Google Analytics

to Amplitude
Migration Guide:
A roadmap and resources
for navigating your migration
In this guide

03 About this guide

10 Phase 2: Instrument your data

04 An overview of your migration roadmap

14 Phase 3: Go live with Amplitude

05 How Amplitude supports your migration

17 Make the switch from GA to Amplitude

06 Phase 1: Align on what data to track

About this guide We have already helped countless customers move from GA’s Universal
Analytics (UA), Google Analytics 360 (GA360), and Google Analytics 4
Have you decided to make the switch (GA4) to Amplitude. We’ve seen them thrive and know you will, too.

from Google Analytics (GA) to Amplitude?

Succesful migrations from GA to Amplitude
We can’t wait to help you get started.

With Amplitude, you can use a single digital analytics platform to access
trusted product, marketing, and web data to uncover why customers
engage, where they run into trouble, and what keeps them coming
back. We make it easy for teams to act on these insights and drive more
personalized experiences and targeted campaigns. In other words,
and more.
we take the guesswork out of what boosts acquisition, retention, and
monetization for your business.

The best part? We’ve designed the transition to be as smooth as possible. In this guide, we’ll walk you through a roadmap designed to help you
Amplitude enables you to quickly and accurately send your GA data to our navigate the major milestones of migration—from aligning on what data
all-in-one digital analytics platform with little or no code. And we offer a to track to instrumenting that data in Amplitude. We’ll also share tips
trove of resources and dedicated support to ensure your transition is as and resources from our customer success team based on the many
smooth as possible. migrations they’ve supported.

Read on to learn what the migration process entails and how

Amplitude guides you through it.

Google Analytics to Amplitude Migration Guide 3

An overview of your migration roadmap
We’ve organized the migration process into three key phases with supporting steps that we’ll
highlight throughout this guide. Highly adaptable, this approach is designed to simplify and
streamline your implementation.

Migration Roadmap

Align Instrument Go Live

• Determine your • Send event data • Invite new users

business cases to Amplitude
• Create and share charts
• Map your Google Analytics • Migrate historical Google
• Maintain data integrity
data to Amplitude Analytics data to Amplitude

• Build your event • Ensure your migration

tracking plan is successful

Google Analytics to Amplitude Migration Guide 4

How Amplitude We also offer professional services packages to further alleviate
your team’s resources and accelerate business outcomes.

supports your migration The services include:

• Consultative implementation
With Amplitude, you get more than a leading • Technical support
all-in-one digital analytics platform. Our
• Adoption best practices
wide-ranging support offerings guide you
• Instructor-led training
through the migration process.
Our professional services team can speed up the entire migration
Account team: dedicated account and customer success managers process: an estimated 45–90 days for midsize businesses and
that partner with Growth and Enterprise customers. 90–120 days for enterprise businesses.

Amplitude Support: our technical support team.

Amplitude Academy: on-demand courses and live trainings.

Amplitude Help Center: articles on troubleshooting and using Amplitude. We needed to move quickly. . . . We could
Developer Center: developer-centric guides for implementing Amplitude not interrupt ingesting sessions and tracking
SDKs and APIs. users. The Amplitude team accommodated
our tight schedule, and we went from signing
Amplitude Community: questions and answers from
the contract to the first iteration of our
analytics professionals.
tracking system in two months.
Cohort community: Amplitude’s thriving user community.
HERNÁN GARCÍA
Amplitude Partner Ecosystem: a vast network of consulting partners.
Head of Product, rebuy

Google Analytics to Amplitude Migration Guide 5

Phase 1: Align on what
data to track
The right preparation and planning pave the way
for a smooth transition to Amplitude. We’ve found
that aligning on what data to track is the best
place to start to ease your move.

Determine your use cases

Migrating from GA represents an opportunity to be intentional about your
analytics and revisit your approach in light of your business needs and goals.
This enables you to build an event taxonomy bespoke to your business.
First, formulate 2–3 use cases and 15–20 supporting business questions
that users across your organization want to answer at each stage of the
customer journey. We’ve pre-filled our Use Case Tracker worksheet with
examples from other customers so you can easily get started. If you’re
working with our professional services team, we’ll help you identify your
key use cases and supporting business questions.

