In the competitive world of digital marketing, understanding user behaviour is key to optimising conversions. Forms are often the gateway to valuable user data, but if the same form is placed in multiple locations on a single page, it becomes tricky to know which location performs the best. Identifying the most effective form placement can significantly enhance your website’s performance by directing users to the optimal entry point for engagement.
In this post, we’ll explore how to effectively tag and track each form location, diving into strategies that provide clear insights into their performance.
The Challenge of Tracking Multiple Form Locations
Placing the same form in different locations on a webpage—at the top, middle, bottom, or sidebar—is a common strategy for capturing leads based on varied user interactions. However, to optimise these forms, you must track which engages users most effectively.
Tracking performance can be complicated when:
- Each form serves the same purpose, causing ambiguity in which placements attract more users.
- They share the same fields, leading to indistinct data on what influences conversion at each position.
- All conversions appear to originate from a single form in analytics reports, clouding insights into user preference.
Solution: Implement Event Tracking and Unique Identifiers
Step 1: Utilize Event Tracking in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
- Define the Event Name: Decide on a consistent event name that encapsulates your tracking action, such as form_submission.
- Set Event Parameters: Assign meaningful parameters to capture details about the interaction:
- event_name: form_submission
- parameter: form_location: Use parameters to specify the form location, such as “Top Form”, “Middle Form”, “Bottom Form”, and “Sidebar Form”.
- Install Tracking Code: Implement the tracking using JavaScript or Google Tag Manager to dispatch events for each form’s submit button.
document.getElementById('topFormSubmit').addEventListener('click', () => {
gtag('event', 'form_submission', {
'form_location': 'Top Form'
});
});
- Configure GA4: Ensure that your GA4 property is set up to capture these parameters. You can create custom dimensions if you want to analyze these parameters in more detail.
Step 2: Add Unique Identifiers
Distinguishing each form with unique identifiers simplifies tracking. Modify the form’s HTML structure by assigning unique “id” attributes to each form and submit button:
<form id="topForm">
<!-- form fields -->
<input type="submit" id="topFormSubmit">
</form>
<form id="middleForm">
<!-- form fields -->
<input type="submit" id="middleFormSubmit">
</form>
<!-- Follow this pattern for other forms -->
Step 3: Analyse Data
Once tracking is in place, analyse the data collected to understand:
- Conversion Rates: Determine which form location garners the highest submission rate.
- User Interaction Patterns: Assess if users engage more with forms near content, at the page start, or at the end.
- Performance Over Time: Monitor changes over different periods to discern trends based on content or visitor traffic changes.
Tracking Across Different Pages: Utilizing Consistent Forms with Page-Specific Identifiers
Alternatively, you can use the same form on multiple pages but implement page-specific tracking mechanisms to garner insightful data that can inform your marketing strategies.
The Hidden Field Technique
You can use the hidden field technique to achieve consistent form tracking across different pages. This involves adding invisible fields to your form that store page-specific identifiers. These identifiers help distinguish which page the form submission originated from. The hidden fields become a critical part of the form submission, capturing essential data that can be analysed later.
Manual Implementation: Shortcode Alterations
For a more hands-on approach, you can manually alter the form’s shortcode to include the hidden fields with page-specific identifiers. This method is straightforward if you have a manageable number of forms and pages. It involves adding unique identifiers to each form instance on a different page. This process ensures that when a form is filled on a particular page, it carries the specific page identifier, enabling precise tracking.
Dynamic Implementation: JavaScript Snippets
For a dynamic and automated approach, JavaScript can be employed to alter form submissions based on the page URL or title. By reading the URL or title dynamically, JavaScript snippets can automatically insert the appropriate hidden field value. This method is especially beneficial for larger websites with multiple pages and forms, as it reduces manual labour and potential mistakes from manual entries.
To implement this, JavaScript code can be added to your website’s template to detect the current page and insert the corresponding identifier into the form’s hidden field. This ensures that every form submission carries the necessary page-specific data.
<form id="myForm">
<!-- Other fields of your form -->
<input type="hidden" id="pageType" name="pageType" value="">
<!-- Submit button, etc. -->
</form>
<script>
// JavaScript to detect the URL and set the hidden field value
document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function () {
var currentUrl = window.location.href;
var pageTypeField = document.getElementById('pageType');
if (currentUrl.endsWith('/') || currentUrl.endsWith('/index.html')) {
// If the URL is the home page
pageTypeField.value = 'home';
} else if (currentUrl.includes('/blog/')) {
// Assuming blog posts URLs contain '/blog/'
pageTypeField.value = 'blog post';
} else {
// Default value if not home or blog post
pageTypeField.value = 'other';
}
});
</script>
Conclusion
Tracking the performance of multiple form locations on one page requires a strategic approach using event tracking and unique identifiers. By leveraging these techniques, you can gain valuable insights into user preferences, driving data-informed decisions that enhance interaction and increase conversion rates. Elevate your digital strategy with clarity on form placement impact and harness performance data to guide future design and marketing campaigns. Build a pathway to optimisation and maximise your website’s potential by ensuring each form delivers impactful results.
