If your company is investing online, in various marketing channels and would like to know more about the traffic generated (i.e where they clicked, what forms they have submitted, how many phone clicks have been initiated etc), you should consider using Google Tag Manager (henceforth GTM) and Google Analytics. This will enable your company to track users on the website, analyse the performance and optimize for success.
Measuring the performance and the ROI (return-on-investment) of your marketing campaigns is critical, as it provides useful insights into whether your marketing efforts are effective (in terms of cost), provides an estimate of your ROI to assist you to make smart business decisions, and can also improve your profit and advertising spend.
What are the Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics tools?
Google Tag Manager is an excellent tool, provided free by Google, allowing you to track specific events (goals) within your website and attribute them back to the specific campaign. On the other hand, Google Analytics is a web analytics tool (free as well) used for website data reporting. Using these tools combined, you will be able to view all of your marketing campaigns along with the events triggered for each.
Example:
Let’s say I would like to know how many phone calls, email correspondences and form submissions were attributed to my marketing campaigns. I would use GTM to add the tags and triggers I would like to track, while I would use Google Data Studio to visually view what each campaign brought in terms of the events I am tracking.
Google Data Studio is a free tool offered by Google, which enables you to customise specific reports and integrates with Google Analytics so that all the data is passed seamlessly.
How to track ROI using these tools
Add GTM Tracking Code
In order to be able to start tracking and reporting on specific events that happen on your website, you will firstly need to create a Google Tag Manager Account. Once this is created, you will then need to copy paste the tracking code and implement it within your website.
Set up Google Analytics goals
Once the above steps are completed, you will then need to configure Google Analytics within Google Tag Manager. Once this is done you will then need to create Tags & Triggers which will represent a specific event you would like to track. The tags & triggers are fully customizable and can be linked to variables of your choosing. As you may have heard, Google will introduce the new generation of Google Analytics by the 1st of July 2023, making the current software (Universal Analytics) obsolete. We have a really good article explaining GA4 – the new generation of Google Analytics.
Track traffic back to your campaigns via UTM Parameters
The UTM parameters tracking method is ideal for tracking events on a website. Businesses, for example, can add specific parameters on the URL destination in order to retrieve this information on the report. Google monitors traffic and gives data in 4 categories:
- Source of the campaign (i.e.: Facebook or Google or Twitter etc)
- The medium of the campaign – (i.e Horizontal Banner or Main Homepage banner etc)
- Name of campaign
- Term of the campaign – keywords used
Optimize strategies
Discover why some of your campaigns may be as effective as you would like them to be. Your data provides you with useful insights that will help in the refinement of your marketing plans and tactics. Copy the most effective ads and campaigns and use them again and again to maximize your profits. Alternatively, try focusing on or deactivating campaigns that aren’t working.
Focus on successful channels & campaigns
GTM and GA enable businesses to thoroughly examine each channel you are using for your digital marketing, and identify the ones that generate the best outcome (i.e.: more leads and returns), and eliminate the less effective.
Therefore, from now on you should pay attention to the channels that help you reach your marketing goals, and get rid of the ones that waste your time and money!
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