GUA Goals
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has replaced Google Universal Analytics (GAU) as Google’s cross-platform Analytics solution. All standard GUA properties stopped processing new hits on July 1, 2023. 360 Universal Analytics properties will stop processing new hits on July 1, 2024. See Google Analytics 4 for information about GA4, including information about migrating from GUA to GA4.
Goals are an important tool for Google Universal Analytics. Goals track completed activities, commonly known as conversions. For an ecommerce website, the most common goal is for the visitor to make a purchase. Another goal may be for a visitor to submit a newsletter sign up form or a request for more information form.
By defining goals, you help GUA give you important tracking information such as the number of conversions, conversion rates, and which campaigns gave you the highest conversion rate.
Micro and Macro Goals
There are two types of goals, macro goals and micro goals. A macro goal represents the final goal, such as the visitor purchasing something. Macro goals are made up of micro goals. Micro goals represent the activities that a visitor completes prior to the conversion. Micro goals can include reviewing product specifications or reading product reviews.
Funnels
Funnels represent the path that traffic should take to final conversion. The funnel lets GUA track where visitors enter and exit the site. If for example, you see that you have an excessive amount of traffic leaving your site at the same location prior to conversion, you can evaluate that location and rework it to help increase the number of conversions. You may also see traffic skipping certain areas on the path to conversion, perhaps indicating that your path to conversion is too long. Again, this information can help you streamline your site for a smooth process that leads to more conversions.
The following procedure details how to set up a goal for a purchase conversion on a site.
To set up goals in GUA:
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Login to your GUA account.
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Click the Admin tab.
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Select the Account.
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Select the Property.
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In the View section, click Goals.
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Click the New Goal button.
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In the Template selection section, under Revenue, select the Buy merchandise template.
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Click the Continue button.
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In the Name field, enter a descriptive name for this goal, for example, Purchase.
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Select the Goal ID and Goal Set from the Goal slot ID dropdown list. For more information, see Goal ID and Goal Sets.
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For Type, select Destination. For more information, see Goal Types.
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Click the Continue button.
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In the Goal details section, for Destination select Equals to.
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In the Destination field enter /confirmation. This is the page a customer sees after making a purchase.
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You can assign a monetary value by clicking the Value option to turn it On and enter the dollar value. For more information, see Goal Value.
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To define the path to conversion, click the Funnel option to turn it On.
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Add the following steps for this path:
Step
Name
Screen/Page
1
Cart
/cart
2
Login
/login-register
3
Shipping Address
/shipping/address
4
Shipping Method
/shipping/method
5
Payment
/billing
6
Review
/review
Note:If your site has customizations that do not follow this path, then enter the steps for your customized path to conversion.
The /confirmation page is the final sequence in this goal. However, you do not list the confirmation page in the funnel, because it is listed in the Destination URL field.
For more information about funnels see Funnels for Destination Goals.
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Click the Save button.