Understanding User Acquisition by First Marketing Channel
Tracking how users first discover your website through various marketing tactics is crucial for understanding which channels are most effective at acquiring new users. This analysis helps optimize marketing budget allocation and improve acquisition strategies. We'll show you how to create this report in Google Analytics 4 to identify your most successful marketing channels for acquiring new users.Basic Report Structure
- Report Type: Free Form Exploration
- Visualization: Table
- Primary Dimension: First User Manual Marketing Tactic
- Secondary Dimensions: First User Source, First User Medium
- Metrics: New Users, Average Engagement Time, Conversions
Steps to Create the Report
- Open GA4 and navigate to Explore section
- Click the Blank template to start a new exploration
- Under the Dimensions tab, click the + button and search for First User Manual Marketing Tactic, First User Source, and First User Medium, check the checkboxes beside them and click Confirm
- Under the Metrics tab, click the + button and search for New Users, Average engagement time, and Conversions, check the checkboxes beside them and click Confirm
- Drag First User Manual Marketing Tactic to the Rows section
- Drag New Users, Average engagement time, and Conversions to the Values section
- Add First User Source and First User Medium as secondary dimensions by dragging them below the first dimension in the Rows section
- Set your desired date range in the report settings
- Optional: Add a filter to exclude direct traffic by clicking the + button in the Filters section
Important Dimensions and Metrics
- First User Manual Marketing Tactic: Shows the initial marketing channel that brought users to your site
- First User Source: Indicates where users came from originally
- First User Medium: Shows the marketing medium that first brought users to your site
- New Users: Counts first-time visitors from each channel
- Average engagement time: Measures how engaging your content is for users from different channels
- Conversions: Tracks how many users from each channel complete desired actions
Actionable Insights
- Identify which marketing tactics bring in the most engaged users and allocate more budget to these channels
- Compare conversion rates across different marketing tactics to optimize campaign spending
- Analyze which combinations of source/medium perform best within each marketing tactic
- Use engagement time metrics to understand which channels bring in the most interested users
- Adjust marketing strategy based on which tactics show the highest return on investment
Answers Similar Questions
- How to track first touch attribution in GA4
- View users by initial marketing channel GA4
- Track user acquisition source in Google Analytics
- First touch marketing channel report GA4
- How to see which marketing channels bring new users GA4
