GA4 usually displays data in its reports in the form of a data table. Each row of the table represents the value of a dimension and each column represents the value of a metric.
A metric is a number that is used to measure one of the characteristics of a dimension.
A dimension can have one or more characteristics. For example,the following are the characteristics of the dimension called ‘Session source/medium’:
Users
Sessions
Engaged sessions
Average engagement time per session
Engaged sessions per user
Here ‘Users‘, ‘Sessions‘, ‘Engaged sessions‘, ‘Average engagement time per session‘, ‘Engaged sessions per user‘, etc are all reported as metrics in GA4 because they are the characteristics of the dimension called ‘Session source/medium‘.
Consider another example:
Here ‘Item Views‘, ‘Add-to-carts‘, ‘cart-to-view rate‘, ‘Ecommerce purchases‘, ‘purchase-to-view rate‘, etc are all reported as metrics in GA4 because they are the characteristics of the dimension called ‘Item name‘.
Key difference between dimensions and metrics in GA4
Following are the key differences between dimensions and metrics in GA4:
#1. A dimension provides context to a metric. Consequently, a standalone metric is meaningless to analyze and report. For example, the metric ‘Users’ is meaningless on its own and makes sense only when used together with a dimension like ‘Session source/medium’, ‘Session default channel grouping’, etc.
#2. In GA4, a metric can have only one scope and that is the ‘event’ scope. Whereas, a dimension can have either ‘event’ scope or ‘user’ scope.
#3. The value of a dimension is (and should be) of type ‘text’. Whereas, the value of a metric is (and should be) of type ‘integer’.
#4. While creating a custom dimension, you cannot specify a unit of measurement. But while creating a custom metric, you are required to specify a unit of measurement:
The following are the various unit of measurements for a custom metric in GA4:
Standard
Currency
Feet
Miles
Meters
Kilometres
Milliseconds
Seconds
Minutes
Hours
Note: A custom metric can have only one unit of measurement at a time. So for example, if you create a custom metric from the automatically collected event parameter ‘video_duration’ with ‘seconds’ as a unit of measurement then you can not create another custom metric from the same event parameter ‘video_duration’ but with ‘minutes’ as a unit of measurement.
Types of metrics in GA4
The metrics in GA4 can be broadly classified into two categories:
Default metrics
Custom metrics
The default metrics can be further categorized into the following sub-categories:
Acquisition metrics
Engagement metrics
Monetization metrics
Retention metrics
Demographics metrics
Tech metrics
Introduction to default metrics in GA4
The default metrics are the metrics that are already available in GA4 reports. They are ready to use metrics.
The following are examples of the default metrics:
Average session duration
Conversions
Engagement rate
Engaged sessions
Event count
Lifetime value
Total revenue
Following are the various subcategories of default metrics:
You can see the acquisition metrics in the following GA4 reports:
Acquisition overview report
User acquisition report
Traffic acquisition report
Engagement metrics
The engagement metrics are the metrics that are used to measure the characteristics of an engagement dimension.
Following are the examples of various engagement metrics:
#1 Views – The total number of times a webpage or an app screen was viewed by users. This metric does not report on unique views. This metric is calculated by adding screen_view events and page_view events.
#2 Users – The total number of unique users who interacted with your website/app for any non-zero amount of time. This metric is calculated as: Count distinct users where engagement_time_msec parameter > 0
#3 New users – The total number of users who interacted with your website/app for the first time. This metric is calculated as Count distinct users where event name = first_open or first_visit
#4 Views per user – It is the average number of screens viewed by each user. This metric is calculated as engaged sessions/users.
#5 Average engagement time – It is the average length of time that the website/app had focused in the browser.
Check out this help documentation to see the complete list of engagement metrics:
The retention metrics give insight related to user retention from the perspective of new and returning users, user retention by cohort, user engagement by cohort and lifetime value.
Following are examples of various retention metrics:
#1 New users – The total number of users who interacted with your website/app for the first time.
#2 Returning users – The total number of users who have started at least one previous session.
#3 User retention by cohort – It is the percentage of the new-user cohort on charted date who return each day.
You can see the tech metrics in the following GA4 reports:
Tech overview report
Tech details report
Custom metrics in GA4
Custom metrics are user-defined metrics. If you want to measure the characteristics of a GA4 dimension that cannot be measured by any default metric, then create and use the custom metric. You can create up to 50 custom metrics per property.
Frequently asked questions about Understanding Metrics in Google Analytics 4
What are metrics in Google Analytics 4?
A metric is a number that is used to measure one of the characteristics of a dimension. In other words, metrics are quantitative measurements.
What is the difference between dimensions and metrics in GA4?
Following are the differences between dimensions and metrics in GA4: 1. A dimension provides context to a metric. Consequently, a standalone metric is meaningless to analyze and report. For example, the metric ‘Users’ is meaningless on its own and makes sense only when used together with a dimension like ‘Session source/medium’, ‘Session default channel grouping’, etc. 2. In GA4, a metric can have only one scope and that is the ‘event’ scope. Whereas, a dimension can have either ‘event’ scope or ‘user’ scope. 3. The value of a dimension is (and should be) of type ‘text’. Whereas, the value of a metric is (and should be) of type ‘integer’.
What are custom metrics in GA4?
Custom metrics are user-defined metrics, you can create and use custom metrics when you want to measure the characteristics of a dimension (whether default or custom dimension) that cannot be measured by any default metric. For example, if you have defined the keywords which resulted in a phone call as a custom dimension in GA4 then one of the characteristics of this dimension could be ‘number of phone calls generated by each keyword’.
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