Introduction to Goal Setup and Conversions in Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager
Through your marketing channels, you may have certain goals you’d like to achieve or track. For example, you might want to keep track of how many inquiries you receive by phone, email, or through a contact form.
This is particularly beneficial when you use ads on various search engines—but it’s actually relevant when we’re talking about organic traffic to your website as well. Without this, for example, you won’t be able to evaluate your company’s online marketing campaigns.
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1. What is a goal in Google Analytics?
A goal is a key element in any form of online data analysis. It helps clarify when specific actions are performed. You can think of it as an objective you want to achieve and work toward.
A goal in Google Analytics can include, for example:
- A purchase made by a user on an online store
- Submitting the Contact Form
- Table Reservations on Your Restaurant's Website
- Click on a phone number, email address, or another measurable element on your website
- … and much, much more!
A goal can be applied to anything, from page views and clicks to events and table reservations from an external site, such as dinnerbooking.dk. You can assign a monetary value to any goal. This allows you to sort your goals by value and focus on the most valuable conversions.
However, a goal differs from what is called anevent(interaction).When a user performs an event on your website, it isn't necessarily a goal—but it can become one!
Events occur all the time on your site. For example, this could happen when a user navigates from the home page to a subpage.
You probably aren't interested in tracking that specific event, but if a user clicks on a phone number, there may be potential to turn it into a measurable conversion.
2. What types of goals are there?
In the Google Analytics admin panel, you can choose from four different types of goals:
- Destination →Tracks a specific location, such as the "Thank You" page after a form has been submitted.
- Duration →A session that lasts for a specific period of time
- Pages per session →A user who is shown a specific number of pages
- Event →An action that is triggered and defined as an event.
I often recommend using “event” as the metric type, since it provides the best and most accurate picture of your tracking.
"Why?" you're probably asking.
At Amplify, we often find that new clients—whether they’re in the PPC or SEO, have had errors in their existing goal setup created by their previous “data-driven” agency.
It’s common to see people taking the easy way out when it comes to conversion tracking—namely, tracking via a destination URL or a click.
The idea is fine in principle, but if the URL (or even the click) can be triggered multiple times, errors can easily arise regarding the number of conversions in Google Analytics and the actual number the website has received.
For example, if it’s possible to update a “thank-you-for-your-inquiry” page multiple times, this will automatically trigger a conversion in GA. The same thing can also happen if you set up form tracking via a clickable element without ensuring that the form is submitted first.
In general, just remember to check and validate your goal setup so that no errors occur in the future. In short, it can have serious consequences if your conversions aren't accurate.
Here is an example from one of our clients,Copenhagen Airtaxi, which had goals set by an external agency—unfortunately, there were some errors ↓
Let's go over what we see in the picture:
First and foremost, it has been possible to track the number of general inquiries. However, it is clear that the original intent was different, as other goals were set at the same time to track other types of form submissions.
If we dig a little deeper into the configuration, the following information becomes apparent:
Based on the setup, it appears that form tracking is based on the destination page rather than the actual number of submissions. This can be critical, since when using a destination page, you cannot be certain that a form has been submitted. For example, this could happen if a user forgets to fill out one of the fields—or if they refresh the page twice, which effectively tells Analytics that two inquiries have been received, even though only one was actually submitted.
In the example above, if a user lands on the destination page without filling out a form, it will still be counted as a conversion, even though it is actually an error. The same thing can happen if you track your conversions based on a button click, even if the form isn't submitted.
This is because tracking is based on clicks or destination, which unfortunately means that the data will be inaccurate compared to the actual number of inquiries.
Therefore, if you want to set up proper tracking of form submissions on your website, it’s important first and foremost to determine whichform provider you’reusing. Is itFormstack, NinjaForms, or something else? Next, you can begin the setup process based on that provider.
To wrap up the example, we were able to set up the various metrics correctly so that they matched the actual numbers. Surprisingly, this provided a more accurate picture of the number of conversions—even though the actual number is lower.
If we also take a look at the goal setup for a taxi flight offer, we can see that it has changed as well. Instead of converting via a specific URL destination, it now happens via an event. The setup looks like this:
This process relies on the fact that the contact form on the website was created in HubSpot. Therefore, it must be tracked via the specific HubSpot form intended for taxi flight inquiries. Since there are several different HubSpot forms on the website, we need to find the specific ID for the correct form and enter it under “Label” in the goal setup. This tells Google Analytics that a goal is achieved when a specific form is submitted—in this case, inquiries about charter flights.
To track inquiries submitted via the HubSpot form, we’ve used Google Tag Manager. This tool allows us to insert our own HTML code, tags, and other elements relevant to a website’s tracking needs. In this case, we were able to insert a custom HTML code designed specifically to track HubSpot form inquiries.
3. Integration with Google Tag Manager – Why?
Using Google Tag Manager is a must if you want to know what your users are doing. It’s a tool that has become increasingly relevant in online marketing in recent years. Not only because it’s free, but also because its integration with Google Analytics (and many other Google services!) makes it easier for you to set up proper tracking.
