The Ultimate Guide to Black Friday / Cyber Monday Reporting Using GA4 (2024)

In 2023, we highlighted how businesses could leverage Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to track performance during Black Friday / Cyber Monday (BFCM). As we approach 2024, it’s clear that the landscape has evolved. Consumers are increasingly using multiple devices, expecting personalized experiences, and looking for seamless shopping journeys.

With GA4's powerful tracking and reporting capabilities, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of user behavior and optimize your marketing efforts. This blog post will cover the principles of GA4 for BFCM reporting, alongside new strategies and advanced techniques to help you make data-driven decisions this season.

What’s New for 2024?

In 2024, we’re seeing significant changes in e-commerce that businesses need to prepare for:

• Multi-channel shopping: Customers are switching between devices and channels more than ever before, from social media to mobile apps, before making a purchase. GA4’s cross-channel attribution is vital for understanding this behavior.
• Personalized marketing: Consumers expect brands to know their preferences. GA4 helps identify key audience segments, allowing you to craft personalized offers and content.
• Data privacy regulations: The landscape of data privacy continues to evolve, making it essential to ensure your GA4 setup complies with regulations like GDPR and CCPA, while maintaining the integrity of your data collection.

With these changes in mind, let's explore how to set up and optimize GA4 reporting for BFCM 2024.

Identifying Your KPIs for BFCM

1.Website Traffic

This basic yet crucial KPI measures how many visitors land on your website during BFCM. A surge in traffic during this period is typically driven by marketing campaigns, special promotions, and social media outreach. Monitoring website traffic in GA4 helps you understand the effectiveness of your marketing channels and identify where the highest-value visitors are coming from.

How to track it in GA4: Use the Acquisition report to analyze user activity and traffic sources, breaking it down by channels (e.g., paid ads, organic search, direct, social media) to see what’s driving the most traffic.

2.Conversion Rate

Your website’s conversion rate tracks the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action, such as making a purchase. This is arguably the most important metric for BFCM, as it directly reflects how well your promotions and site optimizations are driving sales.

How to track it in GA4: Set up eCommerce tracking to measure completed transactions. You can also create custom events to track specific conversion actions, such as cart additions or checkouts initiated.

3. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

While BFCM is focused on short-term wins, it’s important to track how valuable each new customer could be over their lifetime. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) helps you measure the long-term profitability of customers you acquire during this period.

How to track it in GA4: Use cohort analysis and audience segments to estimate the CLV of different customer groups, such as repeat buyers versus one-time purchasers.

4.Cart Abandonment Rate

A high cart abandonment rate during BFCM is a missed opportunity. Tracking this KPI helps you understand why customers are not completing purchases and allows you to adjust your checkout flow or improve your retargeting efforts.

How to track it in GA4: Monitor the checkout funnel in GA4’s Explorations section by setting up events for cart additions, checkouts initiated, and completed purchases. This will give you a clear picture of where users drop off in the buying process. You can also check Google Analytics 4’s Checkout journey report, to give you a better understanding of users' funnel stage journey. 

5.New vs. Returning Customers

BFCM is a great time to attract new customers, but it’s equally important to keep your existing customer base engaged. Tracking the ratio of new vs. returning customers helps you measure customer loyalty and retention efforts.

How to track it in GA4: Use the Audience report to segment new and returning customers. This data is valuable for adjusting your marketing to either attract fresh leads or increase repeat purchases.

Ensure your GA4 setup is configured before proceeding. If you haven't already set up GA4, follow the comprehensive guide on this page.

Checking Your GA4 Data Collection Setup and eCommerce Tracking Setup

Ensuring that your GA4 data collection and eCommerce tracking are properly configured is crucial for delivering accurate and actionable insights. A well-structured setup guarantees that you capture the right data, helping you make informed decisions during key periods like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Here are essential steps to verify that your data collection is functioning seamlessly and providing reliable reporting:

• Verify GA4 Setup → Confirm that you have GA4 set up for your website. Follow the instructions in the Google Analytics 4 setup guide if you haven't already.
• Enable Google Signal →  Google Signal provides additional data about users across Google products, enhancing your understanding of customer behavior.
• Link GA4 Property to Other Google Analytics Products → Link your GA4 property to Google Ads and Search Console to gain a holistic view of your marketing performance.
• Verify User Data Collection Consent → Ensure that you have obtained explicit consent from users to collect their data, complying with data privacy regulations.
• Set Data Retention to 14 Months: Choose the longest data retention option (14 months) to maximize historical data insights. For more information about retention settings, check out GA4 Fundamentals - Hidden Features to Improve Data Accuracy.
• Verify Event Conversion Tracking: Ensure that the correct events are marked as conversions, such as "purchase" or "completed purchase." For a deeper understanding of event marking as a conversion, explore our insightful blog post: GA4 Fundamentals - Diving Deeper into Event Conversions.

