It has been over a year since Google Analytics 4 was released. In that time, the new version of Google Analytics (GA4) has continued to evolve, adding numerous new features. One of those features is the "Enhanced Measurement" option, which makes it easier to measure interactions on your website.
In the past, measuring forms was a time-consuming task that required a lot of technical knowledge. However, Google Analytics 4 allows you to measure forms more easily, giving you more insight into how your visitors interact with your forms.
What are the events for the improved measurement?
Out of the box, there are a number of events that Google Analytics 4 tracks itself for you. This means you don't have to set as much yourself in a tool like Google Tag Manager and you can collect more information immediately.
Then consider events such as:
- Scrolls
An event is automatically saved for each page when you reach the bottom of a page. This allows you to better measure interaction. The percentage of the scroll that should be triggered is customizable. - Outbound clicks
Every time a visitor clicks on an external link, it is saved. Domains set up as cross-domains are not included as outgoing clicks. - Searching a page
If your website has a search engine, you can use the query parameter to set it to save all searches. In your URL, the query parameter is always behind the question mark. In the URL "https://universonline.nl/?s=Student" the letter "s" is the parameter. - Video interaction
When someone starts or completes a Youtube video, an event will be saved. For now, by default, this only works with Youtube. Through GTM, this can be extended. - File downloads
Capture a file download every time a visitor clicks on a download. - And now also ... form interactions 🥳
How does the automatic form measurement work?
The enhanced measurement not only introduces form submission, it also introduces interaction. This not only measures the submit() event sent by the form when it is submitted, but also happens when the form is used for the first time within a session.
You will start to see the following 2 events in Google Analytics 4:
- form_start
Shows you the first time a user interacts with the form in a session. - form_submit
Shows when a user submits a form.
There are a number of parameters that are automatically included:
- form_id
Dit is het ‘id’ attribuut in het <form> DOM-element. - form_name
Dit is het ‘name’ attribuut in het <form> DOM-element. - form_destination
This is the URL to which the form will be sent. - form_submit_text
This is the text of the 'submit' button, if it exists.
Things to watch out for
The new functionality is no fairy tale. If you ask to enter data on a form, there are about one million different ways you can do it. Right now, it only works with forms with the submit() event. If you're working with a custom JavaScript callback that builds an HTTP request to your Web server, it's not going to work.
There are JavaScript libraries that also use dummy form submissions to collect GET data about their users (Facebook). In these cases, you may see a form event in GA4 for each page load, if the Facebook Pixel is activated on the page view event. For this, we hope there will be a solution.
Google Analytics 4 is the future: this is the moment
Measuring your forms, and many more components, gets easier thanks to Google Analytics 4. The new version of GA allows you to collect data on visitor interactions so you can better see what works and what doesn't. If you are not yet familiar with Google Analytics 4, now is the time to get started with it. Need help? Our specialists will be happy to help!