5 B2B Goals To Measure With Google Analytics
There comes a point when B2B marketers start looking beyond basic Google Analytics metrics – things like bounce rate, session duration, and traffic sources – and decide to start tracking conversions. And when they decide to measure conversions, they’re usually wondering about goals.
A “goal” is Google Analytics nomenclature for a specific action you want a visitor to take. Using tools within the application, you can specify different goals and track each visitor’s activity prior to “achieving” those goals. For B2B marketers, reaching a goal is tantamount to a conversion.
The question, though, is what types of action you should associate with different goals. Keeping in mind that a specific goal is nearly always associated with some type of conversion, here are five different goals B2B marketers should consider tracking in Google Analytics:
1. Contact form submissions
For most B2B websites, this is the big one. You almost certainly have one primary contact form located on a “Contact Us” page, and there’s a good chance you’ve got several additional contact forms scattered around your website.
Using Google Analytics, you can monitor the percentage of visitors who complete any of these forms. All you have to do is set up a URL destination goal for the “Success” page that appears after a user submits a form. Whenever someone completes your form and arrives at the “Success” page, Google Analytics will count it as a goal.
Note: This is a good reason to implement a “Success” or “Thank You” page on your website. In addition to providing an opportunity to set expectations for your new lead, it also enables you to track conversions.
2. Email list opt-ins
Once again, this is one of those times the “Success” page comes in handy. By setting the URL destination goal to the page appears after a user opts in, you can monitor the percentage of visitors who sign up to receive your messaging.
Keep in mind that your email marketing or marketing automation platform might already allow you to monitor email list opt-ins. You might not need to use Google Analytics to track this particular activity, but you’ve always got the option.
3. Collateral downloads
If you actively use educational content marketing to generate leads, Google Analytics can help you gauge the success of your efforts. Just set up a URL destination goal for the page that appears when someone downloads a white paper, case study, or other piece of collateral.
4. Comment submissions
Are you using your blog to engage an online community? For many B2B brands, comment submissions are an important engagement metric. Luckily, Google Analytics can help you track those as well.
Since comment submissions don’t generally send the user to a specific URL, you will need to set up an event using the Google Analytics Tag Manager. For more on how to do this, see Google’s guide to using the tool to monitor user activity on your website.
Here’s how it works: Using Tag Manager, you instruct Google Analytics to track every click on a comment submission link (usually a button somewhere beneath a blog post). Every time someone clicks that link, the activity registers as completion of a goal. You can use the same process to monitor clicks on social sharing buttons, event signups, or even…
5. Video plays
To what extent does your audience engage with your videos? Of the users who land on a page where there is a video, what percentage clicks the play button?
By using event tracking to monitor video plays, you can measure video engagement as a goal in Google Analytics. The same process can be used to monitor the percentage of users who view a recorded webinar or other embedded content.
Ultimately, B2B brands can use URL destinations and event tracking to measure a wealth of different goals across their websites. As a B2B marketing agency, we use Google Analytics and other tools to track and optimize conversions. It’s a fantastic way to measure the success of your lead generation efforts and discover new ways to improve your approach.
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