Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has changed the way digital marketers and website owners track and measure user behavior. Unlike Universal Analytics, GA4 is event-based, giving more flexibility and deeper insights into conversion tracking. If you want to optimize your website’s performance and improve your ROI, understanding and monitoring the right metrics is essential.
Top 7 metrics to watch when Tracking GA Conversions
1. Conversion Events
What it is: GA4 allows you to define any event as a conversion—this could be a purchase, lead form submission, video view, or download. Once you mark an event as a conversion, GA4 tracks how often it occurs.
Why it matters: This metric is the most direct representation of goal completions. You can monitor which actions bring the most value, identify which ones underperform, and adjust your strategies accordingly. For example, if “form_submit” is marked as a conversion, you’ll know how many users actually filled out your form over time.
Example: These are specific user actions you’ve marked as conversions—like “purchase,” “generate_lead,” or “subscribe_newsletter.”
You run an eCommerce site and set the purchase event as a conversion in GA4. In January, GA4 reports 250 purchases. This tells you exactly how many users completed your primary goal—buying a product.
2. Engaged Sessions
What it is: An engaged session is a session that lasts longer than 10 seconds, includes 2 or more pageviews, or involves a conversion event. It’s GA4’s way of showing meaningful interactions.
Why it matters: High engaged session counts indicate that users are finding your site useful or compelling. If this number is low, it may point to poor UX, irrelevant content, or slow loading speeds—factors that can hurt conversion rates.
Example: A user visits your landing page, reads it for 2 minutes, then clicks to your pricing page. GA4 counts this as 1 engaged session, showing that the user meaningfully interacted with your content—even if they didn’t convert yet.
3. Engagement Rate
What it is: The engagement rate is the percentage of engaged sessions out of total sessions. It’s the modern version of bounce rate (now deprecated in GA4) and gives a clearer picture of true user interaction.
Why it matters: Engagement rate helps identify content or pages that resonate with users. For instance, a blog post with a 75% engagement rate suggests it’s retaining attention—ideal for placing CTAs or lead magnets to increase conversions.
Example: Your blog has 1,000 sessions in a week, but only 600 were engaged. Your engagement rate is 60%. That’s a good sign users find the content relevant. If it were 20%, you’d want to rethink your messaging or layout.
4. Event Count by Event Name
What it is: This metric tracks how many times a specific event was triggered. It includes both conversions and non-conversion events, such as “page_view”, “button_click”, or custom events like “add_to_cart”.
Why it matters: Seeing how often users interact with different elements on your site or app helps you understand behavior patterns. If the “add_to_cart” count is high but “purchase” is low, there may be a checkout issue or friction point you need to fix.
Example: You track add_to_cart as an event on your product pages. GA4 reports 400 add_to_cart events in the past month. That tells you how often users are showing purchase intent, even if they didn’t complete the checkout.
5. Conversions per User
What it is: This metric shows the average number of conversions each user completes. It’s particularly useful for businesses with subscription models, repeat purchases, or user accounts.
Why it matters: If users are converting multiple times, that signals strong value and brand loyalty. Conversely, if this number is low, it might suggest you’re only capturing one-time interest—an opportunity for remarketing or engagement campaigns.
Example: Your site had 100 users last week, and 150 total conversions (some users bought more than once). That’s 1.5 conversions per user, which indicates strong customer engagement and retention—especially good for subscription services or upsells.
6. Revenue (Ecommerce)
What it is: For ecommerce sites, GA4 can track total revenue generated through conversion events like purchases. It can also break down metrics by item name, category, quantity, and average order value (AOV).
Why it matters: Revenue gives you the most tangible result of conversions. You can compare product performance, identify high-value customers, and track the ROI of your campaigns. This is essential for evaluating the profitability of your marketing efforts.
Example: You sell tech accessories online. GA4 reports a total revenue of $12,500 for February, with your best-selling item being wireless earbuds generating $4,000. This helps you focus your inventory, ads, and promotions on what’s actually making you money.
7. Source / Medium Attribution for Conversions
What it is: GA4 tracks the source and medium that drive each conversion. This could be “google / organic”, “facebook / paid”, or “direct / none”. You can also view attribution by default channel groupings or create custom attribution models.
Why it matters: Attribution reveals which traffic sources contribute most to your goals. If most conversions come from email campaigns, you can double down on email marketing. If social traffic is high but conversions are low, you might need better targeting or messaging.
Example: In GA4, you find that 65 conversions came from google / organic, 40 from facebook / paid, and 20 from email / newsletter last month. This tells you that organic traffic is performing best—great for investing more into SEO.
