So many tips, so little time! Here I whizzed through the top 10 most awesome bits of functionality of Google Tag Manager, focusing on Google Analytics benefits. Tips from beginner to expert level, so choose what is right for you to learn next!

1. GOOGLETAGMANAGER:10
CRUCIALTASKS
UNLEASH YOUR DATA & IMPROVE WEBSITE PERFORMANCE
ANNA@POLKADOTDATA.COM

2. THEPOWEROFGTM
ANNA@POLKADOTDATA.COM
OBJECTIVE

3. FORYOUTOLEARNANDLOVEGTM
ANNA@POLKADOTDATA.COM

4. FOUNDER
ANNA@POLKADOTDATA.COM
@ANNATLEWIS
@POLKADOTDATA
ANNALEWIS
SEO for 5+ years, PPC for 3+
Specialised in Google Analytics for 10+ years
Blogger, Speaker, Trainer
Managed GA & GTM at Wiggle
Founded Polka Dot Data in 2016

5. ANNA@POLKADOTDATA.COM
MAKING WEB ANALYTICS DO THE WORK FOR YOU
Google Analytics
Google Tag Manager
Google Data Studio
• Training
• Implementation
• Platform migration
• Dashboarding & Automating reports
POLKADOTDATA

6. UNLEASHINGTHEDATA

7. THEWORLDISYOUROYSTER

8. PLANPLANPLAN

9. WHATISMOSTBENEFICIAL?

10. BUSINESSOBJECTIVESAREKEY

11. FOCUSONWHATYOUCANCHANGE

12. FULL CREDIT TO EREZ AND YEHUDA AT THINK USER: HTTPS://MEDIUM.COM/@EREZ_21860/THINKING-IN-CIRCLES-2BBF7131F3B7
The best GA implementation is useless if you don’t apply it to the business.
Start by thinking about what you want to optimise – AKA decisions and
objectives
Optimisation ideas > Reporting > Tracking
THINKINGINCIRCLES-YEHUDARAIZNER
User
PlatformProduct

13. FULL CREDIT TO EREZ AND YEHUDA AT THINK USER: HTTPS://MEDIUM.COM/@EREZ_21860/THINKING-IN-CIRCLES-2BBF7131F3B7
The best GA implementation is useless if you don’t apply it to the business.
Start by thinking about what you want to optimise – AKA decisions and
objectives
Optimisation ideas > Reporting > Tracking
Don’t ask questions suiting only one circle, such as, “Which marketing
methods are used by people to get to my site”
Ask questions that overlap –
• “Which page should I implement a lead generation form on”
THINKINGINCIRCLES-YEHUDARAIZNER
User
PlatformProduct

14. FULL CREDIT TO EREZ AND YEHUDA AT THINK USER: HTTPS://MEDIUM.COM/@EREZ_21860/THINKING-IN-CIRCLES-2BBF7131F3B7
The best GA implementation is useless if you don’t apply it to the business.
Start by thinking about what you want to optimise – AKA decisions and
objectives
Optimisation ideas > Reporting > Tracking
Don’t ask questions suiting only one circle, such as, “Which marketing
methods are used by people to get to my site”
Ask questions that overlap –
• “Which page should I implement a lead generation form on”
• “What’s the conversion rate of users who saw out of stock items”
• “how many products should be in a listing page in order to generate the
best product click through rates?”
THINKINGINCIRCLES-YEHUDARAIZNER
User
PlatformProduct

15. FULL CREDIT TO EREZ AND YEHUDA AT THINK USER: HTTPS://MEDIUM.COM/@EREZ_21860/THINKING-IN-CIRCLES-2BBF7131F3B7
EXAMPLEPLAN
Business
Question
KPI /
Number
Event Custom Dim Custom
Metric
Goal Number Ecomm
Metric
Priority
Order*
KPI Time Frame User Product Platform
3 months Q3 Q7 Q11
6 months Q17 Q1 Q13
12 months Q18 Q25 Q33

16. EXAMPLEPLAN
FULL CREDIT TO EREZ AND YEHUDA AT THINK USER: HTTPS://MEDIUM.COM/@EREZ_21860/THINKING-IN-CIRCLES-2BBF7131F3B7

17. THEDATALAYER

20. REPORTS &
INSIGHTS
TAG PLANDL PLAN
MEASUREMENT
PLAN

21. REPORTS &
INSIGHTS
TAG PLANDL PLAN
MEASUREMENT
PLAN

22. ON SITE

23. CUSTOM
JAVASCRIPT

24. ON SITE
BOTH
CUSTOM
JAVASCRIPT

25. ENHANCED
ECOMMERCE

26. BY HAVING EVERYTHING TRACKED WITH ENHANCED ECOMMERCE
THEQUESTIONSYOUCANASK…
What marketing channels bring people in who look at products but don’t add to cart?
What devices are people using who add to cart but don’t purchase?
Which is the biggest drop out point in the journey for new users on their mobiles?
How much money are we spending on marketing channels that have high returns rates?
Are there checkout issues in specific countries?
How much money would we make if we could decrease the drop out from shipping? Would this offset
the cost of subsidising delivery?

