Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is replacing Universal Analytics (GA3). To prepare everyone for the change, I’ve created a series of blog posts to help users understand the difference between the two versions. Today I’m diving into the four main differences between the Behavior Flow report in Universal Analytics and the Path Exploration report in GA4.
Background
Released in 2011 under the name “Visitors Flow,” the Behavior Flow report was one of the few opportunities in Universal Analytics to view a customer’s journey throughout one session on your website. Despite the promise for true customer insights, the lack of customization and clumsy aggregation made analysis with this report often difficult. With the introduction of GA4, the Behavior Flow report got a new name – Path Exploration – and new functionality. Below I’ll talk about the four main differences between the Behavior Flow report and the Path Exploration report.
Difference # 1 – Explore More Than Six Paths
One major limitation of the Behavior Flow report in GA3 was that you could only get a detailed look at the top six interactions that occurred after a starting point of your choosing. For these top six interactions, you could see the next page path (or event) and continue to follow along to find the next eleven steps in the user journey. Beyond those top six interactions, though, data was limited. For the top seven interactions and beyond, you could only see the percentage of traffic a subsequent page received and that page’s drop off rate. Unlike the top six interactions, you couldn’t get any insight into the next three, four, or eleven steps in the customer journey.
With GA4 and the Path Exploration report, the limit of events you can explore is much higher. Instead of looking at the top six interactions, you can explore up to nineteen of your top interactions and the steps that followed those interactions.
Difference # 2 – Filtering Out Events
I previously mentioned the lack of configurability within the Behavior Flow report, and filtering out events was no exception to that rule. To provide more insightful analysis, sometimes you needed to exclude events within your customer journey. Even with strategic event tracking, some events only provide thought-provoking data in certain circumstances. For example, if you’re tracking scroll depth, that could be a great way to measure engaged on your blog. However, including this event in the Path Exploration could result in unwanted noise that distracts from a larger goal, such as the key CTAs someone used before submitting a lead form.
With GA4, the pencil icon appears next to each step, allowing you to filter out events you don’t believe are relevant to your particular analysis.
Difference # 3 – Exploring Paths in Two Different Directions
GA3 limited the Behavior Flow report to one direction – forwards. While you could tell the steps someone took to prior to completing a goal with the aptly named Reserve Goal Path report, this was even more limited than the Behavior Flow report. With the Reserve Goal Path report, you could only see the three previous steps to completing a goal. Furthermore, this was limited to pages that someone visited prior to completing a goal – there was no granular drill down into custom events you may have tracked.
GA4’s Path Exploration report provides greater flexibility, allowing you to analyze different user paths based on either a starting or ending point. This means you can tell the paths someone tool after they visit your landing page, or you can tell what pages or CTAs someone interacted with prior to submitting a form.
Difference # 4 – Exploring Paths Across Sessions
One of the main selling points of GA4 was a new data model that was event based instead of GA3’s session based data model. This meant that any report you viewed would not be constricted by sessions like it was in GA3. Instead, you could see the full customer journey, regardless of how long it took.
We see this logic applied within the Path Exploration report, which shows the customer journey across sessions. In contrast, GA3’s the Behavior Flow report only included activity within one session.
Summary
The Path Exploration report in GA4 is a huge upgrade from the Behavior Flow report in GA3, with more visible data, no session limitations, filtering, and the ability to analyze events from a starting or ending point. GA4 is continuously rolling out new features. Learn more about GA4 reporting metrics with the blog articles below: