Analytics That Matter: Sales Funnel Reports & Conversion Tracking

Introduction

Most business owners log into Google Analytics, look at the "Users" graph, see it going up, and smile.

This is dangerous.

"Traffic" is not "Revenue." You can have 10,000 visitors a month and zero sales. If you aren't tracking what those visitors do, you are flying blind.

In the modern web (2025 and beyond), "Pageviews" are a vanity metric. Real growth comes from tracking Events and Funnels.

Why "Pageviews" Are Dead

In the old days, a website was a series of documents. You clicked a link, a new page loaded.

Today, we build Single Page Applications (SPAs) and dynamic interfaces. A user can watch a video, open a popup, filter a product list, and add an item to their cart—all without the URL changing once.

If you are only tracking page loads, you are missing 90% of the user journey.

The Events That Actually Matter

We configure Google Tag Manager (GTM) to listen for specific user actions that signal intent. Here are the "Big 5" we implement for every client:

1. Lead Submissions (Not Just Page Visits)

Don't just track visits to /contact. Track the actual successful form submission.

• Why: A user might visit the contact page and leave. That's a bounce, not a lead.

2. Key CTA Clicks

We track clicks on "Call Now," "Email Us," and "Get Started" buttons.

• Why: This measures desire. If 100 people click "Get Started" but only 10 fill out the form, you know your form is the problem.

3. Scroll Depth (25%, 50%, 75%, 90%)

Did they read your blog post, or just land on it?

• Why: If users drop off at 25%, your intro is boring. If they drop off at 90%, your CTA is weak.

4. Video Engagement

Did they watch the explainer video? Did they finish it?

• Why: Video watchers often convert at 2x the rate of non-watchers. You need to know if your video is working.

5. Ecommerce Events (The Holy Grail)

• view_item (Saw product)
• add_to_cart (Showed intent)
• begin_checkout (Started process)
• purchase (Gave money)

Building the Funnel: Where Are They Dropping Off?

Once we have these events, we build a Funnel Exploration in GA4.

Example: The SaaS Funnel

1. Homepage View (10,000 users)
2. Viewed Case Study (2,000 users) -> 80% Drop-off
3. Clicked "Pricing" (500 users) -> 75% Drop-off
4. Started Free Trial (50 users) -> 90% Drop-off

The Insight: Looking at this, the drop-off from "Pricing" to "Trial" is massive. This tells us your pricing might be confusing, or the sign-up form is too long. We don't guess; the data points to the leak.

How We Implement This (The Technical Part)

We don't hard-code analytics into your website. That's messy and slows down the site.

Our Stack:

1. Google Tag Manager (GTM): A single container script loaded on your site.
2. Data Layer: We push clean, structured data from your website code into a "layer" that GTM can read.
   • Code: window.dataLayer.push({ 'event': 'form_submit', 'formId': 'contact_main' });
3. GA4 Configuration: We set up custom dimensions and metrics in GA4 to catch this data.

Conclusion

Data is only useful if it changes your behavior.

Stop asking "How many people visited?" and start asking "How many people started checkout but failed?"

The first question feeds your ego. The second question feeds your bank account.