Prior to setting up your first goal, you will need to have created a G.A variable and Page Views. To learn more about how to set up these first two steps, please visit the articles in the hyperlinks.
Once done, we are ready to create our very first conversion goal.
There are several methods to create a goal in Google Analytics. Among these methods, the most common are the following:
Destination: We record a conversion when the user visits a page;
Event: We record a conversion when the user performs a specific event.
The second method may require the intervention of developers and the implementation of a tracking plan. For simplicity's sake, we will use the most common method: creating a goal based on a landing page.
Let's assume that our goal is the submission of a contact form, so we will need the url of the page confirming the submission of the contact form. In our case, we will assume that our confirmation URL is www.test.com/confirmation-contact
Go to the Google Analytics admin, then click on "Goals" / “Objectives”.
Then give your target a name (e.g. Contact) and select “Destination".
Enter the destination page in the destination field, as below.
Google also gives us the option to add a conversion value. In our case, we don't consider the submission of a contact form to have any value. However, if the event was a product purchase, then we would want to move the price in question up in the value.
We can also "check" the goal to see if there were any conversions in the last 7 days. This is mainly to see if the goal is set correctly.
After saving, we are done with the creation of our goal!