Event Tracking is the key to improving website conversions. But is it any different for marketers in 2022?
Tracking events is not just about figuring out what website visitors are doing. It is about usability, ROI, optimising the time you spend on marketing and getting a full picture of your website visitors.
In this blog we’ll be explaining:
- What is Event Tracking
- Why Event Tracking is so important
- What events you should be tracking in 2022
- Tips for successful Event Tracking
What is Event Tracking?
Event Tracking allows you to measure interactions on your website which are not defined by default through web analytics tools (e.g. clicking a button or downloading a file).
An Event Tracking tool tracks four main categories: mouse events (clicks and movement), keyboard events (interaction between the user and a key), frame events (interactions with frames or iFrames) and form events (form submission).
Each event that you track is then broken down into four main parts.
- Category – The type of events you want to track
- Action – The action that is taken
- Name – The title of the element being tracked
- Value – A numeric value being tracked
For example, if you want to track how many times people view at least 50% of your demo video, the trigger naming would look like this:
- Event Category: Video view
- Event Action: Play
- Event Name: Demo video
- Event Value: 50%
For more, check out our suggestions on best practices for setting Event Tracking names.
Why is Event Tracking so important for marketers?
Event Tracking adds context to the time people spend on the pages of your website or app.
Pageviews tell you how many people have seen your website content. Event Tracking can go further by showing you what users did while they visited a page.
Each event that is triggered helps you to understand how your audience is interacting with your site. This could be time spent watching a promotional video, adding their details to a newsletter subscription form or downloading lead generation content.
Here’s what it looks like if you’re tracking visitors adding reviews as an event on your site:
This is important behaviour for marketers to track because it can help drive your strategy, boost ROI and improve usability.
What website events should I be tracking in 2022?
It is not enough to know how many people are visiting your website. Traffic doesn’t matter if it is not converting!
That’s why you need to be tracking the right kinds of events.
Here are four Event Tracking examples for marketers:
Scroll reach:
If your landing page conversion rate is low, consider tracking scroll reach as an event. With scroll reach, you’ll be able to see how many visitors are reaching a defined point on the webpage (like a signup form). Heatmaps can be helpful for this too.
Clicks:
Are visitors not clicking through to pages that are being promoted on an interactive image carousel? Adding a click trigger to the carousel would help you understand if the carousel is effective and visitors are engaging with it.
Cart changes:
If your Ecommerce sales are down, then tracking cart changes as an event can provide valuable insights into why visitors are removing items from their cart.
In the above example from our online Matomo demo site, we can see that the visitor removed the product after reviewing their cart. This is likely a result of a confusing checkout process that will need to be reviewed, tested and updated.
Downloads:
Maybe you want to develop new downloadable content for your site but you’re not sure what content your visitors are downloading most. Tracking download events for your library of resources will help you understand what type of content your visitors are interested in so you can continue producing high-quality content that keeps your visitors coming back.
The possibilities are endless with Event Tracking. It may seem daunting trying to decide what events to track but the key is to focus on your marketing goals. Once you’ve established your goals, then identify what events on your site will help you reach those goals and start tracking those events to know what is working and what is not.
Four things you need to know for successful Event Tracking in 2022
1. Use a Tag Manager to set up Event Tracking
If you are overwhelmed and looking for a Google Tag Manager (GTM) alternative, Matomo is a game-changer. It reduces complexity and lets you manage all your tracking and marketing tags in one place. By combining Matomo Analytics and Matomo Tag Manager you have total control over website tracking and optimisation in one place.
Setting up Event Tracking with a Tag Manager is the easiest way to capture visitors’ actions. There is no need to edit the code or work with a developer.
If you use Matomo Tag Manager, you can easily track events that offer real value to your business.
Here is how to track events with Matomo Tag Manager in six simple steps:
- Set up Matomo Tag Manager
- Create a new Tag and give it a name
- Select Event as the Tracking Type
- Add your event structure e.g. Category, Action, Name, Value
- Select your event Trigger
- Publish
For all things Tag Manager, head to our blog Why Marketing Agencies Need Tag Manager & Event Tracking.
2. Test and experiment with audiences
There are several ways you can use Event Tracking tests to increase conversions over time.
- Testing user journeys:
Once you have mapped out the optimal user journeys for your website, setting up Event Tracking for the different user touch points will monitor performance for you. No more guesswork when you are creating your analytics reports!
- Driving engagement:
Experimenting with elements on your website (e.g. buttons) allows you to track what visitors are engaging with. Event Tracking then tells you exactly what to optimise based on analytic and audience data.
- Audience segmentation:
Lastly, it helps you identify different audiences triggering specific events (e.g. are returning visitors engaging more with specific elements over unique visitors?).
An audience is a group of website visitors with shared similarities. Those similarities might be their location, what device they are browsing on or the content they engage with on your website.
Event Tracking allows you to analyse individual events to build audiences, and then use A/B testing for optimal engagement.
3. Get a full picture of your visitors’ behaviours by combining Event Tracking with Heatmaps
Event Tracking helps you track conversions when someone completes an action. But what about the people that don’t complete an action?
You need to be collecting data on website visitors who don’t convert as well. That’s why successful Event Tracking should be done alongside other tools such as website heatmaps.
Heatmaps give you a detailed picture of what people are doing (or not doing). Say you are tracking CTA button clicks. You might be wondering why you have a high number of website visitors but low click-through rates. A Heatmap would show you whether there was a design issue (e.g. visitors aren’t scrolling beyond the fold because your hero image is full screen and it’s not clear that the page continues).
New to Heatmaps? Read more in our Ultimate Guide to Heatmap Software.
If you are only tracking events without the bigger picture, you could be leaving money on the table.
4. Capitalise on productivity
One of the most important benefits of Event Tracking is productivity.
With an Event Tracking tool, marketing teams can set up and manage Event Tracking without relying on developers to change code every time a new tag is required.
You can eliminate the need for hard-coded tags on hundreds of pages. Instead of wasting time coding, you can focus on the results for customers.
Event Tracking is a great tool for marketing productivity and getting measurable results. It will help your team to:
- Set goals aligned to specific business objectives
- Track what customers are doing to increase engagement and conversions
- Reduce guesswork, save time and money
Key takeaways for website Event Tracking in 2022
Event Tracking is still one of the best ways to ensure your website is optimised for conversions. By using a Tag Manager, setting measurable goals and using events in a wider marketing strategy, you are setting yourself up for success in 2022.
Want to set and track events without confusing coding? Matomo is the answer for simple but sophisticated Event Tracking for your website.
Find out how your visitors are engaging with your site today. Try Matomo for free for 21 days – no credit card required.
