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The GA4 Feature 90% of People Never Use
Jeff Sauer
August 14, 2025
In partnership with
It's hiding in plain sight and makes everything finally make sense
The GA4 Feature 90% of People Never Use
GA4 isn't broken. Most people are just using it wrong.
That's what Josh Silverbauer taught me during our latest MeasureU video podcast recording. And honestly, it was one of those conversations that makes you completely rethink how you’re using the world's #1 marketing analytics tool.
The Universal Analytics Trap
Remember when Universal Analytics felt intuitive? When you could mess up your tracking and somehow still figure things out later?
Josh nailed it with this analogy: Universal Analytics was like an Apple product. It worked beautifully out of the box for 90% of what you needed. GA4 is more like a Microsoft development environment - intimidating at first, but infinitely more powerful once you learn to customize it.
The problem is most people are still trying to use GA4 like Universal Analytics. They want the same plug-and-play experience. But that's not what Google built.
What Google Actually Built
Josh put it perfectly: "They send you a car in the mail in a box and then you have to build the car and then once you build the car, you have to learn how to drive a stick shift."
Frustrating? Absolutely.
But here's what Josh discovered - once you build that car, it can go 90 mph instead of 60.
The Custom Definitions Game-Changer
During our session, Josh walked through something most people completely ignore: custom definitions.
Out of the box, GA4 tracks events like video plays and searches. But it doesn't tell you WHAT video was played or WHAT was searched. That context? You have to create it yourself using custom dimensions.
Josh showed us exactly how to do this. He set up tracking for his Third Party Show website to see which game cards people click on. Not just that someone clicked, but specifically which games they're interested in.
Why? Because that data helps him decide which games to feature more on his show.
The Measurement Plan Reality
Here's what Josh emphasized that I think everyone needs to hear: you need a measurement plan now. Not someday. Now.
With Universal Analytics, you could wing it. With GA4, you have to think ahead because the data only starts collecting from the moment you set it up.
Josh's approach:
Start with business objectives
Define website goals that support those objectives
Identify the KPIs that measure those goals
Build events and parameters that capture those KPIs
The Real Value
What Josh's clients love isn't GA4 itself. It's the custom dashboards he builds using the data GA4 collects.
He listens to their business questions, builds the tracking to answer those questions, then visualizes the answers outside of GA4. They're not logging into GA4 to find insights - they're getting labeled answers to their specific business questions.
That's the power of treating GA4 as a database instead of trying to make it your analytics interface.
The Bottom Line
Josh made something click for us all: GA4 forces you to be intentional about measurement. And while that's initially frustrating, it ultimately gives you something Universal Analytics never could - a measurement system built specifically for your business.
Not everyone needs this level of customization. But if you're serious about measurement, learning to customize GA4 isn't optional anymore.
It's the difference between getting generic data and getting answers to your actual business questions.
To Your Measured Success!
--Jeff Sauer
Co-Founder of MeasureU
P.S. Josh also mentioned he created an analytics rock opera called "Universal Sunset." Because of course he did. The man brings creativity to everything, including making GA4 actually enjoyable to learn.
P.P.S. I've created three ways to help you succeed, depending on how much support you need:
1) Join our FREE Community: Get instant access to the MeasureU resource library, growth tools, and a network of forward-thinking measurement marketers.
2) MeasureU Accelerator: Join our live sessions multiple times per week where our team of 20+ mentors personally guides you through implementing measurement marketing systems that scale.
3) Done-For-You Solutions: Let our expert team build custom measurement systems that increase your marketing profit and help you scale without adding overhead.
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