If your business has been utilizing Google Analytics on a daily basis, you’ve probably run into “event tracking” by now. Event tracking allows you to determine what users interact with on your website, what they do not interact with, and what’s driving them away.
For example, you’ve featured a video on your website. While many users interact with it and hit the ‘play’ button, they leave your website directly after. What might that be telling you? That video may be a poor representation of your business or it is weeding out unqualified visitors.
Without event tracking, you would have no indication as to what is driving away users. It could have been anything on that page!
In the past, to track events you would have to consistently make changes to Javascript code and set up tracking for every button. A huge hassle, not to mention challenging for those unfamiliar with code. This is where Google Tag Manager comes into play.
No longer must you request coders to “check this” or “check that”. No more waiting!
Kickoff With a Measurement Plan
Like with all things Google Analytics, you should begin by determining your business objectives. If you manage an eCommerce website, a likely objective would be to increase product purchases. Here’s how that would look in a measurement plan:
- Method: Sell products.
- KPIs (key performance indicators): Metrics like revenue, average revenue, purchase conversion rate, and others.
To calculate purchase conversion rate: Number of users who purchased/Total website users
- Segments: Dimensions like customer demographics and traffic sources.
Now that you’ve decided what your end goal is and the data that will help you get there, which existing tags (if any) can you move to Google Tag Manager? You’ll be doing yourself a favor in the long run to consolidate.
Insert the Code
Google Tag Manager will provide a snippet of Javascript “container” code for you to add to each page of your website. Instead of making manual changes to code like in the past, you now have the ability to publish and manage tags within the user-friendly Google Tag Manager program.
The data you set it up to collect will automatically be sent to other reporting systems like Google Analytics. Generally, one Tag Manager account is sufficient for a business.
Tag Manager Structure
At first glance Google Tag Manager may seem complicated, but that’s only because it’s completely customizable.
Container: Each Tag Manager account includes at least one container- the Javascript code included on each page of your website.
Tags: Tags are within the container code and indicate when a user has taken an action. For example, they push the ‘purchase’ button.
Triggers: Triggers, also within the container code, do not go off until specific conditions are met. For example, the ‘thank you’ page is visited. The following make up triggers.
- Variables: Made up of placeholders that you select. Within variables are built-in variables ({{page path}}, {{click ID}}) and user-defined variables (your choice).
- Values: The exact value of the variable. For example, the variable is set as {{url}} and the value is set as complete.html.
- Operators: Defines condition between variables and values that must be present in order for the trigger to go off. For example; contains, doesn’t contain, equals.
Handy Recipe Packs
Sometimes a little help goes a long way. If all those customizations feel overwhelming, take advantage of the free Google Tag Manager recipes offered here at LunaMetrics.
We do suggest starting with the LunaMatrics GA Starter Pack over some of the more advanced options.
Now that you know what Google Tag Manager is, you can begin using it as a powerful resource for your business. Don’t delay an important campaign again because of coding, introduce your website to the efficiency of Google Tag Manager!
