could perform better

3. Time Spent on Site

Knowing how long visitors stay on your website can reveal how effective your content is and how interested users are in what you offer. GA4’s updated tracking gives a more accurate picture of active user engagement.

How GA4 Tracks Time Differently

GA4 focuses on tracking active engagement time, meaning it only counts when users interact with the page - like scrolling, clicking, or typing - while it’s in focus.

Gauging Engagement Levels

The ideal time users spend on your site varies depending on your goals. Short visits often mean users aren’t finding what they’re looking for, while longer visits suggest they’re exploring your content more deeply.

Industry Benchmarks

For context, B2C websites typically see a 71% engagement rate, while B2B sites average around 63%.

Prioritising Mobile Experience

With mobile devices driving nearly 55% of global traffic, ensuring your site performs well on mobile is essential. A slower load time - just a jump from 1 to 3 seconds or 1 to 5 seconds - can nearly triple your bounce rates.

Boosting Engagement Time

Here are some ways to improve how long visitors stay on your site:

• Refine Content: Use clear, well-organised content with headings and visuals that keep users interested.

• Optimise Performance: Speed up your site and make sure it’s mobile-friendly to reduce frustration and encourage longer visits.

• Simplify Navigation: Create logical paths through your site with intuitive menus and internal links.

Customising GA4 for Better Insights

• Adjust the "Adjust Timer for Engaged Sessions" setting to reflect your specific business needs.

• Ensure the engagement_time_msec parameter is implemented correctly.

• Use segments to study engagement across different user groups.

These settings allow you to dive deeper into how different users interact with your site.

"User engagement is the amount of time someone spends with your web page in focus or app screen in the foreground, which allows you to measure when users actively use your site or app." - Google

Advanced Tips for Analysis

• Compare engagement times across different traffic sources.

• Look at how engagement varies by device type.

• Track how engagement changes after updating your content.

• Examine seasonal trends in user behaviour.

These insights can help small and medium-sized businesses fine-tune their strategies, grow their reach, and get better returns on their marketing efforts.

4. Sales Success Rate

Tracking how well your sales efforts perform is key to improving marketing ROI. GA4's user-based conversion tracking offers a clearer view of sales performance compared to older, session-based metrics.

Understanding User-Based Conversion Rates

GA4 focuses on the user journey, making it easier to see how customers interact with your site. For example, a travel website reported an increase in conversion rates from 1.96% (session-based) to 2.24% (user-based).

Setting Up Key Events

In GA4, conversion events help you track important activities like:

• Purchase completions

• Newsletter sign-ups

• Contact form submissions

• Demo bookings

To set this up:

• Go to Admin > Data Settings > Key Events.

• Define events for purchases, sign-ups, submissions, and bookings.

• Choose counting methods (e.g., once per session) and assign monetary values.

Once configured, you can monitor trends to identify which channels drive the best results.

Maximising Conversion Insights

Keep an eye on conversion rates alongside traffic sources, compare year-over-year trends, and use Google Signals for cross-device tracking. Including value metrics can also help you understand your revenue impact.

"If you don't track your rate by users, you're leaving valuable data on the table." - Devon Cox, Internet Marketing Professional

Advanced Tracking Considerations

Today's customer journeys often involve multiple touchpoints. GA4’s user-based tracking captures these interactions more effectively than session-based methods.

Measuring Financial Impact

5. Quick Exit Rate

GA4's exit rate metrics help you understand why visitors leave certain pages, giving you the tools to improve user experience and boost conversions.

Exit Rates vs Bounce Rates

Exit rates show the percentage of sessions that end on specific pages after users have viewed multiple pages. In contrast, bounce rates focus on sessions where users leave after viewing only one page.

Common Exit Points and How to Address Them

The User Journey Report in GA4 highlights where users tend to drop off in your sales funnel. Here's a breakdown:

These insights provide a starting point for tackling exit rates.

Real-World Data

Take the example of a UK optical retailer: out of 5,700 visitors, 50.8% left immediately, and only 7% completed the funnel.

"It is necessary not only to count the conversions of each stage for all types of funnels but also to understand why fewer users moved to the next stage of the funnel than at the previous stage." - MeasureSchool

Reducing Exit Rates

To make exit pages more effective:

• Use GA4 Exploration reports to monitor exit rates on key pages

• Run A/B tests on page elements to improve engagement

• Evaluate traffic sources to focus on channels that bring in quality visitors

• Retarget users who leave during checkout with personalised campaigns

Advanced Insights

A coffee roaster's data showed that 33% of 54,000 visitors left immediately, while 32,000 dropped off after viewing products. Despite an 84% checkout conversion rate, only 10% added items to their basket. This highlights the importance of improving product page engagement and the initial user experience.

6. Income Tracking

Keeping track of revenue is a key priority for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). GA4 offers tools to provide a clear picture of how your business is performing financially.