TIP: Next, determine the events needed to answer those use cases.
If you’re unsure, consult our Data Planning playbook or use Amplitude’s
A good use case is: Browser SDK to track these default events:


Measurable • Sessions

Clear about objectives • Attribution

Immediately actionable • Page views

Linked to a recent or major product change • File downloads

Attached to a team’s decision or hypothesis • Form interactions

Google Analytics to Amplitude Migration Guide 6

Map your GA data to Amplitude
GA’s Universal Analytics uses a session-based model, whereas Amplitude
and GA4 use an event-based approach:

• S
 ession-based models track user interactions within a time-bound
visit to your site.

• E
 vent-based models analyze interactions between users and your
product, unbounded by any time parameters.
This shift means mapping your session-based UA data to event-based
Amplitude data. Here’s how to do it:

• UA hit types—including page views—are considered Amplitude events.

• I f the GA data describes an event or user, map it as an event property

or user property, respectively, in Amplitude.

• U
 A custom dimensions or metrics also correspond to event
and user properties.

TIP:

We recommend only mapping the most used and

important data from your GA implementation to
Amplitude. With the professional services add-on,
we’ll conduct interactive working sessions to help
you prioritize.

Google Analytics to Amplitude Migration Guide 7

How UA and GA4 data differ from Amplitude data

UA and GA4 data definitions: Amplitude data definitions:

Hits: In UA, hits include page hits, event hits, ecommerce hits, and social Users: Amplitude users represent unique individuals taking action
interaction hits. In GA4 and Amplitude, hits are captured as events. or engaging in an activity related to your product. Amplitude uses
a combination of device IDs, user IDs, and Amplitude IDs to
Page views: UA page views are a type of hit that indicate when a user
identify users uniquely. GA4 tracks identity similarly to Amplitude,
visits one of your web pages. These are also considered events in GA4
but UA only sets client IDs, which are similar to Amplitude’s device IDs.
and Amplitude.
Events: An event is a distinct action or activity a user performs within
Sessions: In UA, sessions are groups of user interactions with your site
your product.
during a certain period. These interactions could be page views, events,
social interactions, or ecommerce transactions. UA sessions end once Properties: Properties are attributes that help define your events and
there is a 30-minute period of inactivity or another reset event. users. At a high level:
• GA4 collects session metrics with an automatically tracked “session_ • Event properties are attributes that describe details specific to an
start” event. A session spans the first and last event in the session. event. Event property values do not persist, so they will be associated
• To simplify the transition, Amplitude automatically generates a with the event they are set with but not subsequent events unless they
“session id” for each new session and enables you to customize are set again. Amplitude also has special event properties that enable
the web and mobile timeout windows. Amplitude defines sessions as you to track revenue and other numeric values.
when a user has your app in the foreground or has your website open. • User properties are traits describing the user and persist across
all future events until the properties are modified.

Google Analytics to Amplitude Migration Guide 8

Build your event tracking plan TIP:
After determining your use cases and mapping your GA data, document
Ask yourself these questions when creating your
your new event taxonomy. To help, we’ve created a GA Event Tracking Plan,
tracking plan:
which includes common events and properties from past migrations.
Share this plan with your team and others at your organization to ensure • Do you have multiple events for similar actions?
the accuracy and integrity of your data.
• Are your properties captured across all
applicable events?
• Are your property definitions consistent across
your events?
• Do you have a consistent naming convention
for events and properties?

Amplitude Analytics delivers value right away.

Once you set up event tracking, it’s easy for
product managers to jump into the platform,
You can then set up your tracking plan directly in Amplitude with our fire up a couple of dashboards, lay out some
data management capabilities. Setting up data before you send events to charts, and start gathering insights.
Amplitude ensures a smooth transition and helps with data governance.
If you’ve purchased professional services, your implementation team will
walk through that process.
LEIA SCHULTZ
Product Manager, Homebot

Google Analytics to Amplitude Migration Guide 9

Phase 2: Instrument your data
Once you have laid the groundwork for your data, you can begin ingesting it into Amplitude.
You can also migrate data you’ve collected in the past and want to keep for future analyses,
such as year-over-year comparisons. Amplitude provides tools and integrations to make both
processes as effortless and efficient as possible. We’ll delve into the details below.

Send event data to Amplitude

You have several choices for sending event data to Amplitude. In this guide, we’ll highlight the most common.