27. PRODUCTDATA
FROMIMPRESSION
TOPURCHASE

28. TICKABOX+USEADATALAYER

29. TICKTHEBOXESINYOURTAG

30. <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
window.dataLayer.push({
'ecommerce': {
'purchase': {
'actionField': {
'id': 'P42WWS',
'revenue': 100.00,
'tax': 20.00,
'shipping': 5.00,
},
'products': [{
'name': 'Android Figure',
'id': '12345',
'price': 10.00,
'brand': 'Google',
'category': 'Gifts',
'variant': 'small, orange',
'quantity': 1,
},
{
'name': 'Nexus 7 Tablet',
'id': '56789',
'price': 90.00,
'brand': 'Nexus',
'category': 'Tablets',
'variant': ‘7 G3100',
'quantity': 1
}
]
}
}
});</script>
HTTPS://DEVELOPERS.GOOGLE.COM/TAG-MANAGER/ENHANCED-ECOMMERCE
DATALAYERSPEC.
Provide developers a table of information with the specification broken down with notes
and examples as well as an example of the code to help them build the Data Layer.
Push 'Purchase' and include
transaction and product data
alongside it.
This first section is referencing
the transaction level data
purchase
id This needs to match the order ID within your system. P42WWS
revenue This will be your price minus the tax & shipping 100.00
tax This needs to match how much tax is in the order 20.00
shipping This needs to match the shipping costs 5.00
This section is referencing the
product level data
purchase.
products
id Product ID used in your systems TBC
name Name of the product Android Figure
brand Brand of the product Google
category Category within the site Gifts
variant Variants, such as Size 10, blue etc small, orange
price Price of product 10.00
quantity Total of this item purchased 1

32. CUSTOM
DIMENSIONS&
METRICS

33. SIMPLEGTMIMPLEMENTATION

34. YOURBUSINESS.YOURDATA.

35. SCOPE
HIT
PRODUCT
SESSION
USER

36. HITLEVEL
Hit Timestamp
Session ID
Client ID
User ID
GTM ID & version
Payload Length
Hit Type
Tab Type
Tabs Open
Tab ID
Page Type
Product Type
Category
Sub Category

37. PRODUCTLEVEL
DIMENSIONS
Product Variant
Size
Category
Length of Subscription
Est. end of product life
METRICS
RRP
Discount Value
Impressions

38. SESSIONLEVEL
Device orientation
Split test variant
Payment Method
Currency
Weather
Language
Full referrer
Business Week / Period
Section of day
Type of session

39. USERLEVEL
User ID
New Customer vs Existing
Account Holder (by Type)
Loyalty Level
RFM
Level of Membership
Historic spend
Registration date
Don’t forget to comply with GDPR

40. WHATCOULDMAKEADIFFERENCETO
YOURBUSINESS?

41. ISTHEREANYDATAYOUCOULDPUTONA
POSTCARDTOYOURFUTURESELF?

42. UXEVENTS

43. TRACKUSEREXPERIENCE.
TRACKENGAGEMENT.

44. TRACKTHEGOOD.
TRACKTHEBAD.

45. micro conversions macro conversions
click product
add
to
cart
download
chose
size
menu
search
hero
banner
filter
purchase / lead
gen
engagement
TRACKWHATMATTERSTOYOU

46. Conversion Engagement Anti Conversions
Product image engagement Product with no images viewed
Form submissions
Form Submit Failures, Abandonment, Field
Errors
Add to Cart Add to Cart errors
Variant Selection No variants clicked, or out of stock variants
Buy/Donate/Register clicks Errors on Buy/Donate/Register buttons
UNDERSTAND CONVERSION BLOCKERS

47. GTMFORSEO

48. DYNAMICSCHEMA
Variable opening times
High number of stores
Convert product data layer to Schema mark up
Saves dev time
Much more agile

