Google Analytics 4. Setting up conversions.

Just like Universal Analytics, you need to tell GA what your conversions are.  Unlike Universal Analytics, all conversions are actually based on events.  Even page-based conversions are events.

The below shows you how to setup conversions based on simple page-based rules – e.g. /thank-you pages.  But it’s important to understand more about GA4 events first…

Events in Google Analytics 4

GA4 is built around a flexible event hit structure, whereas Universal Analytics is mainly built around page views, and is supported by other hit types like transactions and user timings :

An event is any distinct action occurring at a distinct time, associated with a user in your app or on your website, e.g. page_view, add_to_cart, form_submit.

A whole load of these events are collected automatically, as soon as your property is created, through ‘enhanced measurement’. Including file downloads, scrolls, and video plays:

Here’s how to setup a conversion-based on an existing page view type (like a /thank-you page)…

#1 Setup GA4 event tag in Google Tag Manager

NOTE: Conversions can actually be setup within GA4 using existing specific page views, but I’ve found that these can over-count.  However, setting these up in GTM, you have the option of firing the tag once per page, rather than once per event.

* Setup a new tag in GTM: ‘Google Analytics: GA4 Event’

* Select configuration tag: You can use the existing GA4 tag you have in GTM for this, or select ‘None – manually set ID’, and enter your measurement ID (GA4 > Settings > Data Streams > Click on a data stream)

* Give your event a name – something descriptive you’ll understand in GA4’s reports.  Replace spaces with underscores.  E.g. enquiry_form_complete

* (optional) Add any parameters you’d like to send in with the event – e.g. page path, or any other variables / stuff in the dataLayer

* IMPORTANT: If you only want this conversion to fire once per page, which is how page view conversions work currently in Universal Analytics, then you need to set this tag to fire once per page – Advanced settings > Tag firing options > Once per page

* Setup a trigger to fire this tag on the page views you want it to fire on – e.g. Page View trigger type, when the page path contains ‘/thank-you’

* Save the tag.  Preview it to make sure it fires, and fires the correct values (in Google Tag Assistant)

* Submit and publish it

#2 Check for new event in GA4 real time reports

Back to GA4 > Real Time > And you should see an event count widget like this:

#3 Setup your new event as a conversion

It might take a few hours or so, but you should see your new event in the EVENTS > All events report.

Go to EVENTS > Conversions > New Conversion Event, and add the exact name of your new event you’ve added:

… and you’re done.

Give it a few hours and check some of the other tabulated reports to see if conversions are being recorded.