You get access to a lot of data whenever you open your Google Analytics account and it can seem overwhelming, especially if you’re not used to Google Analytics 4. However, the good people at Google ensured that you can still get the most out of Google Analytics 4 via the custom reports.
The reports enable you to get clear insights when you include the metrics you want to analyze.
This post will teach you all about custom reports in Google Analytics 4 as well as the common custom reports. Let’s get started.
What Are Custom Reports?
A Custom Report in Google Analytics 4 is simply a report you create and decide how you want the dimensions, e.g., City, and metrics, i.e., Sessions, to be displayed. Ted with them, you can view Google’s excellent tutorial on accessing custom reports in GA4.
5 Common Google Analytics Custom Reports
Site Speed Metrics Report
This report gives you the bounce rate and an overview of the page speeds based on the browsers used to access your website.
You can use the information in this particular report to optimize the pages that take too much time to load. Remember, people are impatient and will move on if your website takes lots of time to load.
Traffic Report
This report shows the pages that are getting the most traffic on your site. It also displays the time (taken by the visitor) on site and the bounce rate.
Using this report, you can ensure that you post quality call to actions (CTAs) on your most visited pages, and you can also include links to relevant content to keep visitors on your site.
Time and Hour of the Week Report
Using this report, you can learn when most of your target audience is online. So this report allows you to post or upload a social media post or announce a sale. You don’t have to keep guessing or posting content on your socials multiple times a day.
Using this report, your customers will interact more with your social media content because you post when they are online.
Daily Ecommerce Report
You can create your own personalized daily ecommerce report that shows you what you’ve done during the day, sales-wise. In addition, you can also get the report sent to your mail for convenience.
Campaigns Cost Report
The campaigns cost report is meant to help you know exactly how much money you’re spending on your social and search campaigns.
For instance, if you’re spending a small amount of money on Google (and Google is bringing you the most revenue) and a higher amount on other campaigns, this report may suggest adding your spend on google and lowering your spend on those campaigns that yield low revenue.
This report will help you analyze your spending and suggest how you can spend money optimally.
Prerequisites to Creating Custom Reports
To be able to create custom reports, you must have the editor status on your GA4 account. So if your account was created by someone other than you, the person who created it must enter the admin panel and assign the editor status to you.
You should note that you can create up to 200 custom reports in one account. But you should remember that the more reports you have, the harder it is to analyze all of them and get precise insights. Having a few reports means you can focus more on them and derive the insights youre looking for.
How to Create a Custom Report on GA4
Sign in to Google Analytics, move your cursor to the upper left side of the Google Analytics page, and click on Reports.
Under reports, scroll all the way down and click on Library.
Under Library, scroll down, click Create new report, then Create detail report.
On the following page, click on Blank or any of the Templates.
That’s it. You now have a custom report.
Get Your Custom Reports
This post has covered all you need to know about custom reports. In summary, custom reports are meant to help you get more insights from the data that Google Analytics 4 derives from your website.
So now that you know all about custom reports, be creative and experiment with the different types of reports.
Sagar T
Sagar, Vice President of Digital Analyst Team (DAT), brings over 15 years of digital media expertise, including 12 years dedicated to DAT's growth. Certified in Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Google Analytics, and Marin, he excels in managing an annual budget of over $80 million. Sagar is renowned for his strategic acumen in digital marketing, exceptional budget management, and his ability to drive significant industry results.