Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is rolling out a new Benchmarking feature, allowing businesses to compare their performance against others in the same industry. This addition aims to provide users with valuable insights into their competitive standing.

Benchmarks in GA4 are metrics that help compare business performance against others in the same industry. These comparisons are based on peer groups, which are cohorts of similar businesses determined by industry vertical and other business characteristics.

Key Features

1. Daily Updates: Benchmark data is refreshed every 24 hours, ensuring relatively current insights.

2. Data Privacy: Google emphasizes that benchmarking data is encrypted and protected to maintain user privacy.

3. Quality Assurance: Only properties meeting minimum user volume and data significance thresholds are included in benchmarks to ensure meaningful comparisons.

4. Customization: Users can adjust their peer group based on industry for more relevant comparisons.

How to Access Benchmarking

To access the feature:

1. Enable "Modeling contributions & business insights" in Admin > Account Settings.
2. Navigate to the overview card on the Home page.
3. Select the desired metric and expand the Benchmarking category.

Note: The feature may not be widely available yet.

Available Benchmark Metrics

GA4 offers a wide range of benchmarking metrics across several categories:

1. Acquisition (e.g., New user rate)
2. Engagement (e.g., Average engagement time per session, Event count per user)
3. Retention (e.g., Bounce rate, Daily active users / Monthly active users)
4. Monetization (e.g., Average revenue per user, First-time purchaser rate)

Interpreting Benchmark Data

When benchmarking is enabled, users can view:

• Their property's trendline
• Median in their peer group
• Range in their peer group (25th to 75th percentile)

This visualization helps businesses understand their performance relative to industry peers.

Practical Applications

Benchmarking data can provide actionable insights in various scenarios:

• Identifying underperforming acquisition strategies
• Capitalizing on high engagement rates
• Addressing retention issues
• Improving monetization strategies

While GA4's benchmarking feature promises to help businesses identify strengths and areas for improvement, it's important to use these comparisons cautiously. Businesses are advised to use this tool as one of many inputs in their decision-making process rather than as a definitive measure of success.

As with any new feature, the true utility of GA4's benchmarking will become clearer as more users gain access and provide feedback. Google encourages users to provide feedback on the benchmarks to help improve the feature in the future.