Goal creation is probably the most important step during the setup of Google Analytics. Goals measure the relevant KPIs and the real efficiency of the website as well as the value of the different marketing channels. It does not have to be an e-commerce website – even for non-transactional websites micro-conversions like newsletter subscriptions or social shares can be defined as goals.
Google Analytics recently updated the goal creation process and made the setup much easier by introducing new goal templates. The process is now so simple, there is no excuse for not setting goals!
How to set up goals
In order to create a goal, go to the “Admin” section of Google Analytics and click on the “Goals” tab. If you’ve created other goals in the past, you will see an overview of them.
Click on “Create a Goal” to initiate the creation process. You can either select one of the pre-built templates, which are separated by different objectives (Revenue, Acquisition, Inquiry, Engagement), or create a custom goal.
In the next step, select a name for your goal and define its type. There are four options available: Destination, Duration, Pages/Screens per visit, Event.
In the final step, define the specific conditions for your goal. You can also assign a monetary value to this conversion, if it’s possible to define it. The most important addition in this step is the ability to verify the conversion rate of your goal, based on your data from the past 7 days. If the conversion rate is close to zero, you probably have to check your settings or define a different goal.
This new process makes it much easier for website owners to decide which goals to use and much faster to create them. So, don’t wait! Go directly to the Admin section of your Google Analytics account and start setting them up!