Native SDKs

Google Tag
Manager Template Server-side APIs

Customer
data platforms Data warehouses

Amplitude’s sources enable you to import data into Amplitude.

Google Analytics to Amplitude Migration Guide 10

For client-side event tracking, you can opt for either: For server-side event tracking, you can use either:

 mplitude’s Google Tag Manager (client-side) Template. This

A  mplitude’s HTTP V2 API. Use the HTTP V2 API to send data directly from
A
template enables you to use your existing Google Tag Manager (GTM) your server to the HTTP V2 endpoint.
implementation and take advantage of Google tags. Send events from
GTM (server-side) Template. The server-side version of the GTM Template
your GTM data layer to Amplitude without changing your current
uses the Amplitude HTTP V2 API for data collection. It enables you to use
architecture or writing code.
your existing GTM implementation to send data to Amplitude.
Amplitude’s Browser SDK. Instrumenting this SDK enables you to
send events—including page views and attribution—to Amplitude,
How amplitude adheres to privacy considerations
but it requires development resources.
Amplitude customers have complete control over the data they
 oogle Analytics Events Forwarder. This low-code solution offers
G collect and submit to the Amplitude platform, subject to the
an easy way to get existing GA4 data into Amplitude.
license restrictions in Sections 2.2 of the applicable Main Services
Agreement or Terms of Service.
GTM template: key tag types to set up
Amplitude has designed our platform and services with privacy in
The GTM template enables you to set up tags to track mind so our customers can use the platform in a data-responsible
and compliant manner and rest assured that personally identifiable
the events and properties that meet your use cases.
information (PII) submitted is securely and properly handled.
The most important one is SDK initialization—adding
the Amplitude API key that GTM needs to send events For consent management, we provide opt-out options in our SDKs
to Amplitude. to ensure you are not collecting data unless a user has provided
consent.
Next, configure these other key tag types:
To comply with end-user data subject requests mandated by privacy
• Track: Track an event under a specific trigger. laws such as the General Data Protection Regulation and the California
• Identify: Set the user properties of a particular Consumer Privacy Act, Amplitude has built simple and easy-to-use
user without sending any event. APIs that enable you to programmatically submit requests:

• setUser ID: Set an identifier for the user • U

 ser Privacy API: Delete all data for a set of known Amplitude
being tracked. IDs or User IDs.

• setGroup ID: Assign users to groups and perform • D

 ata Subject Access Request API: Retrieve all data about
queries on those groups. an end user in a timely and compliant manner.

Google Analytics to Amplitude Migration Guide 11

Migrate historical GA data to Amplitude
As noted above, migration is a chance to reconsider your data—whether
it’s still accurate, necessary, or relevant—and this is especially true for
historical data.
If you choose to migrate your historical data from GA to Amplitude, you
have a couple of options:

• I f you’ve already exported that data to Google’s Big Query, use Amplitude’s
Big Query integration to import BigQuery data directly to Amplitude.

• O
 therwise, use the Amplitude Batch Event Upload API to send event
data in bulk using an HTTP API format.

TIP:

As you migrate your data, follow these best practices:

• Keep historical data in a separate Amplitude project
without backfilling it into a live production project.
Doing so makes the upload easier and keeps your
live Amplitude data clean.
• To connect historical data with current data, combine
the historical data and live data in the same project.
Make sure users have matching Amplitude user IDs
in each dataset to connect them.
• Because there is no way to undo an import, create
a test project in Amplitude to send sample data from
your backfill. Do several tests with a few days’ worth
of data in an Amplitude test project before the final
upload to the production project.
As you export your historical data to Amplitude, consult
our full list of backfill considerations and best practices.

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Ensure your migration is successful
After you’ve implemented Amplitude, make sure that you’re tracking the
right data. Amplitude offers several tools to help you do this, including:
Data management is an ongoing project at
• I ngestion Debugger. Check your successful requests, events and identify SoFi. Amplitude is another tool in our toolbox
counts, endpoint error requests, and throttled users and devices. to help us maintain clear, trustworthy data.
• U
 ser Look-up. Analyze the live event stream specific to your user profile Being able to visually see new events load in
and confirm you’re capturing new events correctly or troubleshoot real time makes it easy to manage and make
instrumentation errors. necessary adjustments without burdening
• I nstrumentation Explorer Chrome extension. Examine and debug your our engineering team.
Amplitude Browser SDK Instrumentation.

