Published on 2025-06-22T01:25:08Z

What is Acquisition in Analytics? Examples with Plainsignal and GA4

Acquisition in analytics refers to the process of capturing and understanding how users arrive at your website or app. It encompasses identifying the origin of traffic—such as organic search, paid ads, referrals, social media, and direct visits—and analyzing which sources drive the most valuable users. By evaluating acquisition data, businesses can optimize marketing budgets, refine targeting strategies, and ultimately improve return on investment (ROI). Tools like Google Analytics 4 (GA4) provide in-depth acquisition reports with dimensions like source, medium, and campaign, while privacy-focused platforms like Plainsignal offer cookie-free tracking with a simple snippet. Understanding acquisition sets the stage for deeper engagement and conversion analysis. Monitoring acquisition over time helps identify trends, seasonality, and the impact of promotional activities.

Illustration of Acquisition
Illustration of Acquisition

Acquisition

Tracking and analyzing how users arrive via channels and campaigns using analytics tools like GA4 and Plainsignal.

Understanding Acquisition in Analytics

Acquisition captures where your users come from and why it matters for marketing ROI and growth.

  • Why acquisition matters

    Acquisition metrics show which marketing channels attract users, guiding budget allocation and strategy.

  • Acquisition vs. engagement and conversion

    While engagement measures on-site interactions and conversion tracks goal completions, acquisition focuses solely on user entry points.

Key Acquisition Channels

Traffic sources can be grouped into channels for simplified analysis, each affecting user quality differently.

  • Organic search

    Users arriving via unpaid search results on engines like Google and Bing.

  • Paid search

    Traffic from paid advertising campaigns such as Google Ads.

  • Referral

    Visitors referred from other websites by clicking external links.

Measuring Acquisition: Metrics and KPIs

Evaluate acquisition performance with core metrics that reflect volume and quality of incoming traffic.

  • Users and new users

    Total unique users and those who visited for the first time.

  • Sessions

    Number of sessions started by users, indicating visit volume.

  • Channel attribution

    Assigning credit to channels based on interactions with attribution models like last-click.

Acquisition Reporting in GA4

Google Analytics 4 offers dedicated reports to dissect how users first interact with your site.

  • User acquisition report

    Focuses on first user interactions, showing which sources brought new users.

  • Traffic acquisition report

    Displays session-level acquisition data, detailing all traffic sources.

  • Source/medium dimension

    Combines traffic source and medium (e.g., google/organic, (direct)/(none)).

Acquisition Tracking with Plainsignal

PlainSignal is a privacy-first, cookie-free analytics tool that captures acquisition data via a lightweight script.

  • Implementation code

    Insert the following snippet in your HTML to start tracking acquisitions:

    <link rel="preconnect" href="//eu.plainsignal.com/" crossorigin />
<script defer data-do="yourwebsitedomain.com" data-id="0GQV1xmtzQQ" data-api="//eu.plainsignal.com" src="//cdn.plainsignal.com/PlainSignal-min.js"></script>
    • Data privacy:

      No cookies or personal identifiers are used, ensuring user privacy.

    • Lightweight:

      Under 5KB in size, minimizing impact on page load times.

  • Acquisition data in plainsignal

    View acquisition channels under ‘Referrers’ and campaign breakdowns in the PlainSignal dashboard.

  • Campaign tagging

    Automatic UTM parameter detection simplifies tracking source, medium, and campaign performance.

Best Practices for Acquisition Analysis

Adopt consistent processes and regular reviews to ensure reliable acquisition insights.

  • Use consistent utm parameters

    Standardize naming conventions across campaigns for accurate attribution.

  • Compare channel quality

    Analyze metrics like bounce and conversion rates, not just traffic volume.

  • Regularly audit tracking setup

    Verify that analytics snippets and tags fire correctly on all pages.

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