How to Track Form Submissions with Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

Are you looking to gain a deeper understanding of how your website forms are performing? Tracking form submissions with Google Analytics 4 (GA4) allows you to capture vital data on user interactions, measure form conversion rates, and identify areas for improvement.

In this tutorial, I’ll guide you through the process of tracking form submissions in GA4, empowering you to harness valuable insights and maximise the effectiveness of your online forms.

 

Header Outline:
I. Introduction
II. Setting Up Event Tracking in GA4
A. Adding Custom Definitions to GA4
B. Defining the Form Submission Event
C. Mark The Event As A Conversion In GA4
III. Setting Up Event Tracking in GTM
A. Configuring The Trigger in GTM
B. Creating a Tag for Form Tracking
IV. Verifying Form Tracking
A. Testing the Tracking Implementation
B. Checking Data in GA4
V. Analysing Form Submissions in GA4 Reports
A. Reviewing Event Data
B. Analysing Conversion Rates
VI. Conclusion

I. Introduction

Tracking form submissions is crucial for understanding user behaviour and measuring the effectiveness of your website’s conversion goals. With Google Analytics 4 (GA4), you can easily track form submissions and gain insights into user interactions. In this guide, I will walk you through the process of setting up form tracking in GA4, allowing you to measure conversion rates, optimise user experiences, and make data-driven decisions.

II. Setting Up Event Tracking in GA4

A. Adding Custom Definitions to GA4

    1. Sign in to your Google Analytics account and navigate to your GA4 property.
    2. Go to the “Admin” section and select your property.
    3. In the “Property” column, click on “Custom definitions” and then “Create custom definitions”
    4. The Dimension name doesn’t have to be in lower case or identical to the Event parameter and can be more descriptive.
    5. The Scope in this case is an “Event”
    6. Description field is optional but will help you remember what it is for
    7. Then pop in the parameter you will use to describe the form the user is submitting. In the example I have used “form”, but this can be whatever you want. This must be lowercase and include underscores as spaces.
    8. Click on “Save” and then the “x” to close the window.

B. Defining the Form Submission Event

This only needs to be done if you are adding events that are NOT already an automatically collected event in GA4.

  1. In the “Property” column of the “Admin” section of GA4, click on “Events”.
  2. Click on “Create Event” and then “Create”.
  3. The Custom event name for a form submission is “generate_lead” but this could be anything you want. Keep it as lower case and use underscores to space words.
  4. Under that the first parameter is “event_name” – “equals” – “page_view”
  5. The other parameter is “page_location” – “contains” – “your page path”. Make sure you replace the “your page path” with whatever your thank you page actually contains, and is not used anywhere else your website. The logic must be sound for this to work.
  6. Under that ensure that the “Copy parameters from the source event” is checked.
  7. Then click on “Create” to save the event.

C. Mark The Event As A Conversion In GA4

  • Locate the event you just created in the . In my case it is “generate_lead”.
  • Turn the toggle switch on to the right, so it turns blue. This will now record each instance of the event as a conversion in GA4.

III. Setting Up Event Tracking in GTM

A. Configuring The Trigger in GTM

  1. In GTM select “Triggers” from the main menu on the left and then select “New”.
  2. Select the trigger type as a “Page View”.
  3. Then for the sections that says, “This trigger fires on” select “Some Page Views”.
  4. Under that you need to put in your parameters for when the trigger is supposed to fire (as shown below).
  5. You should have both a “Referrer” and “Page Path” included with valid logical arguments. The Referrer is the page where the user started, and the Page Path is where they landed after submitting the form.
  6. Name the trigger.
  7. Save the trigger.

B. Creating a Tag for Form Tracking

  1. In the Google Tag Manager container, go to the “Tags” section and create a new tag.
  2. Select the tag type as “Google Analytics: GA4 Event” or “Google Analytics: Universal Analytics Event.”
  3. Configure the tag with the following settings:
  4. Event Name: Enter the event parameter defined for form submissions in GA4 earlier. It must be exactly the same and all lowercase with underscores instead of spaces.
  5. Triggering: Choose the trigger you created in the previous step.
  6. Name the tag.
  7. Save the tag.

IV. Verifying Form Tracking

A. Testing the Tracking Implementation

  1. Submit the form on your website and ensure that the page redirects or displays a confirmation message.
  2. Verify that the event is triggered by using the Google Tag Manager Preview mode or checking the network requests in the browser’s developer tools.

B. Checking Data in GA4

  1. Allow sufficient time for data to populate in your GA4 reports.
  2. Navigate to the “Events” report in GA4 and review the data for the form submission event.
  3. Ensure that the event parameters and labels are correctly captured.

V. Analysing Form Submissions in GA4 Reports

A. Reviewing Event Data

  1. Explore the “Events” report in GA4 to analyse the number of form submissions and their frequency.
  2. Use filters and dimensions to segment the data based on specific form attributes or user behaviour.

B. Analysing Conversion Rates

  1. Combine form submission data with other conversion-related metrics, such as page views, session duration, or e-commerce data, to calculate conversion rates.
  2. Utilise custom reports or data exploration techniques to gain deeper insights into form submission performance and user behaviour.

VI. Conclusion

By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can effectively track form submissions using Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Analysing form data empowers you to optimise user experiences, measure conversion rates, and make informed decisions to improve your website’s performance.

Implement form tracking in GA4 and unlock valuable insights to drive your business’s success.

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