It is essential to track contact form submissions on a website in order to comprehend user actions and enhance marketing strategies. This article will walk you through the steps of tracking submissions from Contact Form 7 through Google Tag Manager, while also providing personal thoughts and commentary.
Introduction to Contact Form 7
Contact Form 7 is a popular WordPress plugin that allows website owners to create and manage multiple contact forms easily. It provides a simple and flexible way to handle form submissions, making it a favorite among developers and marketers alike.
However, out-of-the-box, Contact Form 7 doesn’t provide built-in tracking features. This is where Google Tag Manager (GTM) comes into play. GTM is a powerful tool that enables you to track various events on your website without touching the website’s code directly.
Now, let’s dive into the step-by-step process of tracking Contact Form 7 submissions with Google Tag Manager.
Step 1: Set up Google Tag Manager
If you haven’t already, create a Google Tag Manager account and set up a container for your website. Install the GTM container code on your website by following the provided instructions. This code snippet should be placed within the <head> section of each page.
Step 2: Create a GTM Trigger
Next, we need to create a trigger in GTM that fires when a Contact Form 7 submission occurs. In GTM, go to the “Triggers” section and click on “New” to create a new trigger. Name your trigger something intuitive, like “Contact Form 7 Submission.”
Under the trigger configuration, select the trigger type as “Form Submission.” In the “Configure Trigger” section, choose “Some Forms” and specify the CSS selector that targets the Contact Form 7 form on your website. For example, if your form has the ID “contact-form”, the CSS selector would be #contact-form.
Save your trigger configuration, and now we’re ready to move on to the next step.
Step 3: Set up a GTM Tag
In this step, we’ll create a GTM tag that sends the event data to Google Analytics or any other analytics platform of your choice. In GTM, navigate to the “Tags” section and click on “New” to create a new tag. Name your tag something descriptive, such as “Contact Form 7 Submission Tracking.”
For the tag configuration, select the appropriate tag template for your analytics platform (e.g., Google Analytics). Fill in the necessary fields, such as the tracking ID or other relevant information required by your analytics platform.
Under the “Triggering” section, select the trigger you created in the previous step (“Contact Form 7 Submission”). This ensures that the tag fires only when a Contact Form 7 submission occurs.
Save your tag configuration, and we’re almost there!
Step 4: Publish and Test
Before deploying your changes, it’s essential to test if everything is working as intended. In GTM, click on the “Submit” button to publish your container changes.
Visit your website and fill out the Contact Form 7 form. Open your browser’s developer tools (usually accessible via right-clicking and selecting “Inspect”), and go to the “Network” tab. Look for a successful HTTP POST request with the form submission data. This indicates that your GTM configuration is working correctly.
To double-check, visit your analytics platform and check if the Contact Form 7 submissions are being tracked. If you see the data coming through, congratulations, you have successfully set up Contact Form 7 tracking with Google Tag Manager!
Conclusion
Tracking Contact Form 7 submissions using Google Tag Manager provides valuable insights into user interactions and helps optimize marketing efforts. By following the step-by-step process outlined in this article, you can easily implement Contact Form 7 tracking on your website. Remember to continuously analyze the data and adjust your marketing strategies accordingly for maximum impact.