GA4 | Can I add dimension and metric filters in the ChannelMix Control Center?

Answer:

Yes, ChannelMix does support the use of GA4 dimension and metric filters.  You can apply these directly to your ChannelMix Profiles within the Connect page

How?

1. Navigate to the Connect page in the ChannelMix Control Center. 
2. Look for the Google Analytics icon, click on the name of the connection, and then click on the name of the ChannelMix Profile that needs the filter(s). 
3. Click on the field where you see "Optional, please enter...", provide the filter in JSON format (see below), and click Save.
4. If you are adding either of these filters to an existing dataset, you will need to run a dataset refresh to update the data.

NOTE: Adding these filters will apply them to all ChannelMix datasets to which the ChannelMix Profile is connected.  Please submit a ticket to Platform Support to explore alternatives if the filter should not be applied to all datasets.

Hold up...you just said "provide the filter in JSON format"...what does that mean?

JSON is a commonly used text-based open standard format derived from the format used to represent simple data structures in JavaScript and is written in key/value pairs.

Luckily, GA4 didn't expect everyone to know this format, so they provided a dimension and metric builder in the GA4 Query Explorer that will help you build these filters exactly as needed in ChannelMix.

1. Navigate to the GA4 Query Explorer.
2. Set the property and parameters for your query.
3. Scroll about halfway down the page where you see "dimension filter" and "metric filter"
4. Build your filter(s) using the prompts provided.
5. Scroll down until you see the "MAKE REQUEST" button.  Make sure the "Show Request JSON" checkbox is checked and then click "MAKE REQUEST".                                                                           
6. Click on the "copy" icon at the top right of the box below the button that you just clicked (do not try to copy/paste from the actual text box!).                     
7. Paste the result into a plain text editor, like Notepad.
8. The query that you retrieved will actually contain more information than you need and you'll need to grab specific parts of it to apply in ChannelMix.  Follow these instructions to get exactly what you need:

If you are adding a dimension filter, go to the end of the text and look for "dimensionFilter".  Copy everything past '"dimensionFilter":'.  In addition, do not copy the very last curly bracket IF this is the last part of the query (that bracket closes out the very beginning of the query, so we don't need it).

If you are adding a metric filter, go to the end of the text and look for "metricFilter".  Copy everything past '"metricFilter":'.  In addition, do not copy the very last curly bracket IF this is the last part of the query (that bracket closes out the very beginning of the query, so we don't need it).