Revenue Tracking Essentials

For e-commerce businesses, GA4’s Monetisation overview report offers a detailed breakdown of revenue, including:

• Total revenue across all sources

• Purchase revenue from e-commerce transactions

• Insights into best-selling products and promotional success

• Revenue performance segmented by marketing channel

Setting Up Income Tracking

The setup process depends on your business type. Here's a quick breakdown:

Measuring Marketing ROI

GA4 shifts the focus from basic metrics to financial indicators that matter most:

• Cost per Acquisition (CPA)

• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)

• Revenue by source

• Purchase trends over time

These metrics help you better understand how your marketing efforts translate into sales.

Advanced Revenue Analysis

The Ecommerce purchases report dives deeper into sales data, offering insights into:

• Performance by item brand and category

• Individual product performance metrics

• Customer shopping behaviour

• Revenue attributed to specific marketing channels

While these tools are highly useful, they come with some limitations.

Maximising Revenue Insights

To get the most out of GA4’s revenue tracking capabilities:

• Add Custom Dimensions: Capture unique metrics tailored to your business.

• Set Conversion Values: Assign monetary values to important customer actions.

• Import Advertising Costs: Include ad spend data for accurate ROI analysis.

• Explore Attribution Models: Compare different methods to better understand what drives conversions.

Overcoming Tracking Limitations

GA4 is a powerful tool, but it does have its challenges:

• Static conversion values might not reflect real-time price changes.

• Offline conversions can be hard to track.

• Standard attribution windows may miss the impact of long-term campaigns.

• Upper-funnel marketing efforts might not receive adequate credit.

To address these gaps, consider using additional tracking tools to gain a more complete view of your customer journey. This will help you make more informed decisions about your marketing and revenue strategies.

7. Traffic Origins

Knowing where your website visitors come from can help you fine-tune your marketing strategies and spend your budget wisely. GA4's traffic source tracking reveals how users find and engage with your site.

Understanding Traffic Sources

GA4 automatically sorts traffic into categories using key dimensions:

Getting the Most from Traffic Data

To make your traffic insights more actionable:

• Use UTM Parameters: Add UTM tags to track campaign performance, especially if direct traffic is above 20–30%.

• Focus on Quality: Beyond visitor numbers, analyse engagement rates and conversion values for each channel.

• Spot Trends: Look for patterns in traffic data to find areas for improvement.

GA4's advanced tools take these insights further, helping you refine your marketing approach.

Advanced Analysis Features

The Traffic Acquisition report offers deeper insights for making informed decisions. As Zack Duncan explains:

"Traffic sources tell you where your website visitors are coming from. And that data helps you make sense of your current website performance, measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns, and find opportunities to improve performance in the future."

Using Traffic Data Strategically

Here’s how to turn traffic insights into action:

• Pinpoint which channels bring in high-quality visitors

• Identify weaker sources that need attention

• Adjust spending using machine learning insights

• Improve landing pages based on performance data

• Shape your content strategy by examining engagement metrics

Once you've reviewed channel performance, tackle common tracking issues like:

• Attribution Windows: Understand how GA4 credits different touchpoints.

• Cross-Device Tracking: Follow users as they switch between devices.

• Campaign Tracking: Ensure UTM parameters are correctly set up for accurate source data.

How Dolphin Analytics Makes GA4 Work for You

Making the most of GA4 metrics starts with a well-planned implementation. Dolphin Analytics provides tailored solutions to help UK SMBs maximise their analytics investment. Our specialised services and support packages are designed to align perfectly with GA4's features.

Analytics Services Tailored for Your Needs

Our data engineering and analytics services simplify GA4 data, turning it into practical insights. From the initial setup to ongoing analysis, we take care of the technical side, so you can concentrate on growing your business.

Helping UK Businesses Achieve Results

One automotive client saw a 67% increase in sign-ups thanks to targeted funnel and segment reports.

We also offer quick implementation services: standard support starts at £75 per hour (5–10 days), while our express service is available from £99 per hour (24–48 hours).

Expert Guidance and Support

Our team uses GA4 insights to create growth strategies tailored for small and medium businesses. Dino Myers-Lamptey, MD of MullenLowe Mediahub, shares:

"Data can be complex and more often, it is made unnecessarily so by the people within it, however Dolphin Analytics' skill is in understanding what's possible, what's necessary and making that easily understood and implemented. It's rare to have such consistently good and reliable data expertise but Dolphin Analytics always delivers!"

Saving Time with Smarter Solutions

We helped a publisher save 100 hours of reporting time every week by implementing a real-time, easy-to-use dashboard. This allowed their team to focus on strategic decisions rather than data collection and processing.

With our advanced support services, businesses can achieve even greater efficiencies and growth.

