Google Analytics Custom Email Alerts: 2 Easy Ways

Regularly monitoring your WordPress website’s performance via Google Analytics is crucial. Given the complexity of the analytics dashboard, it’s easy to overlook critical issues such as sudden traffic decreases or conversion path failures.

For website owners seeking efficiency and up-to-date information, implementing custom email alerts in Google Analytics is highly recommended.

These alerts provide automated notifications regarding changes in traffic or conversions, eliminating the need for constant dashboard monitoring and ensuring you don’t miss vital information.

This tutorial presents two straightforward methods for setting up custom email alerts in Google Analytics, allowing you to efficiently manage your site’s performance. 🚀

What Are Custom Email Alerts in Google Analytics? And Why Do You Need Them?

Custom email alerts, known officially as Custom Insights within Google Analytics 4, are automated notifications that inform you of notable shifts in your website’s data, preventing the need for continuous analytics dashboard checks.

GA4 defines these significant changes as anomalies.

Custom Insights enable you to set up alerts for critical anomalies, including:

• Decreases in total or organic traffic levels
• Surges in direct traffic volumes
• Rapid reductions in sales figures or ad income
• Significant rises in traffic numbers or conversion rates

Consider waking up to a sudden drop in your website’s traffic, or perhaps a viral social media post driving thousands of new visitors to your site overnight.

Wouldn’t you want to know right away? That’s exactly why custom email alerts in Google Analytics can be so useful.

These alerts help you act fast, whether to fix an issue or make the most out of a new opportunity. 🙌

How to Get a Custom Email Alert in Google Analytics

Now that you know the benefits of custom email alerts in Google Analytics, let’s go over two ways to set them up.

Here’s a quick breakdown to help you choose:

• Method 1 (MonsterInsights): This is the easiest and most beginner-friendly option. If you’re a WordPress user and prefer a simple setup with reports inside your WordPress dashboard, this is for you. It requires a premium MonsterInsights plan.
• Method 2 (Manual GA4): This method is free and works for any website platform. It’s more hands-on and offers greater flexibility, like hourly alerts, but requires working directly inside the Google Analytics interface.

Feel free to use these jump links to go to your preferred method:

Commence the process now!

Method 1. Get Custom Email Alerts Using a Google Analytics Plugin

Google Analytics’ interface can be overwhelming. For a simplified approach to crafting custom email alerts, this method is recommended, though it’s exclusive toWordPress users.

We will utilize MonsterInsights, considered a leading Google Analytics plugin. It integrates Google Analytics 4 (GA4) into your WordPress admin area, simplifying report comprehension.

It also features theException addonwhich automatically identifies abnormal increases or decreases in your data. This addon ensures you remain informed with minimal effort.

CanadaCreate relies on MonsterInsights for comprehensive website tracking, including form, button, and referral link conversions. Review our MonsterInsights analysis to understand our preference.

Step 1: Plugin Installation and Activation for MonsterInsights

Begin by establishing a MonsterInsights account. On their site, select the ‘Get MonsterInsights Now’ button and choose your desired plan.

Then, complete the checkout process as directed.

With that done, you can install and activate the MonsterInsights plugin in your WordPress dashboard. For details, you can see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Step 2. Connect MonsterInsights to Your Google Analytics Account

With MonsterInsights installed, the subsequent action is connecting it to both your website and Google Analytics.

Navigate to the ‘Insights’ menu in your WordPress admin area and select ‘Launch the Wizard’ to initiate the setup.

Select the category that is the best fit for your website such as blog, business site, or online store.

After you have selected a category, select ‘Save and Continue.’

Proceed by adhering to the instructions to log into your Google Analytics account and designate the website for tracking.

Once the ‘Complete Connection’ button appears, click it to finalize the setup.

Refer to our comprehensive guide on installing Google Analytics in WordPress for detailed instructions.

Step 3. Set Up the MonsterInsights Exceptions Addon

This step involves implementing the Exceptions addon to monitor 16 forms of atypical behavior, including traffic declines, conversion increases, bounce rate variations, and similar events.

The Exceptions report gives you detailed records of unusual events, allowing for early issue detection and proactive problem-solving.

To install the Exceptions addon, go to Insights » Add-ons.

In the ‘Exceptions’ section, select ‘Download & Activate.’ Activate it by clicking the switch.

The addon will begin tracking anomalies once activated.

Access the report under the ‘Exceptions’ tab within your ‘Reports’ page.

If you don’t have a MonsterInsights Agency subscription, that’s perfectly fine.

You can still monitor your site’s key metrics right from your WordPress dashboard.

Simply go to the Insights » Reports page to see website traffic, campaign performance, and site speed insights.

Step 4. Get MonsterInsights Exception Alerts

Now, let’s configure email notifications for unexpected website changes.

Navigate to Insights » Settings » Advanced.

Find the ‘Exception Alerts’ area here.

Turn the switch to ‘Enabled’ to activate alerts.

Then, specify the email addresses for notifications.

You can input up to five email addresses by clicking ‘Add Email.’

You’ve now configured Exception Alerts using MonsterInsights.

Bear in mind that MonsterInsights conducts daily exception checks, meaning you’ll generally be notified the day following a notable alteration. This is useful for observing patterns.

