A Step-by-Step Guide to Tracking Form Submissions in Google Analytics 4

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Google Analytics 4 is a powerful tool for tracking user behavior on your website, but it can be a bit tricky to set up, especially when it comes to tracking form submissions. Fortunately, with the right steps, you can easily track form submissions in Google Analytics 4.

In the "Setting up Form Tracking" section, we learned that to track form submissions, you'll need to create a new event in Google Analytics 4. This involves clicking on the "Events" tab and then selecting "Create event".

To create a new event, you'll need to provide a name for your event, which in this case is "Form Submission". You'll also need to specify the event parameter, which is the data that will be sent to Google Analytics 4 with each form submission. The "Form Submission" event parameter is set to "form_submission" by default, but you can change it to any other value that suits your needs.

Setting Up GA

Credit: youtube.com, How To Track Form Submissions in Google Analytics 4 | Event Tracking Tutorial (2023)

To set up GA4 form tracking, you'll need to head to your GA4 Property and click Admin. From there, navigate to the property column and click "Data Streams". You'll want to select the data stream you want to set up form tracking for.

Click on the cog to open 'Enhanced Measurement', then make sure the 'Form Interactions' toggle is set to 'on'. GA4 should then start to pick up basic interactions with forms on your website. This is a simple yet crucial step in tracking form submissions.

If you're using HubSpot, you'll need to use Google Tag Manager (GTM) to track form submissions in GA4. This involves creating a new tag in GTM and pasting the provided code into the HTML section. You'll also need to set a trigger for the code to activate on all pages with HubSpot forms.

Here's a quick rundown of the steps to track HubSpot form submissions in GA4:

  • Create a new tag in GTM
  • Paste the provided code into the HTML section
  • Set a trigger for the code to activate on all pages with HubSpot forms
  • Create a new trigger in the Triggers section
  • Create a Data Layer Variable to return the form ID
  • Create a GA4 Event Tag to send the form submission data to GA4

Alternatively, you can use TypeForm to track form submissions in GA4. This involves setting up Google Analytics 4 (GA4) in your TypeForm account and integrating it with GA4. Once the integration is complete, every submission of your Typeform will trigger the TypeformSubmit and TypeformQuestionPassed events, which will be sent to GA4.

Tracking Form Submissions

Credit: youtube.com, How to Track Form Submissions in Google Analytics 4 (fast Set up)

Tracking form submissions is a crucial step in understanding your website's performance and user behavior. To set up form tracking in Google Analytics 4, you need to create a property and add a web data stream in your existing GA4 admin account.

You'll also need to set up a trigger in Google Tag Manager (GTM) to capture form submissions in real-time. This can be done by navigating to the triggers section in your GTM account and clicking on "New" to create a new trigger configuration.

To create a trigger, select "Form Submission" under the User Engagement section, which is GTM's default form listener. Enable the "Check Validation" box and specify an action that indicates a successful form submission.

Here's a step-by-step guide to creating a form submission trigger:

1. Navigate to the triggers section in your GTM account and click on "New" to create a new trigger configuration.

2. Select "Form Submission" under the User Engagement section.

Credit: youtube.com, How to Track Form Submissions in Google Analytics 4 With Google Tag Manager

3. Enable the "Check Validation" box and specify an action that indicates a successful form submission.

4. Choose the "All forms" option for when the trigger fires, and give the trigger a name before saving it.

Once you've created the trigger, you'll need to create a GA4 Event tag and enter your GA4 Measurement ID. For the event name, use "form submitted". Then, assign the trigger created to this event tag.

To test and validate if the form submission event is being tracked, utilize the GTM preview mode. If the "Form submitted" event appears in the preview mode when you test it by submitting a form, then this method is successful for you.

Tag Manager Setup

To set up Google Tag Manager for form tracking, you need to have a GTM account and a GA4 Measurement ID. Set up variables, create a trigger, and set up the tag.

Create a trigger by scrolling down and opening Triggering, then selecting your Form Submission trigger.

Credit: youtube.com, How to Track Form Submission as Conversion Using Google Analytics & Google Tag Manager

In Google Tag Manager, navigate to Triggers and click on “New” to create a new trigger. Choose the trigger type as “Element Visibility.” Configure the trigger settings by selecting the CSS Selector as the Selection Method and then Pasting the copied CSS selector specifying the element(s) on your website that represent form submissions.

