Using the Elevar Google Tag Manager (GTM) Event Builder and GA4 Custom Dimensions
Overview
Follow this guide to learn how to use the Elevar Google Tag Manager (GTM) Event Builder extension to track user interactions on your website and import events into Google Analytics 4 (GA4).
What is the Elevar GTM Event Builder Extension?
The Elevar GTM Event Builder is a browser extension designed to make adding GA4 custom event tags faster and easier. With a point-and-click interface, users can create new GA4 tags and triggers within Google Tag Manager effortlessly.
This extension allows you to create various events for Google Analytics, including:
- Form submissions
- Click events
- Visibility events
- Pageview events
It automatically selects the necessary DOM elements for custom click triggers and assigns associated triggers to GA event tags. Once tagging is complete, you can import these events into GTM with just one click, simplifying the setup process and enhancing your tracking capabilities.
What are GA4 Custom Dimensions?
Custom dimensions in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) enable you to analyze and advertise using the custom data collected from your website or app. Unlike standard data automatically gathered by GA4, custom dimensions allow for a more detailed analysis by tailoring insights to your specific needs. Events measure user actions, like clicking a link or watching a video, while event parameters provide details about these actions. User properties offer insights about the users themselves, such as age or location. By collecting this additional information, you can set up custom dimensions (for descriptive data) and custom metrics (for numerical data) to organize and analyze data in reports, enhancing your advertising and remarketing efforts.
Learn more about GA4 Custom Dimensions:
Follow this guide to learn more about custom dimensions in GA4!
Tag Events on Your Website Using the Event Builder Extension
Before importing events into Google Tag Manager, you need to set up tracking for user interactions on your website.
Configure Trigger Types:
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If you have not already, download and install the Elevar Google Tag Manager Event Builder Chrome extension from the Chrome Web Store.
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Navigate to your website and open the extension.
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Click the purple "+" button in the upper left-hand corner of the extension window to creating a new event.
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Click on the "Trigger Type" button and be sure to select the appropriate type (e.g., Click, Form Submission, Visibility, Pageview) based on what you want to track. Once you have selected the trigger type, use your cursor to click on the elements you want to track on your website (e.g., buttons, links, etc).
- Additionally, you will be prompted to select an option for "Page Selection" and click on the option that best suits your tracking needs (e.g., All Pages, Current Page Only, Specific Page Only).
- Once you have selected all of the required information for selecting the trigger type, click on the "Confirm and Save Trigger" button located at the bottom of the extension.
- (See Figure 1)
_Figure 1_
Add GA4 Tag:
- Next you will need to add the GA4 Tag to the event. Click on the "Add New Tag" button and select the "Google Analytics GA4 Event" option as the tag type.
- (See Figure 2)
_Figure 2_
Configure Event:
- Once you have entered all of the required information, you will need to configure the new event.
- Configuration Tag: The GA4 Property wehre your data will go. You will see a list of available GA4 Base Tags
- Event Name: Behavior
- Event Parameters: Used to further identify specifics around the event
- Type: Behavior
- Category: Category of the event (e.g., home page)
- Action: Name of the behavior (e.g., navigation click)
- Label: {{Page URL}}
- User Parameters: Used to further identify specifics around the user performing the action and to add any user properties you would like to pass as event scoped (e.g., Property Name).
- Tag Name: What you want to name the Google Tag Manager Tag (e.g., GA4 Event: Shop Now Button click).
- After configuring the new event, click on the "Save Tag Info" button located at the bottom of the extension. Repeat these steps for any additional events you wish to track.
- (See Figure 3)
_Figure 3 _
Using the Elevar GTM Event Builder Extension:
For a more in depth guide on how to use the Elevar GTM Event Builder Extension, follow this guide.
Import and Publish Events into Google Tag Manager
Once you have tagged your store using the Elevar Google Tag Manager Event Builder extension, you need to import the new events into Google Tag Manager.