Advanced Support for Growing Businesses

For businesses looking to scale, we offer:

• Custom measurement planning

• Multi-channel tracking setup

• Real-time dashboard creation (£500 monthly)

• Regular performance reviews

• Data-driven recommendations for improvement

Our expertise goes beyond the basics. For example, an e-commerce client expanded to 10 territories across 3 continents with our advanced data science services, driving noticeable growth.

Using GA4 Metrics to Improve Results

Building on earlier metric definitions, this section focuses on how to use GA4 data to deliver better outcomes.

Improving Engagement Metrics

The average site-wide engagement rate is 56.23%, which serves as a benchmark for UK small and medium-sized businesses. If certain pages have high views but low engagement, consider the following improvements:

Boosting Page Performance:

These adjustments are key to increasing overall engagement.

Reducing Quick Exits

Addressing quick exits is another essential step. Consider these strategies:

• Monitor User Behaviour: Use timer events to track active interactions rather than passive visits.

• Analyse Traffic Sources: Break down entrance data to identify which sources bring engaged visitors.

Enhancing Content Performance

To measure how well your content is performing, focus on engagement-weighted metrics:

• Custom Event Tracking: Set up specific engagement events for detailed insights.

• Segment Analysis: Examine how different user groups interact with your content to spot trends.

• Time-Based Metrics: Measure how long users actively engage with your content to assess interest.

Technical Tips for Accurate Data

Ensure your data collection is precise by following these steps:

• Visibility Tracking: Use the Visibility API to detect when browser tabs are active, avoiding inflated metrics.

• Custom Engagement Thresholds: Set tailored thresholds for different pages, such as blog posts versus product pages.

Improving Content Quality

Leverage GA4 data to refine your content:

• Identify pages with low engagement and focus on improving them.

• Use readability tools to make your content easier to digest.

• Track progress using GA4’s real-time monitoring tools.

Keep in mind that engagement rates can differ by industry. For instance, e-commerce sites and marketplaces often see higher rates compared to consulting or SaaS businesses. Factor this into your performance goals.

Next Steps

Here’s a clear timeline to help move your strategy from planning to action:

Key Implementation Steps

Set up Google Analytics 4 (GA4) alerts to track:

• Drops in conversions

• Unusual spikes in bounce rates

• Shifts in engagement patterns

These steps will help you use GA4 insights effectively to improve performance across your channels.

To get a better understanding of user behaviour, combine GA4 data with on-site surveys and journey tracking:

• Add surveys to your most visited pages

• Monitor user journeys through event tracking

• Evaluate engagement scores across various segments

Dolphin Analytics simplifies this process by offering customised dashboards that highlight critical metrics and automate reporting. Their Express service ensures these changes can be implemented within 48 hours, so you won’t lose valuable tracking time.

Also, don’t forget to audit tracking codes, verify event triggers, and keep a close eye on key interactions to ensure your data remains reliable.

Monthly Review Checklist

• Compare results to your KPIs

• Spot trending metrics that need attention

• Update tracking parameters where necessary

• Adjust audience segments based on the latest data

• Fine-tune custom alerts to stay ahead

FAQs

How can small and medium-sized businesses use GA4 metrics to boost their marketing ROI?

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) can enhance their marketing ROI by focusing on key GA4 metrics such as Users, Sessions, Engagement Rate, Average Engagement Time, Event Count, Conversions, and Session Conversion Rate. These metrics provide valuable insights into audience size, website activity, user engagement, and the success of marketing campaigns.

By analysing these data points, SMBs can identify trends in customer behaviour, optimise content for better engagement, and measure the effectiveness of their marketing strategies. For instance, tracking conversions and session conversion rates can help businesses understand which campaigns are driving the most sales or leads, allowing them to allocate resources more effectively. Regularly reviewing these metrics ensures smarter decision-making and improved returns on marketing investments.

What are the common mistakes when analysing GA4 metrics, and how can SMBs avoid them?

One common mistake is confusing total users with active users, which can lead to overestimating engagement. Always focus on active users for a more accurate picture of genuine interaction with your site. Another frequent issue is misinterpreting bounce rates, especially on single-page applications, where a high bounce rate may not necessarily indicate poor performance.

To avoid these errors, ensure you implement User ID tracking for logged-in visitors and define custom engagement events that align with your business goals. Additionally, be mindful of session timeout settings and campaign attribution rules to ensure your data reflects user behaviour accurately. Taking these steps will help you make better-informed decisions and optimise your marketing efforts effectively.

What makes GA4's event-based model different from traditional analytics, and how does it improve user engagement tracking?

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) uses an event-based model, which tracks all user interactions - such as page views, clicks, scrolls, and downloads - as distinct events. This is a shift away from the older session-based approach, which grouped interactions within a time-limited session.

By focusing on individual events, GA4 provides a more detailed and flexible view of user behaviour. It allows businesses to better understand the customer journey, including micro-interactions that were previously overlooked. For small and medium-sized businesses, this means more actionable insights to optimise marketing efforts and enhance customer engagement.

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