With the right GA4 audience setup, you can automate personalized email journeys—like abandoned cart reminders, wishlist promotions, or browse recovery flows—by connecting GA4 signals to platforms like Klaviyo, Mailchimp, or Customer.io.

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🧰 Prerequisites

Tool	Role
OpenCart v3/v4	Storefront and event source
Google Tag Manager	For pushing custom events
Google Analytics 4	Destination for event + audience logic
Email Platform (CRM)	To trigger email journeys (Klaviyo, Mailchimp, etc.)

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🎯 Use Cases for Email Journeys

User Behavior	Email Trigger Example
Viewed a product	“Still thinking about this item?”
Added to cart but no buy	“Complete your purchase and save 10%”
Viewed promo but no click	“Your exclusive offer is waiting”
Visited X times this week	“Welcome back—our latest arrivals!”

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📦 Step 1: Push Key Events into GA4 via GTM

Update your OpenCart templates to push events to dataLayer.
Examples:

A. product.twig – View Item Event

<script>
dataLayer = dataLayer || [];
dataLayer.push({
  event: 'view_item',
  item_id: '{{ product.product_id }}',
  item_name: '{{ product.name }}',
  category: '{{ category_name }}'
});
</script>

B. add_to_cart Listener via JS

<script>
document.querySelector('.btn-add-to-cart').addEventListener('click', function() {
  dataLayer.push({
    event: 'add_to_cart',
    product_id: '{{ product.product_id }}',
    name: '{{ product.name }}',
    price: '{{ product.price }}'
  });
});
</script>

C. Wishlist or Compare Actions

If you have buttons or links:

dataLayer.push({
  event: 'add_to_wishlist',
  product_id: '12345'
});

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🧱 Step 2: Configure GA4 Events in GTM

For each custom event:

1. Go to GTM > Tags > New
2. Tag Type: GA4 Event
3. Event Name: add_to_wishlist (or add_to_cart, etc.)
4. Event Parameters:
   • product_id: {{DLV - product_id}}
   • item_name: {{DLV - item_name}}

Trigger: Custom Event = add_to_wishlist (match your push)

Repeat this for each behavioral event.

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🧠 Step 3: Build Audiences in GA4

Go to GA4 Admin > Audiences > New Audience

A. Abandoned Cart Audience

• Include users who:
  • Triggered add_to_cart
  • AND not triggered purchase
• Membership Duration: 3–7 days

You can include conditions like cart_value > 50 or category = shoes.

B. Product View Audience

• Include users who:
  • Viewed an item (view_item)
  • AND not add_to_cart or purchase

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🔁 Step 4: Export GA4 Audiences to Email Platforms

GA4 audiences can’t natively send to email platforms. Use these options:

Option 1: Connect GA4 to Google Ads

1. Go to GA4 > Admin > Product Links > Google Ads
2. Link your GA account

Export audiences to Google Ads, sync to tools like Klaviyo via Zapier or BigQuery pipelines.

Option 2: Use BigQuery + Email Platform Integration

• Export GA4 events and audiences to BigQuery
• Run queries to detect audience IDs
• Send user emails or UIDs to Mailchimp/Klaviyo via API

Example SQL:

SELECT user_pseudo_id, event_name
FROM `project.dataset.events_*`
WHERE event_name = "add_to_cart"
AND NOT EXISTS (
  SELECT 1
  FROM `project.dataset.events_*`
  WHERE event_name = "purchase"
  AND user_pseudo_id = e.user_pseudo_id
)

Automate sending this to Klaviyo’s list/segment API

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📨 Step 5: Trigger Email Campaigns in CRM

In your CRM:

• Import segment of GA4 users
• Create behavior-based journeys:

Trigger Audience	Email Flow
Added to Cart (no buy)	Abandonment series (1–3 emails)
Viewed Promo (no click)	Reminder with limited-time offer
Viewed Product (no action)	Personalized recommendation mail

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🔒 Step 6: Respect Consent

If you’re using Cookiebot or similar:

1. Only push events to GA4 after marketing/statistics consent
2. Use GTM’s consent checks on all GA4 tags

Example condition:

Cookiebot.consents.marketing equals true

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🧪 Step 7: QA Events and Audience Membership

Tool	Use
GA4 DebugView	Confirm events are recorded
GTM Preview Mode	Validate event triggers and variables
GA4 Audience Overview	See real-time audience size + preview
CRM Logs	Ensure email platform receives data

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