Safeguard your data: how to export your Universal Analytics insights before it's too late!
As the world bids a final farewell to Google’s Universal Analytics platform on 1 July 2024, organisations face a crucial task: exporting their historical data before it’s lost forever. Read on to understand how to save your historical data and preserve its valuable insights.
Goodbye to Universal Analytics
Google Analytics has undergone various iterations as web technologies and digital privacy requirements have changed.
Universal Analytics (UA) stopped processing new data in July 2023, with most websites migrating to its replacement, Google Analytics 4 (GA4). While you can still access historical data on your Universal Analytics platform, you will lose this access as of 1 July. Indeed, if you don’t export your historical UA data before that date, it will be deleted from Google’s servers.
But don’t panic - there is still time to export your UA data to ensure you have continued access well into the future.
Why your UA Data is important
Google Analytics has proven to be an invaluable tool for brands to understand who visits their website and what behaviours drive various interactions and conversions, such as page views, resource downloads, or digital purchases.
Maintaining your historical data is crucial to understanding the past performance of your website, not to mention its usefulness for analysing customer behaviour and benchmarking against your competitors’ online activities. This context can help you identify trends and inform future marketing strategies.
Since Google Analytics first launched in 2005, it’s safe to say that many companies have vast stores of insightful data that they can use in their strategic decision-making - but only if it is preserved.
How to export your UA data
Below are some simple steps to export your Universal Analytics data.
Choose a report, such as Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels. Set your desired date range and any segments you want to include.
Click ‘Export’ in the upper right corner above the date range.
Select your file type: Google Sheets, Excel, TSV or CSV.
Name and save the file in a secure folder on your computer, the cloud, and/or an external hard drive. We recommend a standardised naming convention like: ‘YYYY-MM-DD [Website Name] [UA Report Name] [Segment(s) Applied]’
For more customised reports, utilise the Custom Reports feature to build the dimensions and measures required. The download options remain the same.
Please note that this process is limited to 5,000 rows per export, so you may have to export reports in small batches.
Additional considerations & resources
If you are looking to download a higher volume of data, and downloading 5,000 rows per time is too manual, there are other tools and services you can use, including:
Google Sheets add-on program - utilises the reporting API to pull data directly into Google Sheets.
Analytics Canvas - A third-party tool that uses the reporting API and can save data into Excel, Looker Studio, or BigQuery.
If you are interested in learning more about the sunsetting of Universal Analytics and the exciting features of Google Analytics 4, we recommend these official Google resources:
And as you explore Google Analytics 4, our setup recommendations and list of FAQs may help you get up and running.
Conclusion: where past performance meets future insights
Exporting your historical data from Universal Analytics is crucial for your organisation to preserve valuable insights that provide a baseline for understanding trends and patterns over time. Doing so will allow you to benchmark future performance against past achievements and allow for continuity in reporting. The good news is that there is still time to act, but you must act sooner rather than later because exporting large datasets, whether in batches or with third-party help, can be time-intensive.
If you have any questions about exporting your UA data or transitioning to Google Analytics 4, please contact Jordan Heighton, Digital Strategist, at Jordan.heighton@accordmarketing.com.
The countdown is on, so let’s get cracking!
Jordan Heighton
Our Digital Strategist, Jordan, enhances our team with a profound understanding of data, analysis, and digital practices, which he is incredibly passionate about.