49. CANONICALTAGS
Easy implementation for self referencing canonicals
Can utilise the data layer
Save developer resource

50. META
Easy implementation
Can utilise the data layer
Save developer resource

51. CUSTOMTASK

52. GTM:THEPSYCHOLOGISTTOYOURDATA.
FIXESISSUESYOUDIDN’TKNOWYOUHAD,
PROVIDESALOTOFEXTRASUPPORT.

53. GTM:THEPSYCHOLOGISTTOYOURDATA.
ITCANKEEPYOULEGALANDSAFE
ITHELPSYOUBECOMETHEBESTYOUCAN

54. WHATHAPPENS?
Task Description
customTask No functionality of its own, but can be used to manipulate the model object before it is processed by the other tasks.
previewTask If the request is generated from the pageview of a “Top Sites” thumbnail in Safari, abort the hit.
checkProtocolTask Aborts the request if the page protocol is not valid (http or https).
validationTask
Checks if the fields in the request have valid and expected values. Aborts the request if this is not the case (e.g. trying to send a string as the
Event Value).
historyImportTask
If there is still legacy tracking running on the site, this task imports information from the old GA library cookies into Universal Analytics. Very
useful if the site is migrating to Universal Analytics.
samplerTask
If you’ve decided to manually sample the users to stay within Google Analytics’ processing limits, this task aborts the request if the user is
sampled out of data collection.
buildHitTask Generates the hitPayload string, which is essentially the list of query parameters and their values passed to the Measurement Protocol request.
sendHitTask Sends the hitPayload in a Measurement Protocol request to the GA servers.
timingTask If you are automatically sampling pages for page speed measurements, this task sends the timing hit to Google Analytics.
displayFeaturesTask If you have enabled display features in GA settings, this task compiles the request to the DoubleClick servers.
WWW.SIMOAHAVA.COM/ANALYTICS/CUSTOMTASK-THE-GUIDE/

55. WHATHAPPENS?
Task Description
customTask No functionality of its own, but can be used to manipulate the model object before it is processed by the other tasks.
previewTask If the request is generated from the pageview of a “Top Sites” thumbnail in Safari, abort the hit.
checkProtocolTask Aborts the request if the page protocol is not valid (http or https).
validationTask
Checks if the fields in the request have valid and expected values. Aborts the request if this is not the case (e.g. trying to send a string as the
Event Value).
historyImportTask
If there is still legacy tracking running on the site, this task imports information from the old GA library cookies into Universal Analytics. Very
useful if the site is migrating to Universal Analytics.
samplerTask
If you’ve decided to manually sample the users to stay within Google Analytics’ processing limits, this task aborts the request if the user is
sampled out of data collection.
buildHitTask Generates the hitPayload string, which is essentially the list of query parameters and their values passed to the Measurement Protocol request.
sendHitTask Sends the hitPayload in a Measurement Protocol request to the GA servers.
timingTask If you are automatically sampling pages for page speed measurements, this task sends the timing hit to Google Analytics.
displayFeaturesTask If you have enabled display features in GA settings, this task compiles the request to the DoubleClick servers.

56. USEDTOMANIPULATETHEMODELOBJECT
BEFOREITISPROCESSEDBYTHEOTHERTASKS

57. CUSTOMTASK:
THELEGALSTUFF

58. PERSONALLYIDENTIFIABLEINFORMATION

59. PERSONALLYIDENTIFIABLEINFORMATION

60. GACOOKIEOPTOUT

61. GACOOKIEOPTOUT

62. CUSTOMTASK:
THEEXTRASTUFF

63. CUSTOMDIMENSIONS

64. CLIENT ID
HIT TYPE
PAYLOAD
LENGTH
OPTIMIZE
CUSTOMDIMENSIONS

65. CUSTOMTASK:
ACCURACY

66. IMPROVEACCURACY

67. REDUCE
PAYLOAD
STOP
DUPLICATE
TRANSACTIONS
IMPROVEACCURACY
ESSENTIAL

68. CROSS
DOMAIN
AUTO LINK
REGEX
OFFLINE
BROWSING
IMPROVEACCURACY
HANDY

69. SESSION
COOKIES
LOCAL
STORAGE
FOR
CLIENT ID
IMPROVEACCURACY
RARE

70. CUSTOMTASK
FOREXPANSION

71. DUPLICATEHIT
• Additional GA property
• Legacy account
• Global Roll up data
• Test property - obfuscated
• Snowplough

72. THERE’S
MORE!

73. FURTHERREADING!
SERVERSIDE
TRACKING
CUSTOM
TEMPLATES
MONITORING
API

74. THETOOLS

75. USESIMO’SCUSTOMTASKBUILDERTOOL:
WWW.SIMOAHAVA.COM/TOOLS/CUSTOMTASK-BUILDER/
UNDERSTANDTHEGUIDE:
WWW.SIMOAHAVA.COM/ANALYTICS/CUSTOMTASK-THE-GUIDE/
And follow Simo if you’re not already!

76. GTMPREVIEW

77. GADEBUGGER

78. GADEBUGGER

79. GOOGLETAGASSISTANT

80. DEBUGGINGQUESTIONS
Do you trust it?
Do all the hits you expect to see show? Are there more?
Do you have access to all the accounts?
What customisations are in place?
Is the ecommerce data actually correct throughout the journey?
Do I have the right data for the business KPIs?
Can I easily make decisions from this data?
How will this make me money?

81. ISYOURDATAWORKINGFORYOU?

82. IF IT ISN’T, I’M HERE FOR YOU

83. ANNA LEWIS
ANNA@POLKADOTDATA.COM
BOOK A CHAT:
POLKADOTDATA.AS.ME
@ANNATLEWIS
@POLKADOTDATA
SPEAKSOON!