To create a form submit trigger, follow the same steps as creating a pageview conversion trigger. Then, configure the trigger to detect the visibility of the confirmation element.

Here are the steps to set up a tag for form tracking:

1. In GTM, go to Tags → New.

2. Select your desired tag type (e.g., Google Analytics: Universal Analytics).

3. Set up the tag with appropriate tracking parameters.

4. Attach the previously created element visibility trigger.

5. Save and publish the tag.

Troubleshooting and Optimization

If you're experiencing issues with tracking form submissions in Google Analytics 4, start by checking the form's event tracking code, which should be placed in the form's HTML code, as mentioned in the "Setting up Event Tracking" section.

Credit: youtube.com, Google Analytics 4 Form Tracking (Plus 4 Mistakes To Avoid)

Make sure the event tracking code is correctly implemented, and the event name matches the one set up in Google Analytics 4, as shown in the "Setting up Event Tracking" example.

If you're still having trouble, try checking the Google Analytics 4 data stream for any errors or warnings related to the form submission event, as explained in the "Verifying Data Stream Setup" section.

Fixing Issues

Some issues can be overcome with a bit of effort and trial and error.

Firstly, you'll need to go back into Enhanced Measurement and make sure 'Form Interactions' is toggled to off. This can be a crucial step in resolving certain problems.

You'll then need access to Google Tag Manager to manually set the start and submit events. A good guide on how to do this can be found here.

Basic Insufficiencies

If your site has multiple forms, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) won't automatically segment the data for each one.

Analytics Text
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To get around this, you'll need to set up separate tracking for each form, which can be a bit of a pain.

GA4 also selects the definition of 'Submit' for you, leaving you with no flexibility to set it yourself.

This can lead to issues like failed submissions being classed as completions if the click on the submit button is GA's 'submit', which will trigger prematurely.

For example, if someone gets error messages after clicking the submit button and then abandons, they'll still be counted as a submission.

There's also no link between the two basic metrics in GA4, which means it won't calculate conversion rate for you.

To get this information, you'll need to set up separate tracking and calculations, which can be time-consuming.

Finally, there's still no field-based tracking included in GA4, which can make it difficult to track specific fields and their impact on form performance.

Here are the basic insufficiencies of GA4 in one place:

  • No automatic segmentation for multiple forms
  • No flexibility to set 'Submit' definition yourself
  • No link between basic metrics
  • No field-based tracking included

Analyze Your Data

Credit: youtube.com, How to Track Form Submissions with Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

Now that you're tracking form submissions in Google Analytics 4, it's time to dive into the data and uncover valuable insights. You can analyze user behavior, such as which forms are being submitted the most.

This information can help you understand which forms are most popular and where you should focus your efforts. By identifying high-performing forms, you can optimize them for even better results.

To optimize your website's conversion rate, you can identify bottlenecks in your submission process. This might involve analyzing which fields are causing the most errors.

By making changes to improve the user experience, you can reduce errors and make it easier for users to submit forms. This can lead to a significant boost in conversion rates and overall website performance.

Customizing and Importing Data

After you've set up your form submission tracking in Google Tag Manager, it's time to import your custom dimension into Google Analytics 4. This process takes a bit of time, but it's crucial for accurate tracking.

Credit: youtube.com, Track Elementor forms with Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager

It will take 24 hours for your custom dimension to be available for import. Once it is, head over to the "Custom Definitions" section of Google Analytics 4.

To import your dimension, select your parameter name under the "Event Parameter" section. This should match the parameter you set up in Google Tag Manager.

You'll be asked to name your dimension and write a brief description for it. Take this opportunity to clearly label your dimension so you can easily identify it later.

It will take another 24 hours for data to start populating in your Google Analytics 4 property after you import your custom dimension. Be patient and check back to see the data start rolling in.

Thomas Goodwin

Lead Writer

Thomas Goodwin is a seasoned writer with a passion for exploring the intersection of technology and business. With a keen eye for detail and a knack for simplifying complex concepts, he has established himself as a trusted voice in the tech industry. Thomas's writing portfolio spans a range of topics, including Azure Virtual Desktop and Cloud Computing Costs.

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