If quicker, almost real-time notifications are needed, Method 2 gives you an hourly check option.

Bonus Step: Set Up Weekly Email Summaries

MonsterInsights also allows weekly email summaries to monitor your WordPress website’s effectiveness.

Begin by activating the ‘Email Summaries’ function located underSettings » Advanced.

Subsequently, input the email addresses for alert delivery and personalize the email header for your notifications.

For comprehensive guidance, consult this resource detailing how to acquire automated Google Analytics email reports on the MonsterInsights website.

Method 2. Get Custom Email Alerts in Google Analytics

This method will guide you in configuring email notificationsdirectly in the Google Analytics dashboard.

This method is suitable for any website, which makes it a viable option if you don’t use WordPress or prefer to manage your data within GA4. Be aware that it involves a more hands-on setup and may require additional time.

Before we begin, let’s explore the two categories of GA4 insights you can utilize to monitor significant changes:

• Automated Insights– Google’s machine learning algorithms automatically detect patterns and unexpected fluctuations for you.
• Custom Insights– You specify the criteria to monitor precisely what is most relevant to your organization.

Now, let’s go through the setup procedure for each.

Step 1. Create Google Analytics Insights

Begin by logging into your Google Analytics account.

Just click the ‘Sign in to Analytics’ button and provide your login details.

From there, navigate to the ‘Reports’ tab.

Scroll to the ‘Insights’ area and select the ‘Create’ button.

The following screen displays Google’s recommended alerts. These encompass unusual behavior pertaining to daily occurrences, users, page views, and income.

Here, select the alerts you desire. As an illustration, we selected all options, as shown here:

Once you’ve made your selections, click ‘Create selected’ to enable the suggested insights.

Step 2. Set Up Custom Google Analytics Insights

If you navigate down the page, you’ll see Google Analytics enables the creation of custom alerts from the ground up, or allows use of suggested insights.

For maximum control, select ‘Create new’ under the ‘Start from scratch’ area. This provides the ability to define your own criteria based on the metrics of greatest interest to you.

The next step involves configuring your specific conditions.

• The ‘Evaluation frequency’ determines how often Google Analytics checks data against your criteria (hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly).
• The ‘Segment’ option allows monitoring of specific visitor groups. For instance, choose ‘Organic Traffic’ to receive alerts related to search engine traffic fluctuations or ‘Mobile Traffic’ to track mobile user changes.
• Within ‘Metric,’ specify the elements for monitoring. Examples include conversions, page views, and revenue.
• Use the ‘Condition’ dropdown to define your alert trigger, which could be an anomaly or a specific percentage change in your chosen metric.

For example, set up an alert for a daily view decrease exceeding 20% compared to the same day of the prior week. This aids in the rapid identification of SEO or website issues.

After you’ve configured your rules, give your alert a descriptive name.

This name appears in email notifications, so choose something clear and easily recognizable.

Proceed to input the desired email addresses for alert notifications.

After verifying the settings, click ‘Create’ in the upper right to finalize your custom alert.

That concludes the process of setting up custom email alerts within Google Analytics.

Step 3. Manage Google Analytics Insights Alert

This section explains how to manage your Google Analytics custom insights alerts, including enabling, disabling, modifying, and removing them.

To proceed, go toInsights » View all insights from your ‘Reports snapshot’ screen.

Once there, select the ‘Manage’ button.

This action displays a slide-in panel listing all your custom alerts.

From this panel, you can easily enable or disable email notifications.

The three dots icon provides options to edit or remove an alert.

To create additional alerts, use the ‘Create’ button and follow the outlined steps again.

FAQs: Custom Email Alerts in Google Analytics 4

How many custom alerts can I create in Google Analytics?

Google Analytics (GA4) lets you create up to 50Each property can have many personalized insights or alerts, so you can easily monitor the most vital metrics.

Is it possible to send Google Analytics alerts to more than one recipient?

Indeed. You can input multiple email addresses for notifications using either the MonsterInsights plugin or a manual GA4 setup. This ensures that your entire team remains aware of crucial developments.

Why aren’t my email alerts arriving?

Begin by examining your spam or junk folder and verifying that the email addresses are accurate and error-free. If you’re using WordPress, email delivery problems might be the cause. A plugin such as WP Mail SMTP can improve the reliability of your website’s email delivery to inboxes.

Are Google Analytics custom alerts real-time?

That is dependent on the parameters you choose. GA4 lets you select an Hourly evaluation frequency for alerts that are close to real-time. Daily is the more popular option, though.

Further Reading: More Analytics and Tracking Guides

That’s it! We hope this article has helped you learn how to set up custom email alerts in Google Analytics.

Would you like to explore analytics and tracking in more detail? Here are some useful tutorials to help you improve your insights and make well-informed, data-driven choices:

• How to Set Up Google Analytics Goals
• WordPress Post Analytics – How to Easily See Your Blog Stats
• How to See Search Analytics in WordPress
• How to Add Scroll Depth Tracking in WordPress with Google Analytics
• How to Set Up Email Newsletter Tracking in Google Analytics
• How to Block Referrer Spam in Google Analytics

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