Form Tracking Case Study

Google Confidential and Proprietary 1

Optimising Forms with GAGetting more from your site by reducing form drop outs

Rod JackaManaging [email protected]://twitter.com/rodjackawww.panalysis.comblog.panalysis.com

Google Analytics Master Class 2010 #gamc 2

Form Tracking

Forms are an essential part of most websites.

• Forms can also be a barrier to success.

• Form design can impact sales, leads and other website key performance indicators.

• Identifying where visitors drop out of the process path (e.g. checkout, registration, etc) is a critical step to optimising a website.

• Identifying where visitors have difficulties with a form can assist you to optimise for improvement.

• Google Analytics provides goal tracking and the “Goal Funnel” report which can assist in pinpointing issues in the general process.

Google Analytics Master Class 2010 #gamc

A Typical Goal Funnel

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First Screen

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Second Screen

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A Typical Goal Funnel

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Page was loaded

Page was loaded

How many attempted the

form?


Form Optimisation

• The problems with this form can be pinpointed to either:• Visitors seeing the initial offer page are not sufficiently motivated to move to stage

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• A high percentage of those who view stage 2 do not progress to completing the form

• There are two equally valid optimisation methods available:

• Optimise the landing page using Google Website Optimizer to maximise the number of people commencing and completing the form, and

• Optimise the form so that the maximum number of visitors commencing the form complete it.

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Form Events

There are several events that can be tracked to optimise a form. Some key ones are:

• How many visits commence the form. Viewing a form doesn’t mean that they commenced it.

• Which fields did they encounter errors on and submitted the form.

• Which fields did they encounter errors on and did not submit the form.

These and many others can be tracked using Google Analytics events.

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Form Event Reporting

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Some Example Analysis

Form Views 100Form Starts 50 <- Only half the visits viewing the form started itForm Completions 25 <- Only half the visits starting the form completed it

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Actions:

• Separate long forms into smaller sections to make it seem less daunting.

• Reinforce benefits of completing form at top of form

• Identify which fields are causing issues that prevent completion


Some Example Analysis

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Actions:

• Consider whether street address is absolutely required or not. If not remove this field

• Add help or hint text when user enters field to show them what the expected value needs to be.

• Add alternatives where data needs to be looked up from an existing database such as street address.

Field ErrorsErrors with completions

Street Address 10 2 Only 20% of visits with an error on the street address field complete the form.

Date of birth 20 18 10% of visits with an error in the date of birth field abandoned the form


Summary

• When a visitor has commenced the process of completing a form any form abandonments represents a lost opportunity.

• Google Analytics if configured correctly can assist you to pinpoint the likely issues with the forms on your website.

• With customised implementation field level tracking can be used to identify barriers to form submission.

• This data can be used to optimise forms to minimise wastage.

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Google Confidential and Proprietary

Thank You!

http://www.panalysis.com/[email protected]://twitter.com/rodjackahttp://blog.panalysis.com/

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Business

Form Tracking Case Study