Connect Google Analytics
Use the events Google Analytics already tracks as KPIs, and measure releases from the past year with the history it kept.
Your Google Analytics already holds months of history: sign-ups, purchases, leads. Connect it to Needlr, and those events become KPIs you can pick, with their past built in.
Connect Google Analytics (GA4) to use the events it already tracks as KPIs. Its history lets you measure changes you released in the past, and get an answer right away.
Think of a diary
Say you started eating breakfast in March, and you want to know if you've had more energy since. If you kept a diary all year, you just look back: the weeks before March, and the weeks after.
Google Analytics is your website's diary. Needlr reads it to compare before and after.
Why connect it
- Use events you already track. Sign-ups, purchases, leads: your GA4 key events show up as KPIs, with a small GA4 tag.
- Measure the past. GA4 kept the numbers, so a release from up to a year ago can be measured today (more).
- Get answers right away. The before and the after are already there, so you don't wait weeks for new data.
- Nothing to install. A check with a GA4 KPI changes nothing on your site. It doesn't need Tag Manager or an authenticator code.
When to use it
- A change that's already live for everyone, measured before vs after.
- A KPI Needlr wasn't counting yet when you released the change.
- Split tests. GA4 doesn't know which visitor saw which version, so only Needlr's own counting works there (split tests).
- Adoption checks. They count people one by one, and GA4 only gives daily totals (adoption).
How to connect it
- 1Open your project and go to the Settings tab.
- 2On the Google Analytics card, press Connect Google Analytics.
- 3Google opens. Sign in with a Google account that can see your GA4 property. Viewer access is enough.
- 4Approve the permission Needlr asks for. It only lets Needlr read.
- 5Back in Needlr, the card says Pick a property. Click the property for this website.
- 6The card now says Connected, with the property name and when the numbers were last refreshed.
Only owners and editors can connect it (roles). You don't need an authenticator code, because Needlr can't change anything in Google Analytics.
Using a GA4 KPI
- 1Press + New impact check and pick Before vs after in step 1 (how).
- 2In step 2, Which needle should it move?, your GA4 key events appear with the GA4 tag. Click one.
- 3Or pick a Reach a page KPI. The line under it says Counted by Google Analytics · history available, results right away. Press Change to count it with Needlr instead.
- 4If the KPI you picked has no history from before the release, step 3 offers GA4 events that do.
Needlr then compares, day by day, the share of your GA4 users who did the event, in the weeks before the release and the weeks after.
What Needlr can and can't do
- It can read. Needlr reads daily totals from your reports, and your Google email, so you know which account is connected.
- It can't change anything. Not your settings, not your events, not your data.
- Your access is locked away. It's stored encrypted, and no screen ever shows it (security).
Refresh, reconnect, disconnect
- Refresh numbers now fetches the latest numbers. Needlr also refreshes every hour, because GA4 keeps adjusting the last two days.
- Reconnect needed means Google access was revoked or has expired. Press Reconnect Google Analytics.
- Disconnect revokes Needlr's access. Checks measured with GA4 KPIs keep their last numbers, but stop updating.
Common mistakes
- Signing in with the wrong Google account. If the card says This Google account has no GA4 properties, sign in with the account that owns your analytics.
- Not approving the permission. Needlr needs read access to Google Analytics. Start again and approve it.
- Picking the property of another website. Choose the one for the same website as this project.
- Looking for GA4 KPIs in a split test. They only appear for Before vs after. For split tests, use a KPI Needlr counts itself (create a KPI).
What the video says
Your Google Analytics already holds months of history: sign-ups, purchases, leads. Connect it to Needlr, and those events become KPIs you can pick, with their past built in.
That makes GA4 ideal for a release already live for everyone. Create a before vs after impact check, and Needlr compares the weeks before the release with the weeks after.
Because GA4 already holds both sides, a release from up to a year ago gets its verdict right away. No waiting weeks for fresh data, and nothing to install on your site.
On your project's Settings tab, press Connect Google Analytics, sign in with the Google account that can read your property, approve read access, and pick the property.
Needlr's access is read-only. It reads daily totals, never changes your analytics, and needs no authenticator code. Numbers refresh every hour. Disconnect any time, and Needlr's access is revoked.
Split tests still use Needlr's own counting, because only Needlr knows which visitor saw which version. For everything you already shipped, GA4 turns your history into a verdict.