Conversion rate in Google Analytics 4

In Universal Analytics, merchants were looking at the e-commerce conversion rate to measure the performance of marketing campaigns, channels, and mediums .

In Google Analytics 4, there are two metrics for conversion rate:

• Session conversion rate - The percentage of sessions that converted. This metric is calculated as the number of sessions in which a conversion happened divided by the total number of sessions.
• User conversion rate - The percentage of users who converted. This metric is calculated as the number of users who performed a conversion action divided by the total number of users.

Session conversion rate

The session conversion rate in Google Analytics 4 is identical to how the conversion rate was calculated in Universal Analytics, where:

Session Conversion Rate = (Number of Sessions with Conversions / Total Number of Sessions) x 100

The session conversion rate won’t match if you divide the number of conversions by sessions because the formula is based on the number of sessions with conversions. And Conversions will account for all the events marked as conversions.

For example, if a user triggered two conversion events in one session it will be counted as two conversions, but will only be a single converted session.

Conversion rate in the default GA4 reports

Conversion rate metrics are not available by default in the standard GA4 reports, so you will have to add them by customizing the reports.

Go to your Google Analytics account → Reports → Acquisition → Traffic acquisition and click the Pencil icon in the top-right corner.

Click on Metrics > Add Metrics.

Search for and select the Session conversion rate metric.

Click on Apply and Save > Save changes to current report > Save.

Now you will see the session conversion rate for all conversions in the Traffic Acquisition report - the closest report to the Source/Medium report in Universal Analytics.

You can analyze the conversion rate of any events marked as a conversion.

Make sure you select the purchase event in the dropdown under session conversion rate if you want to view the conversion rate for this particular event.

Conversion rate in explorations

In addition to the standard reports, you can look at conversion rate in explorations too.

Go to the Explore tab > Blank and create a new exploration.

For this exploration, we’ll add the session source/medium dimension by clicking on the + button beside the dimensions section and then Import.

Similarly, we’ll add metrics to the exploration: Total users, Sessions, Conversions, and Session conversion rate.

Double-clicking on the dimensions and metrics added to the exploration to make sure that they populate the table:

And you will be able to see how your sources and mediums perform and their conversion rates.

tip:

Same customization applies for the user conversion rate.

Ecommerce conversion rate in GA4

To look at the ecommerce conversion rate in GA4, you can filter the events considered for the conversion rate by selecting the purchase event from the dropdown menu below the conversion rate, in the standard reports.

Or you can set up an exploration for the session conversion rate that accounts for the purchase event only. Add the following:

• Dimensions: Session source/medium, Event name.
• Metrics: Session conversion rate, Sessions, Ecommerce purchases.

Double-click on the session source/medium dimension and the three metrics so they would populate the table on the left side.

This exploration accounts for all conversions in the calculation of the conversion rate. We will apply a filter that will include only purchases in the calculation.

Filter pattern: Event name matches regex session_start|purchase.

This will ensure that only the purchase event is counted as the conversion in the conversion rate calculation.

Both the session and user conversion rate metrics are esential in understanding your traffic sources, the performance of marketing campaigns and conversion actions.