Import Events From Extension to Google Tag Manager:
- Once you have created one or more tags, click on the "Select All" button and then click on "Import to GTM" button located in the bottom left-hand corner of the extension window.
- (See Figure 4)
_Figure 4_
Publish in Google Tag Manager:
- Log into your Google Tag Manager account to review the new tags you’ve imported.
- After reviewing the tags, click on the "Submit" button in the upper right-hand corner of the page. An additional confirmation window will appear, click on the "Publish" button located in the upper right-hand corner of the page. This step ensures that the tracking begins and that your events are ready to be captured in GA4.
- (See Figure 5)
_Figure 5 _
Create Custom Dimensions in GA4
To effectively analyze your events in GA4, you need to create custom dimensions.
Locate Custom Definitions:
- Begin on your Google Analytics 4 homepage and use the left-hand navigation menu to click on the "Admin" button or gear icon.
- Once in the Admin settings of your Google Analytics 4, use the left hand menu to select the drop-down tab titled, "Data display".
- Within the drop down tab titled, "Data display" locate and click on the "Custom Definitions" tab.
- (See Figure 6)
_Figure 6 _
Create Custom Dimension:
- After you have navigated to the custom definitions of your Google Analytics 4, you will be brought to a page that highlights all of your custom definitions. To create a new custom dimension, click on the "Create custom dimension" button located in the upper right-hand corner of the page.
- (See Figure 7)
_Figure 7_
Configure New Custom Dimension:
- An additional window will appear titled "New Custom Dimension" and here you will need to input the specific data for the new custom dimension.
- In the box labeled, "Dimension Name" title your new custom dimension something that is identifiable. This is the title that you will see in your reports.
- Use the drop-down menu to select the type of Scope for your custom dimension. Choose "Event" if you want the data to be associated with specific events (E.g. Total Discount Amount, Sales Channel, Payment Method). Choose "User" if you want that data to be associated with specific users (E.g. Billing Country). Choose "Item" if you want the data to be associated with specific items.
- In the box labeled, "Description" you have the option to include text that describes the data.
- In the box labeled, "Event Parameter" add a unique text that you will use later in Elevar. The Event parameter must use lowercase letters and "_" instead of spaces (e.g. sales_channel, total_discount_amount, payment_method, billing_zipcode).
- Click on the "Save" button in the upper right-hand corner of the pop-up window to save your new custom dimension.
- (See Figure 8)
_Figure 8 _
Example Custom Dimension:
For instance, if you are tracking different payment types through an
add_payment_info
event, you could set up the following:
- Dimension Name: Payment Type
- Scope: Event
- Description: The chosen method of payment
- Event Parameter: payment_type
View Events in GA4
Once you've imported your tags into GTM and set up your custom dimensions, you have the ability to see how these events are preforming in GA4.
Use Realtime Reports:
For immediate feedback on your events, check the Realtime report.
- Begin on your GA4 homepage and use the left-hand navigation menu to click on the "Reports" tab. An additional navigation menu will appear, click on the "Life cycle" drop-down button. Then, locate and click on the "Engagement" drop-down button and click on the "Events" tab.
- Navigate to the section of the page titled "Event: Event Name" to see if your custom events are being tracked.
- (See Figure 9)
- Navigate to the section of the page titled "Event: Event Name" to see if your custom events are being tracked.
_Figure 9 _
Analyze Custom Dimensions:
To analyze data associated with your custom dimensions, use the Explore section where you can create custom reports to visualize the data by applying filters based on your custom dimensions.
- Begin on your GA4 homepage and use the left-hand navigation menu to click on the "Explore" tab. Here you will be able to create custom event reports.
- (See Figure 10)
_Figure 10 _
Creating Reports to Analyze Custom Dimensions:
- Follow this guide to learn how to create an Elevar standard custom event report in GA4.
- Follow this guide to learn how to create a non-Elevar standard custom event report in GA4.
Updated 24 days ago