Google Analytics can be used to provide valuable data about the performance of your campaign and behavior of its visitors. While Indiegogo offers campaigners access to a powerful Dashboard that provides vital analytics to their campaign, many find it useful to supplement this data with that of Google Analytics. In addition to the basic tracking features provided by Google, you’ll also have access to Ecommerce and UTM code tracking. Though the full scope of using all of Google Analytics’ powerful features is far outside of this article, we’ll cover how to set up Google Analytics to start gathering data from your campaign. There is a wealth of information available on the web for those that would like to delve into more advanced uses - we’d recommend Google’s Analytics Training and Support page as a great place to start. Since Google Analytics is a third-party service, we are unable to provide support in interpreting that data that it collects.
Campaigners can still create a Universal Analytics (UA) property even if the default is Google Analytics 4. Please follow the instructions below to learn how to create a (UA) property.
Creating a Google Analytics UA Property
Before you can enable Google Analytics for your campaign, you’ll need to create an account on the Google Analytics site if you don’t already have one. If this is the first time you’ve logged into your account, you’ll be directed to answer a few questions in order to generate your Tracking ID.
You can use whatever titles you would like for the Account Name field. You can also choose whichever permissions you would like to allow Google to have on your Google Analytics.
For the property name, you can write whatever you would like and configure the timezone to match your time as well as the currency you are running the campaign in. This next step is very important for you to be able to create a Universal Analytics compatible with our site. Click on “show advanced options” and it will expand the page. It will ask if you would like to create a Universal Analytics property. Enable it by clicking on the toggle.
For the Website URL, be sure that you have selected https:// and then enter the full URL of your campaign. If you’re using the Pre-launch page URL to set goals in GA, the URL will need to be updated from the Pre-launch URL to the Campaign URL once your campaign launches. The About Your Business section can be set to whatever you would like. Once you have the form filled out, click on the “Create” button at the bottom of the page. You will be asked to accept Google Analytic’s Terms of Use. After accepting their Terms of Use, you’ll be taken to a pop-up right window called Webstream Details. Close that pop-up window and click on the “Admin” section located at the bottom left-hand side of the navigation bar.
You will be taken to the admin page where you will find a section called Property. You will see a GA-followed by a string of numbers. Click on that down arrow on it and you will see a drop down that contains another account with your UA Tracking ID. Click on it so you have that property settings now open.the main page of your account where you’ll see your Tracking ID - Tthis will be the code that begins with UA- followed by a string of numbers. Now that you have your Tracking ID, we can get that added to your Indiegogo campaign.
How to Add Your Tracking ID to Your Campaign
Adding your Google Analytics Tracking ID to your campaign is simple! Just log into your Indiegogo account and click on My Campaigns in the menu at the top right of the page. Find the campaign that you’d like to set up and choose Edit from the Actions drop-down list. Once you’ve got the campaign edit page up, click on the Extras tab from the left side bar. Scroll down to the Google Analytics section and paste your Tracking ID into the field there. Once you save your changes, your campaign is set up to start sending data to Google. Data will not be sent to Google until your campaign or Pre-launch Page is live.
Using UTM Tracking Codes
UTM tracking codes allow you to create custom URLs that can be used to track custom data such as a source, medium and campaign name using Google Analytics. This can be used to show you how visitors ended up at your campaign. They are often used in conjunction with running digital marketing campaigns.
We recommend using Google’s URL Builder to create your custom URLs. You will end up with a URL that has additional parameters appended to it. When people use this URL to visit your campaign, those additional parameters will be tracked in your Google Analytics account. To view the data that is collected from your custom URLs, go to Acquisition on the menu in Google Analytics, click on Campaigns and then on All Campaigns.
Pre-Launch Page Tracking
Below are the events sent to your Google Analytics for the pre-launch page.
- When a user lands on the pre-launch page – eventCategory: "pre_launch_page", eventAction: "pre_launch_page_load_show", eventLabel: "a".
- When a user signs up on the pre-launch page – eventCategory: "pre_launch_page", eventAction: "pre_launch_page_click_signup", eventLabel: "a"
Ecommerce Tracking
Ecommerce tracking is used to track a visitor’s transaction data. This can allow you to see data on revenue as well as be used in conjunction with UTM tracking codes to view revenue sources. In order to utilize the Ecommerce tracking feature, you must first enable it in Google Analytics. This can be done by going to the Admin section in Google Analytics, choosing the Account and Property that you set up for your Indiegogo campaign and then clicking on Ecommerce Settings to the right. From there, you’ll want to switch Enable Ecommerce to On and then click on the Next Step button to save the change.
Your Ecommerce data can be viewed by navigating to the Conversions section of your Google Analytics menu and then selecting Ecommerce. This will give you an overview of all of the transaction data that has been collected for your campaign.
If you’re making use of UTM tracking codes as part of your digital marketing strategy, you can get an idea of how your custom URLs are performing monetarily by navigating to Acquisition in the menu, then All Traffic and then clicking on Source/Medium. This will show you your revenue data based off of the parameters of your custom URLs along with any other sources.
Accuracy of Analytics
It’s important to keep in mind that although quite powerful, Google Analytics can only provide you with data on traffic that it sees. Many privacy conscious users have tools in their browsers that specifically block this kind of tracking. In addition, these tracking events occur on specific pages - if a visitor does not reach a certain page their traffic data will not be collected. If a user were to end their session before being redirected to Indiegogo, data on that conversion would be lost in Google Analytics. Consider these cases when you’re comparing data between your Indiegogo Dashboard and Google Analytics.
You should now be armed with the basics to start making use of Google Analytics to provide more insights to your campaign and help push your digital marketing strategies to success!