Device Mode
Detailed technical documentation on sending events to Google Analytics 4 using the RudderStack Web Device mode.
RudderStack lets you send your event data to Google Analytics 4 destination via the device mode using the native web SDK. It supports the gtag
way of tagging in websites in the device mode.
You need to select gtag.js
as the Client Type and enable Use device-mode to send events in the Rudderstack dashboard to send events via the device mode. For more information on device mode settings in the Rudderstack dashboard, refer to the Setting up Google Analytics 4 guide.
For more information on sending events via the device mode, refer to the RudderStack connection modes guide.
Find the open-source JavaScript SDK code for this destination in our GitHub repository.
Identify
The identify
call lets you identify a visiting user and associate them to their actions. It also lets you record the traits about them like their name, email address, etc.
User-ID is an advanced feature that lets GA4 present a cross-device, cross-platform view of your customers' behavior. Google Analytics 4 uses userId
and deviceId
(GA's cid
value from Universal Analytics terminology) to identify users.
A sample identify
call is as shown:
In the above snippet, the userId
will be set to 1hKOmRA4el9Zt1WSfVJIVo4GRlm
for Google Analytics and the name and email will be set as user_properties
.
Page
The page
call lets you record your website's page views with any additional relevant information about the viewed page.
Google Analytics 4 gtag
sends a page_view
event to Google Analytics by default every-time it is loaded. You can also send page_view
event to Google Analytics whenever you make an explicit page()
call to RudderStack SDK.
RudderStack sends the following properties by default:
path
mapped topage_location
title
mapped topage_title
referrer
mapped topage_referrer
You can also make page()
call with any custom and standard properties as shown below:
Track
The track
call lets you capture user events along with the properties associated with them.
A sample track
call is as shown:
RudderStack SDK sends the track event name and any properties as custom properties to Google Analytics 4.
RudderStack SDK flattens the properties that are nested and not standard Google Analytics 4 properties before sending them to Google Analytics.
There are limits on the number of custom properties per event that can be sent to Google Analytics 4. The RudderStack SDK does not drop
the payload based on these limits. If the events are don't show up in the debug view or in the Google Analytics dashboard reports, refer to Google support page to know more about the collection limits.
E-Commerce
RudderStack supports e-commerce tracking for Google Analytics 4. Use the RudderStack e-commerce spec for sending events while instrumenting your site with the RudderStack SDK.
Below are some examples of the track event names that are passed to Google Analytics 4-specific e-commerce event name:
Products Searched
search
Product List Viewed
view_item_list
Promotion Viewed
view_promotion
Product Clicked
select_item
Product Added To Wishlist
add_to_wishlist
Product Added
add_to_cart
Cart Shared
share
Checkout Started
begin_checkout
Order Completed
purchase
For each product in the order, there must be an id
and name
associated. More info on Google Analytics 4 e-commerce event and corresponding properties can be found here.
Contact us
For queries on any of the sections covered in this guide, you can contact us or start a conversation in our Slack community.
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