GA4 Audiences and Segmentation

GA4 Audiences and Segmentation

Expert guidance for creating and managing audiences for analysis, remarketing, and personalisation.

Overview

Audiences in GA4 allow creation of user segments for analysis, remarketing, and personalisation based on dimensions, metrics, and events. Audiences can be exported to Google Ads for targeting and used in GA4 reports for analysis.

Accessing Audiences

Path: Admin -> Audiences

Available Actions:

• View all audiences
• Create new audiences
• Edit existing audiences
• View audience membership

Predefined Audiences

GA4 includes template audiences:

Activating Predefined Audiences

1. Admin -> Audiences -> Create Audience
2. Select suggested template
3. Customise conditions if needed
4. Save audience

Creating Custom Audiences

Basic Process

1. Admin -> Audiences -> New Audience
2. Choose method:
   • Start from scratch
   • Use suggested template
   • Create predictive audience
3. Configure audience:
   • Name: Descriptive (e.g., "High-Value Shoppers")
   • Description: Optional notes
   • Membership duration: 1-540 days
4. Add conditions
5. Preview size
6. Save

Condition Types

Dimension Filters

Filter by user or event attributes:

country == "United States"
device_category == "mobile"
platform == "web"

Available Dimensions:

• User: city, country, device_category, platform
• Event: event_name, page_location, item_id
• Custom: Any registered custom dimensions

Metric Filters

Filter by quantitative measures:

totalRevenue > 100
sessionCount >= 3
engagementTime > 60

Available Metrics:

• Event count
• Session count
• Revenue
• Engagement time
• Conversion count

Event Conditions

Include/exclude based on events:

Include users who:

• Have triggered specific event
• Have NOT triggered event
• Triggered event with specific parameters

Example: Users who triggered purchase with value > 50

Sequence Conditions

Build audiences based on event order:

Example: Users who:

1. Viewed product (view_item)
2. Added to cart (add_to_cart)
3. Did NOT complete purchase (within 7 days)

Membership Duration

How it works:

• User enters when conditions met
• Stays for duration period
• Exits after duration (unless conditions still met)

Audience Examples

High-Value Customers

Conditions:
- totalRevenue > 500 (lifetime)
- purchaseCount >= 3

Membership: 540 days

Cart Abandoners

Sequence:
1. add_to_cart (within last 7 days)
2. Did NOT: purchase

Membership: 7 days

Engaged Mobile Users

Conditions:
- deviceCategory == "mobile"
- sessionCount >= 5 (last 30 days)
- avgEngagementTime > 60 seconds

Membership: 30 days

Product Category Viewers

Event Condition:
- view_item (last 30 days)
- item_category == "Electronics"

Membership: 30 days

Geographic Segment

Conditions:
- country == "United States"
- region == "California"

Membership: 90 days

Newsletter Subscribers

Event Condition:
- sign_up (any time)
- method == "newsletter"

Membership: 540 days

Predictive Audiences

GA4 can create audiences based on predicted user behaviour.

Available Predictions

Requirements

• 1,000+ users triggering target event (28 days)
• Sufficient historical data
• Model quality threshold met

Creating Predictive Audience

1. Create New Audience
2. Choose "Predictive"
3. Select metric (purchase probability, etc.)
4. Set threshold (e.g., > 50% purchase probability)
5. Save

Use Cases

• Target likely purchasers with ads
• Re-engage likely-to-churn users
• Focus on high-revenue potential users

Audience Triggers

What are Triggers

Actions that fire when user enters audience.

Supported Actions

• Send event to GA4
• Create Google Ads remarketing list
• Send to Google Ads for targeting

Setup

1. Create audience
2. In settings, add trigger
3. Configure action (event name, Ads account)
4. Save

Use Cases

• Track when users become high-value
• Send conversion events to Ads
• Real-time remarketing lists

Exporting to Google Ads

Prerequisites

• Google Ads account linked
• Admin -> Product Links -> Google Ads Links
• Minimum audience size met

Minimum Sizes

Setup

1. Link Google Ads account
2. In audience, enable "Ads Personalisation"
3. Audience appears in Ads within 24-48 hours

Export Destinations

• Google Ads (remarketing, targeting)
• Display & Video 360
• Search Ads 360

Analysing Audiences

Viewing Audience Data

Reports -> Realtime:

• Active users in audience

Reports -> User Acquisition:

• How audience members acquired

Explorations -> Segment Overlap:

• Compare audiences

Explorations -> User Lifetime:

• LTV of audience members

Audience Metrics

Using Audiences in Explorations

As Segments

1. Open Exploration
2. Click "+" in Segments
3. Select audience
4. Apply to analysis

Comparing Audiences

1. Add multiple audiences as segments
2. View side-by-side comparison
3. Analyse differences

Limits and Quotas

Common Issues

Audience Size Too Small

Causes:

• Conditions too restrictive
• Low traffic volume
• Date range too narrow

Solutions:

1. Broaden conditions
2. Increase membership duration
3. Wait for more traffic

Audience Not in Google Ads

Causes:

• Below minimum size
• Link not configured
• Ads personalisation disabled

Solutions:

1. Check audience size
2. Verify Google Ads link
3. Enable Ads Personalisation

Stale Audience Data

Cause: Audiences update with delay

Solution: Wait 24-48 hours for updates

Best Practices

Naming Conventions

Use clear, descriptive names:

• "High-Value Customers - $500+"
• "Cart Abandoners - Last 7 Days"
• "Newsletter Subscribers"

Documentation

Document each audience:

• Purpose
• Conditions used
• Expected size
• Use cases

Regular Review

• Audit audiences quarterly
• Remove unused audiences
• Update conditions as needed

Quick Reference

Audience Limits

• Maximum: 100 audiences (standard)
• Membership: 1-540 days
• Export minimum: 100 users (1,000 EEA/UK)

Export Destinations

• Google Ads
• Display & Video 360
• Search Ads 360

Predictive Options

• Purchase probability
• Churn probability
• Revenue prediction