• D
 ata Assistant. Access AI-powered recommendations and automation PHILLIP LEE
Former Principal Product Owner, Growth and Martech, SoFi.
to maintain and improve data quality.

TIP:

Review this data quality assurance checklist:

Is your data aligned with use cases and business
questions?
Amplitude’s data assistant Is the syntax for event names and properties
consistent?
Are there duplicative or missing properties?
Amplitude’s data transformations feature, available for free to Enterprise
Is the same user action tracked with more events
customers and as an add-on for Growth customers, can retroactively
transform historical data during a query. Use this no-code tool to correct
than necessary?
common implementation mistakes. Are there event properties that make more sense
as user properties or vice versa?

Google Analytics to Amplitude Migration Guide 13

Phase 3: Go live with Amplitude
At this point, you’re ready to launch your digital analytics program with Amplitude. But it’s important
to remember that implementation goes well beyond the moment you go live.

We’ve found that the most successful teams apply the same thoughtfulness
with which they approached migration to the daily work of analytics—
from considering who will use the data they collect to ensuring that it is
relevant and accurate.

Invite new users

Once data is flowing into Amplitude, invite team members across your
organization and create charts they can start exploring. Amplitude’s
user-friendly interface makes it easy to share data and collaborate with
your colleagues. Reference your existing GA user lists to invite new users
and manage their permissions in Amplitude’s organization settings.

Everybody at MySwimPro now has access

to Amplitude. One of our values is diversity
in perspective, and now that more people see
the data firsthand, the entire company has
gained a new perspective on our product
and trust in our process.

NICK NEWELL
VP of Engineering, MySwimPro

Google Analytics to Amplitude Migration Guide 14

 Create and share charts
To get started with chart creation, use Amplitude’s industry- and use-
case-specific starter templates available on your Amplitude homepage to
generate and share analyses just as you did in GA. This presents another
opportunity to reconsider what you analyze. And with Amplitude’s greater
flexibility and deeper level of analysis, you have more outlets for exploration.

From the start, data became a part of our

daily lives through curated Amplitude Analytics
dashboards. We got used to asking questions
as a group and exploring data accordingly
to answer these questions, increasing
transparency within our organization.

SPONDON KATH HAZARIKA

Former Senior Project Manager, Showcase IDX

There may be differences between the data you saw in GA and what you
see in Amplitude. That’s because the two platforms use different filtering
models. Specifically, Amplitude will filter out redundancies. One note:
Though you can expect discrepancies, the differences should be at a
consistent rate.

Amplitude’s starter templates

Google Analytics to Amplitude Migration Guide 15

Maintain data integrity
The work of evaluating your data doesn’t stop once you migrate. Revisiting
your use cases and event tracking plan on an ongoing basis is essential to
the accuracy and integrity of your analytics. Ensure success by developing
a data governance plan, including the key leaders and teams who will
maintain your analytics program and the training resources to ensure
everyone can use it.

Part of our digital strategy is data enablement,

ensuring we have a tool with a great interface
that people can (and are happy to!) use.
After some piloting, Amplitude definitely
ticked that box.

DAN GRAINGER
Head of Analytics, Haven

Google Analytics to Amplitude Migration Guide 16

 Make the switch from
GA to Amplitude
Now you know how to make the move to
Amplitude—and have the plan and resources
to get started. Our expert customer support
team will be there to help you every step
of the way for a seamless transition.

That means you can quickly get your analytics program up and
running—and start building products and experiences customers crave.

Get started with Amplitude for free,

or talk to a digital analytics expert to learn more.

Google Analytics to Amplitude Migration Guide 17

Get started today. Sign up for a free
Amplitude account.

About Amplitude
Amplitude is a leading digital analytics platform that helps companies unlock the power of their products. More than 2,300 customers,
including Atlassian, Jersey Mike’s, NBCUniversal, Shopify, and Under Armour, rely on Amplitude to gain self-service visibility into the entire
customer journey. Amplitude guides companies every step of the way as they capture data they can trust, uncover clear insights about
customer behavior, and take faster action. When teams understand how people are using their products, they can deliver better product
experiences that drive growth. Amplitude is the best-in-class analytics solution for product, data, and marketing teams, ranked #1 in
multiple categories by G2. Learn how to optimize your digital products and business at amplitude.com.

Power to your productsTM

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