You can also insert your ownJavaScriptorHTML code—without messing anything up on your website.BUT… more on that later!
So why should you use Google Tag Manager?
You should use it for the simple reason that it makes it much easier to add, customize, and set up goals with just a few clicks—instead of having to copy a piece of code into your page yourself.
Using Google Tag Manager isn't just safer. It's also generally easier when it comes to setting up goals. Everything is automated. That means you don’t have to enter every single goal into Google Analytics yourself.
Let’s look at a brief, but quick and superficial, example.
On your website, you have two phone numbers that users can call—one for personal use and one for business. As a dedicated business owner, you’d like to track how many people click on your phone numbers.
If you're only using Google Analytics, you'll need to set this up manually for each individual goal. If, on the other hand, you'realsousing Google Tag Manager, you actually only need to set it up once, after which Tag Manager will be able to create different goals based on specific clicks.
That’s why it’s quite simple to set up goals when it comes to tracking clicks on email addresses and phone numbers. You can read more about that below↓
4). Tracking clicks on phone numbers and email addresses
One of the easiest goals to set up in Google Analytics is what’s known asa click goal—for example, a click on an email address or phone number on your website. To avoid having to set up a goal for each individual phone number or email address, you can automate the process using Google Tag Manager.
First, you need to create atagand then atrigger.In short, a tag specifies what it should “listen” for on your website—in this case, when a phone number or email address is clicked. A trigger helps determine when the tag shouldbe fired—it should happen when aspecificlink containing a phone number or email address is clicked.
Tag Type:Google Analytics: Universal Analytics
Category:Outbound Calls
Action:Click
Etiket: {{Page Path}} (Ikke et krav, men giver mulighed for at se hvor brugeren klikker på linket henne – f.eks. telefonnummeret på forsiden)
Once you've set up the tag, you'll need to configure the trigger. This is also very straightforward and is set up as follows:
Trigger Type: Click– All Elements
When:A few clicks
Click Activation:When the Click URL contains “tel:” (for email tracking, “mailto:” is used)
After you’ve set up tracking in Google Tag Manager, you’ll need to configure goals in Analytics. Earlier in this blog post, I described the difference between aneventand agoal. To summarize, you can assign a monetary value to a goal. This is useful, for example, if you believe that a phone call or a restaurant reservation is worth x number of kroner. However, you don’t have to assign a value to a goal.
To set up a goal in Google Analytics, navigate to “Admin” -> “View” -> “Goals.” Then click “New Goal” and select “Custom” as the type during goal setup. Under “Goal Description,” enter a name for the goal and select its type. Since we’re working with events—that is, tracking various events on a website—we’ll select this option.
Using the previous example, the goal is set up as follows:
It’s actually quite easy to set up a goal when it comes to tracking via email or phone. Once you’ve set it up correctly, you’ll be able to see how many conversions are coming in through Google Analytics. Here’s an example:
That's clever, isn't it?
If you want more details about a goal, click on it. You’ll then be able to see where and when on your website the user clicked on the phone number. Additionally, as mentioned, you can also assign a monetary value to the goal, which allows you to calculate how valuable a conversion is to you.
It might not make much sense when we're talking about phone calls and emails, but for more relevant goals—such as making a table reservation—it can certainly be relevant.
When we talk about other goals, we shouldn’t forget about form submissions, which are common on many websites. Tracking these correctly can sometimes be difficult. However, I’ll try to give you an introduction to this topic and point out the pitfalls you should watch out for.
5. Tracking Form Submissions
It’s also possible to see how many users fill out one or more contact forms on your website. However, this process is more difficult to track, as it depends on which form provider you use. But it can be resolved relatively quickly using Google Tag Manager.
Google Tag Manager actually has its own trigger that can help track form submissions—but I wouldn't recommend using it.
Why do you think that?
The trigger, which is also called“form submission,” is designed to track the various types of forms that can be installed on a website.
Off the top of my head, I’d say it only works one out of ten times, since it fundamentally depends on which form you have on your website. For example, it doesn’t work with popular forms like Formstack or NinjaForms, since the trigger simply doesn’t recognize them.
Unfortunately, this is also a trend we’ve seen with our new clients—that a previous agency set up the contact form tracking incorrectly from the start and, as a result, didn’t test whether it worked or not.
6. What else should you be aware of?
In this blog post, you've seen how you can quickly and easily set up accurate goals and track conversions through the integration of Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics.
However, that doesn't mean it's flawless, since the number may well differ from the number of inquiries you've received.
One of the main reasons for this is the increased use ofad blockers—which not only block ads but also prevent tracking. This means that the number you see in Google Analytics may well be lower than the actual number. Users who use an ad blocker can still submit a form or click on a phone number, but this won’t be recorded as a conversion in Google Analytics due to the blocking.
There isn't much you can do about this, since many users are very protective of their privacy when browsing the internet. That's why you should always view the numbers in Google Analytics as subject to variation and not 100% accurate.
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