AUTOMATED INSIGHTS
While you were out… this happened
Your automated insights report is an awesome new addition to Google Analytics 4. With automated insights, you’ll see quick and helpful snapshots about your property’s performance.
So how do you use automated insights in Google Analytics 4? You can access them by clicking on “Home” in the left-hand menu. Once inside, you can view automated insights and create custom ones too. You can also ask Analytics Intelligence questions to get targeted snapshots of your data.
Today we’re going to discuss automated insights in detail. You’ll find they’re a great place to visit before diving deeper into your Analytics reports.
What Are Automated Insights?
Google Analytics 4 now offers automated insights. When Analytics notes a trend or a sudden change, it will automatically generate insights for your review.
You can access your automated insights in a reporting view, and they’ll be updated based on your website and mobile app performance. You can also share your automated insights which is a great way to spread important news quickly.
Automated insights identify user trends and changes and basically alert you to anything noteworthy in your GA4 property. Analytics will generate some insights for you by default, but you can also create custom insights or even custom alerts.
Also, just like in Universal Analytics, you can ask Analytics Intelligence questions to get quick and simple answers about your performance. We’ll discuss accessing default insights and creating custom ones in the next sections.
How Do I Access Automated Insights?
To get to automated insights, just go to the left-hand menu and click “Home.” When you look to the right, you’ll see your automated insights.
You’ll see several automated insights once you’re inside the report, and there are different ways you can interact with your data. Come with us through the next sections to learn about reading and customizing your automated insights report.
How to Read and Customize Automated Insights
Okay, so now that you know where to find your automated insights, let’s talk about how to use them.
Once inside the report, you can scroll through your available insights to see a snapshot of all of them. When you see an insight you want to investigate further, you can click on it directly to bring up a box with more details on the right.
Note that you can share any of your insights by clicking the three dots in the top left. This makes it super easy to relay important information quickly.
You can further interact with each insight by hovering over it with your mouse. This will give you more details about a particular trend.
You can also click “View all insights” at the bottom of your automated insights box to see all that Analytics has to offer. You’re also able to create a customized insight, which we’ll discuss next.
To create a custom insight, just click “Create” at the top of the automated insights report. If you don’t see this button, it’s because you need admin-level privileges for your Analytics property to create custom insights.
Once you click create, you’ll see a bunch of options. These are insights Analytics suggests you make for your property. To modify them, click “Review and Create.”
For example, say you want to create the “anomaly in daily views” insight. Once you click “Review and Create,” you’ll see a box pop up that will allow you to configure it how you like.
Note that you’ll be able to create any kind of custom insight by going into “Review and Create.” You’ll be able to select what you want to monitor from the drop-down menus. Analytics just suggests the custom insights that will probably be most useful.
To continue creating the “anomaly in daily views” insight, select your frequency and determine the segment of your audience you want to analyze.
For example, say you launched a new marketing campaign aimed at your female audience. Here, you can select “change” next to “Segment” and then select the gender option for your dimension. Just select “female” when prompted. Click apply when you’re ready.
You can leave the next options set to “Views” and “Has anomaly” or customize them further using the drop-down menus.
Then, just name your insight and enter the email address where you want notifications sent. Click “Create” when you’re done and voilà! A custom insight set up how you need.
Finally, you’ll also notice you can ask questions in your automated insights report. Any insight you select will show up on the right, and beneath it, you’ll see a button labeled “Suggested questions.” Clicking it will open a menu with lots of options.
Just select any question from this menu and you’ll be given a quick and dirty answer on the right.
What Are The Benefits of Automated Insights?
Automated insights are a great addition to Google Analytics 4 because they make identifying trends and spotting change so easy. You’ll notice that you get a bunch of default automated insights, and they all have different benefits.
For example, in your automated insights, you’ll see your performance week-over-week. This is an excellent insight that gives you a quick overview of your GA property’s performance. Here you’ll get to see how your users, events, and conversions are trending and the current figures for each.
You’ll also see insights related to your top conversions and your most popular audience segments. Reviewing these insights can help you decide where you need to dig further into your other Analytics reports. For this reason, you should always check your automated insights when going into your GA4 property. This is a great first step that will let you know what to investigate next.
Finally, the automated insights report is probably the best spot in your whole Analytics property for getting quick, simple answers. Want to know how many users you had last week? Just ask Analytics Intelligence, and you’ll get the answer instantly.
How is GA4 Different?
Automated insights are new to GA4, but they’ll feel pretty familiar. That’s because this report uses the Analytics Intelligence algorithm to generate your automated insights. Analytics Intelligence is also available in your UA properties in your reporting views, so you’re probably used to seeing it. Just like in Universal Analytics, you can ask Analytics Intelligence questions in GA4.
The main difference in Google Analytics 4 is that Analytics has more insight for you now and you can customize these insights based on your data analysis needs. Like all of GA4, automated insights are made to be user-friendly, so your data is accessible in a straightforward way.
Using Automated Insights in Google Analytics 4
Automated insights are a great place to get started diving into your Analytics data. They are readily available when you click on “Home” in your Analytics property, and you can even set up custom ones.
By checking out your automated insights, you’ll instantly be alerted to changes and trends throughout your GA4 property. We recommend checking your automated insights frequently as they update depending on how your site and apps are performing.
Are you finding automated insights helpful in your Google Analytics 4 property? Let us know!