GA4 Reports Explained: Key Metrics and How to Customize

How the GA4 report snapshot works

The Google Analytics 4 (GA4) report snapshot provides a customizable, high-level overview of your property’s performance by consolidating key metrics and data from various detailed reports into summary “cards.”

After exporting the report, it will look like a bunch of numbers. Instead, you can view the needed metrics through the cards.

Customisation is easy in the snapshot by adding, removing, or rearranging those report cards.

Report Snapshot overview

1. Default View:

After configuring your website to the GA4 account, it will create a report page by default. By default you can see cards with specific metrics.

2. Customisation:

3. Deep links

Most cards in the snapshot act as “deeplinks.” Clicking on a card’s right bottom corner text. That will take you directly to the detailed report. That is the summary card allowing for deeper analysis.

Each card will display the detailed report

4. Templates

Choose from different templates to get a starting point for your overview. Let’s see the different types of templates in GA4.

Templates for report snapshot

Google Analytics introduced three types of pre-built templates for ease of access. You can manually edit the templates to quickly access insights.

What are dimensions?

These are descriptive attributes of your data. They tell you “what” or “who” something is.

E.g. - Country, Device type, Page title, Source/Medium

What are metrics?

These are quantitative measurements. They tell you “how” or “how many.”

E.g. - activeUsers, sessions, conversions, engagementTime.

1. User Behaviour Template

The user behaviour template shows the data on how visitors are interacting with your site or app.

Focusing on how users engage, including metrics like active users, engaged sessions, page views, and average engagement time.

Metrics in the user behaviour template:

1. Active users

Metric Name - activeUsers

An active user is a visitor of your app or site and engaged within a particular date range.

This metric in GA4 meets at least one of the following criteria within a given date range:

2. New users

Metric Name - newUsers

This metric is a unique individual who visits your website or app for the first time within a specific date range.

The first-time visit is recorded with a “first_visit” (for web) event or “first_open” (for apps) event.

3. Average engagement time per active user

This metric is valid in GA4, but it’s not available as a direct metric with that exact name.

Instead, you can calculate it manually using these two valid GA4 metrics

Metric Names - userEngagementDuration, activeUsers

averageEngagementTimePerUser = userEngagementDuration / activeUsers

4. Event count

Metric Name - eventCount

This metric is defined as the total number of times a specific user action (an event) occurred on your website or app within a given time period. GA4 treats everything as an event.

5. Views

Metric Name - pageViews

Views refer to the metric for the total number of times a web page or screen was viewed (including repeats).

6. Bounce rate

Metric Name - bounceRate

Bounce rate is defined as the percentage of sessions that were not engaged. That means visitors left your site or app without meeting specific criteria for an engaged session.

7. Key events

Metric Name - keyEvents

A key event is an event that measures an action that’s particularly important to the success of your business.

When someone triggers the event by performing the action, the key event is recorded.

8. Total revenue

Metric Name - totalRevenue

Total revenue shows the total amount of revenue per day generated from e-commerce purchases, in-app purchases, subscriptions, and advertisements, minus any refunds given.

totalRevenue = e-commerce purchases + in-app purchases + subscriptions + adveertisements 
                                        - refund

9. Sessions

Metric Name - sessions

A session is a period during which a user is actively engaged with your website or app.

A new session begins in some cases:

Dimensions in the user behaviour template

Page title and screen class - pageTitle

First user source/medium - firstUserSourceMedium

Session source/medium - sessionSourceMedium

2. Sales and revenue template

This template is used to track, analyse, and forecast a company’s sales and performance and incoming revenue over a specific period.

It highlights performance related to conversions, purchase value, and revenue trends for e-commerce.

Metrics in the sales and revenue template

1. Add to Basket

Metric Name - addToCarts (Event)

The “add to cart” metric shows how many times a user adds items to the cart on your app or website. Sometimes it is referred to as an add-to-basket metric.

When a user or visitor adds a product to their shopping cart on your website this event will be noticed.

2. Purchases

Metric Name - purchase

The purchase metric tracks the number of times a purchase occurs on your website or app.

It’s different from just “add to cart” or “begin checkout”—this metric only counts successful purchases.

3. Purchase revenue

Metric Name - purchaseRevenue

The sum of revenue from purchases minus refunded transaction revenue made in your app or site.

Purchase revenue sums the revenue for these events.

4. Average purchase revenue per paying user

Metric Name - averagePurchaseRevenuePerPayingUser

Average purchase revenue per paying user (ARPPU) is the total purchase revenue per active user that logged a purchase event.

5. Items added to cart

Metric Name - itemsAddedToCart

The number of units added to the cart for a single item.

This metric counts the quantity of items in add_to_cart events.

6. Items purchased

Metric Name - itemsPurchased

The number of units for a single item included in purchase events.

This metric counts the quantity of items in purchase events.

7. Item revenue

Metric Name - itemRevenue

The total revenue from purchases minus refunded transaction revenue from items only.

Item revenue is the product of its price and quantity.

8. Session key event rate

Metric Name - sessionKeyEventRate

The percentage of sessions in which any key event was triggered.

9. Average purchase revenue per active user

This is valid, but GA4 doesn’t have an exact metric with this name.

This shows how much purchase revenue (from e-commerce transactions) you’re generating per active user over a selected date range.

averagePurchaseRevenuePerActiveUser = purchaseRevenue / activeUsers

Dimensions in the sales and revenue template:

Item name - itemName

first user source/medium - firstUserSourceMedium

session source/medium - sessionSourceMedium

3. Marketing performance template

By using this marketing performance template business owners and marketers can quickly identify how the different acquisition channels are driving traffic and conversion values.

It helps marketers quickly compare which channels perform best.

Metrics in the marketing and performance template

Active users - activeUsers

New users - newUsers

Average engagement time per active user - activeUsers, userEngagementDuration

Sessions - sessions

Key events - keyEvents

Total revenue - totalRevenue

Dimensions in the marketing performance template

Session source/medium - sessionSourceMedium

First user source/medium - firstUserSourceMedium

Session Google Ads campaign - sessionGoogleAdsCampaign

Session Google Ads Ad group name - sessionGoogleAdsAdGroupName

Session Google Ads keyword text - sessionGoogleAdsKeywordText

Session Google Ads query - sessionGoogleAdsQuery

Session Google Ads ad network type - sessionGoogleAdsAdNetworkType

session Google Ads account name - sessionGoogleAdsAccountName