Most marketers use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to understand how their campaigns are performing. They look at traffic, conversions, and revenue to see which channels are bringing results.
But there’s another important question: Where should we spend our marketing budget next?
If you’re advertising on Google Ads, Meta, and LinkedIn, deciding how much to invest in each channel can be challenging. You may need to compare reports from different platforms and work through spreadsheets before making a decision.
GA4’s Cross-Channel Budgeting feature aims to make this process easier by helping marketers plan budgets, explore different spending options, and monitor campaign performance.
Let’s look at how it works.
Two tools to help with budget planning
Cross-Channel Budgeting includes two main tools: Scenario plans and Projection plans.
1. Scenario Plans: Where should we spend our budget?
Imagine you have $100,000 to spend on marketing next quarter. You plan to invest in Google Ads, Meta, and LinkedIn, but you’re not sure whether your current allocation will deliver the best results.
Scenario plans help you explore different budget allocations and estimate their potential impact on conversions or revenue.
For example, you could compare your existing plan with one that puts more budget into Google Ads and less into another channel. GA4 uses available historical data to help estimate which allocation could perform better.
These estimates aren’t guarantees, but they can help you make more informed decisions before committing your budget.
2. Projection Plans: Are our campaigns on track?
Once your campaigns are running, you need to know whether they’re meeting their targets.
Projection plans help you compare expected performance with your goals for spend, conversions, or revenue.
For example, if your campaign is unlikely to meet its revenue target, the projections can help you identify where performance may be falling short. You can then consider whether adjusting your remaining budget makes sense.
Rather than waiting until a campaign ends, you have an opportunity to review its expected performance and make changes along the way.
What data do you need?
Cross-Channel Budgeting depends on having enough reliable historical data. If your GA4 property doesn’t meet the eligibility requirements, you may not be able to use the tools yet.
Here are a few things to check:
- Conversion tracking: Make sure important events, such as purchases or qualified leads, are tracked accurately.
- Campaign cost data: If you advertise on Meta or LinkedIn as well as Google Ads, check whether the relevant cost data is available in GA4.
- Campaign tagging: Use consistent UTM parameters so your campaigns can be identified correctly.
- Attribution settings: Scenario plans require data-driven attribution, which helps assign conversion credit across contributing touchpoints.
Google’s eligibility requirements and available integrations can vary.
Why non-Google campaign data matters
Let’s say your business spends $10,000 on Google Ads and $5,000 on Meta advertising. If GA4 has the Google Ads cost data but is missing Meta’s costs, you won’t have a complete picture of your advertising investment.
You may see traffic and conversions from both channels, but comparing their performance becomes difficult without the associated costs.
That’s why it’s important to review your advertising connections and set up supported cost data imports where needed. Better data helps you make fairer comparisons and get more value from your budgeting analysis.
Final thoughts
Cross-Channel Budgeting adds another dimension to GA4. Instead of focusing only on past performance, marketers can explore future budget options and monitor whether their campaigns are likely to meet their goals.
Scenario plans help answer, “Where should we invest?” while Projection plans help answer, “Are we on track?”
The tools won’t make every decision for you, and their estimates depend on the quality of your data. But with accurate conversion tracking and complete campaign cost information, they can provide useful guidance for planning your next marketing investment.
The goal is to move beyond reporting what happened and use that information to make better decisions about what comes next.