After ensuring the accuracy of your GA4 setup and verifying conversion tracking, you can now proceed to identifying your target audience.

Understanding Your Target Audience

Why is this important? Knowing your target audience is crucial for effectively measuring Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) data and making data-driven decisions to optimize your sales strategy. Here are the key reasons why:

• Relevant Insights and Benchmarking → Customize your BFCM data analysis by focusing on specific customer segments, enabling you to gather more relevant insights and benchmark performance across targeted groups. Google Analytics 4 has recently introduced a feature that allows you to create and use segments at the property level, providing deeper, more actionable analysis for your holiday campaigns. 
• Personalized Marketing and Offers → Understand your target audience's preferences to design personalized marketing campaigns and promotional offers, increasing the likelihood of customer engagement and conversion.
• Customer Journey Optimization → Analyze how your target audience interacts with your brand during BFCM to identify areas for improvement and optimize the customer experience for better outcomes.
• Effective Resource Allocation → Allocate marketing and promotional resources strategically based on your target audience's preferences and behaviors to maximize return on investment.
• Improved Conversion Rates → Design landing pages, product descriptions, and promotional messages that resonate with your target audience's motivations, leading to higher conversion rates during BFCM.

Now let’s say that you’re tracking, and you’re ready to collect and analyze those data. Here are reporting tools that help you analyze the success of your BFCM.

Realtime Report Tracking for Black Friday / Cyber Monday in GA4

Real-time tracking is essential during the Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) period, as it allows you to observe spikes and drops in website traffic, reflecting the effectiveness of your promotional campaigns and the overall interest in your products. By gaining insights into user interactions on your website, you can track critical metrics such as page views, session duration, and bounce rate, helping you identify areas for improvement. Additionally, monitoring the number of purchases and completed transactions in real time enables you to assess the success of your BFCM sales and make immediate adjustments as necessary. This proactive approach also helps you detect any technical glitches or issues that may hinder user experience and sales, allowing for prompt resolution to ensure a smooth shopping experience.

How to Access Realtime Reports in GA4

1. Sign in to your GA4 account.
2. Select the property you want to analyze.
3. In the left sidebar, click on "Reports."
4. Under the "Realtime" section, click on "Realtime Overview."

The Realtime Overview report will provide a summary of key metrics, including website traffic, active users, page views, and conversions. You can also view detailed breakdowns of these metrics by traffic source, location, and device.

Black Friday / Cyber Monday custom reporting using GA4 Exploration Reports

Another effective method to achieve this is by utilizing custom reports within the GA4 exploration report feature. For instance, you can tailor a report to align with your specific goals and objectives, allowing for a more focused analysis of your data. This customization enables you to extract meaningful insights that directly support your strategic initiatives, ensuring that your reporting is both relevant and actionable.

• Report Name: Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sales Performance
• Report Type: Exploration
• Report Description: This report tracks key metrics related to sales performance during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Dimensions: 

• Date: Date of the eCommerce transaction
• Product Name: Name of the purchased product
• Traffic Source: Channel that drove traffic to your website
  • Session Default Channel Grouping
• Device: Device used to access your website (e.g., desktop, mobile)
• Location: Location of the customer (e.g., country, city)
• Promo Code: Promo code used during the checkout process. (A custom dimension you could use) 

Metrics:

• Session Conversion Rate: Percentage of sessions that resulted in an eCommerce transaction
• New vs. Returning Customer: Percentage of revenue generated from new and returning customers ‍
• Checkout: No of checkouts

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You can drop these dimensions and metrics into the settings section. This is just a sample, and you can customize the report to fit your specific needs. You can also add additional metrics, dimensions, filters, and segments to get a more comprehensive picture of your Black Friday and Cyber Monday performance.

