Page views vs. events
A standard counter measures how many times a page loads. That's useful, but it doesn't tell you what a visitor actually did before they left.
An event is a specific action: clicking "Get a quote", starting to fill out a form, scrolling to the pricing section, tapping a phone number. When those actions are tracked, you see behavior - not just traffic.
Five events to set up first
You don't need to track everything. Start with the actions that are directly connected to a lead or a phone call.
- A tap on the phone number or a messaging button - the most common conversion action on mobile.
- The start of form completion - the user clicks into the first field.
- Form submission - a standard goal, but most useful when paired with the previous one.
- A click on the main call-to-action: "Request a quote", "Get a price estimate", and so on.
- Scroll depth to key sections: pricing, portfolio, contact information.
A form is several events, not one
If you only track form submission, you have no idea how many people started filling it out and gave up. In many cases, that's more than half.
The useful chain is: user sees the form - clicks the first field - submits. The gap between the second and third steps is your form abandonment rate.
A common cause: a form with seven or eight fields on mobile. A user fills in half and closes the page - and without event tracking you never find out.
How to set up events without a developer
Most analytics platforms have a built-in click goal feature that lets you set up tracking by button text or CSS class without writing any code. For simple cases, that's enough.
For more flexibility, use Google Tag Manager: a developer installs the container once, and after that you can add and edit events through the interface without their involvement.
If your site is on a website builder - Tilda, Wix, or similar - check the form settings. There's usually a checkbox to send conversions to your analytics platform that people simply forget to enable.
What to look at in reports
Don't focus on absolute numbers - focus on conversion rates: what share of visits end in a button click, and what share of those clicks end in a form submission. That's your funnel. Where it drops is where the problem is.
Compare traffic sources. Sometimes paid ads bring visitors who leave immediately, while organic search brings people who actually reach the form. Without event tracking, that difference is invisible.
Look at mobile and desktop separately. If mobile conversion is two to three times lower, the problem is most likely in the responsive layout, not the copy.
When event analytics isn't a priority yet
If the site gets fewer than 100 visitors a month, there won't be enough data to draw conclusions. Build the traffic first.
If you have a simple landing page with one form and a phone number, standard form submission tracking and call tracking will do. Detailed event setup would be overkill.
Event analytics pays off when you have traffic, leads are low - and you don't know why.
Event analytics isn't a one-time setup - it's an ongoing tool that shows exactly where customers drop off. Start with the five events from this article, let them collect data for a month, and you'll have specific, actionable questions about your site. If you want to understand what's holding back leads on your site in particular, the team at EFIMOV DEV can connect your analytics and show you where the bottlenecks are.
Frequently asked
Do I need a developer to set up events?
For basic click goals in most analytics platforms - no, the interface handles it. Google Tag Manager requires a developer to install the container once, and from there you can manage events yourself. Complex events - like a step-by-step funnel for an online store - do require code.
Yandex.Metrica or Google Analytics - which should I choose?
For an international audience and global ad platforms, Google Analytics 4 is the more practical choice - it integrates smoothly with most advertising systems and offers flexible funnel configuration. Yandex.Metrica is worth considering if your audience is primarily in Russia: it includes session replay, a click map, and straightforward reports. Both can run on the same site without interfering with each other.
How do I check that an event is set up correctly?
Open Google Tag Manager's preview mode or your analytics platform's real-time report, then trigger the action - click the button, submit the form. If the event appears in the report within a minute, it's working.