Caveat: Even though you may have specific reporting needs, it's important to keep GA4's dimensions and metrics compatibility in mind. While you may want to combine certain dimensions and metrics, GA4 may not be able to generate a report if those elements are not compatible. For more information about dimensions and compatibility, you can check out our Resources section. 

In addition, you can also leverage on other GA4 functionalities such as the following: 

Filters 

• Date: Filter to include only transactions that occurred during Black Friday and Cyber Monday
• Transaction Status: Filter to include only completed transactions

Segments

• High-Spenders: Segment of customers with high average order values
• First-Time Purchasers: Segment of customers who made their first purchase during Black Friday and Cyber Monday
• Email Subscribers: Segment of customers who are subscribed to your email list

You can also use different type of visualization:

• Line Chart: Track revenue, transactions, and AOV over time
• Bar Chart: Compare conversion rates, checkout abandonment rates, and CAC across different traffic sources, product categories, and customer segments
• Pie Chart: Visualize the distribution of top traffic sources and top products
• Table: Display detailed data for each metric and dimension

Reporting Black Friday / Cyber Monday with Google Looker Studio Dashboard

In addition to Google Analytics 4, there are other reporting tools that can be useful for analyzing your Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) data. One such tool is Google Looker Studio. Looker Studio is a data visualization tool that allows you to create interactive dashboards and reports. This can be a great way to visualize and analyze your BFCM data, and to gain insights that you can use to improve your sales and marketing efforts.

We've created a customizable dashboard that you can download and use to track your campaign performance. The dashboard features side-by-side comparisons of key metrics and dimensions—both when you're not running a campaign and when one is active. This comparison will provide clearer insights into your campaign’s impact, helping you make data-driven adjustments and informed decisions in real time. Additionally, the dashboard comes with step-by-step instructions on how to easily connect it to your own data sources.

Here are additional tips specific to Black Friday / Cyber Monday reporting:

• Establish your tracking well in advance of BFCM to ensure you capture data throughout the entire period. Early setup allows for identifying and resolving potential tracking issues before the peak sales days, giving you a full and accurate picture of customer behavior and performance.
• Leverage GA4 to track and analyze the performance of your sales and marketing channels. This helps you identify which channels are driving the most traffic and conversions during BFCM, enabling you to optimize your marketing efforts.
• Implement GA4’s attribution modeling to properly assign credit to your marketing channels. By understanding which channels contribute the most to your BFCM sales, you can make more informed budget allocation decisions.
• Utilize GA4 to map out your customers' journeys from the first interaction to the final conversion. This insight can reveal key points where users drop off, allowing you to optimize your funnel and reduce cart abandonment during the high-traffic BFCM period.
• Conduct A/B tests on your website or marketing campaigns to determine which variations perform better. Continuous testing helps you refine your strategies, maximize conversions, and enhance overall user experience leading up to and during BFCM.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How can I ensure data accuracy in GA4 during BFCM's high traffic volume?

A: Regular data validation and error checking are crucial to maintain data accuracy during peak traffic periods.

Q: What are some additional ways to optimize GA4 for BFCM reporting?

A: Utilize UTM parameters to track campaign performance and use GA4's attribution modeling to determine the true impact of different touchpoints in the customer journey.

Q: How can I use GA4 to improve customer retention after BFCM?

A: Analyze post-purchase behavior, identify loyal customer segments, and target them with personalized marketing campaigns.

Final Words

In 2024, Black Friday and Cyber Monday reporting is all about understanding your audience’s intent and adapting to real-time behaviors. GA4’s capabilities go beyond simple metrics — they allow you to create a comprehensive picture of how customers interact with your brand across devices and channels. Make sure your GA4 setup is configured, your KPIs are clear, and your reports are tailored to provide the actionable insights you need to thrive in this BFCM. With the right data at your fingertips, you can optimize your marketing efforts, deliver personalized experiences, and boost your sales like never before.
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Also remember, BFCM isn't just about slashing prices; it's about understanding your customers, engaging them with relevant content, and providing an exceptional shopping experience. GA4 serves as your secret weapon to achieve this holistic approach, allowing you to build genuine connections with your customers and create a positive brand reputation.

Thank you for reading!
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