How to Track Popups with GTM and GA4 (Explained)

Are you looking for an easy guide on how to track popups?

Popups are a common feature on websites. They are used to grab attention, promote offers, collect leads, or share important messages. You may have seen popups offering discounts, showing announcements, or asking for email signups.

Tracking popups is essential for understanding how users interact with them. It tells you how often a popup is displayed, clicked, or dismissed. This data helps you improve popup designs and messaging for better results.

Google Tag Manager (GTM) is a tool that simplifies popup tracking. It lets you set up triggers and track popup events without editing your website’s code. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) works alongside GTM to report and analyze these popup interactions.

In this guide, we’ll teach you how to track popups with Google Tag Manager and analyze the results in Google Analytics 4. You’ll also discover how to create reports to evaluate popup performance.

What is Popup Tracking?

Popup tracking is the process of monitoring how users interact with popups on your website. It helps collect data about popup displays, clicks, dismissals, and form submissions.

By tracking popups, you can:

• See how often a popup is displayed to users.
• Measure how many users click on popup links or buttons.
• Identify if users submit forms or take specific actions through popups.

For example, you might want to track the number of users who click on a Black Friday Buy Now popup. This data shows which popups are effective and which need improvement.

Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics 4 make popup tracking easy. GTM tracks popup events, such as when a popup is shown or a form is submitted. GA4 then reports this data, helping you analyze the performance of your popups.

Why is Popup Tracking Important?

Tracking popups gives you valuable insights into user behavior and the effectiveness of your campaigns. Without tracking, you’re guessing whether your popups are working.

Here are the key benefits of popup tracking:

• Measure Performance: Track how often popups are displayed and interacted with.
• Optimize Conversions: Identify which popups lead to clicks, form submissions, or purchases.
• Improve User Experience: Spot popups that may annoy users or fail to grab attention.
• Test Messaging: Compare different messages or designs to see which performs better.
• Align with Goals: Ensure popups contribute to marketing and business objectives.

With tools like GTM and GA4, popup tracking becomes manageable. You can collect and analyze data without needing advanced coding skills.

How to Track Popups with Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager (GTM) simplifies the process of tracking popups. By setting up triggers and tags, you can track popup interactions without modifying your website’s code. 

Below are two methods to help you how to track popups in Google Tag Manager.

Tracking When a Popup is Displayed

1. Identify the Popup Element:
   • Use your website’s developer tools to find the unique CSS selector or ID for the popup element.
2. Create an Element Visibility Trigger:
   • Open GTM, go to the Triggers section and click New.

• Then, to choose the trigger type, click on the Element Visibility trigger type.

• Configure the trigger:
  • Selection Method: Choose “ID” or “CSS Selector” based on your popup.

• Element Selector: Enter the popup’s unique identifier.

• Visibility Option: Set it to “Once per page” to track only the first popup display.

• Save the trigger.

3. Create a Tag for Tracking:
   • Go to the Tags section and create a new tag.

• Choose GA4 Event as the tag type.

• Configure the event:
  • Event Name: Use a name like “popup_submitted”.
  • Parameters: Add custom parameters like popup_name to identify the popup.

• Link the tag to the visibility trigger you created.
• Save and publish the tag.

4. Test the Setup:
   • Use GTM’s Preview mode to check if the trigger fires when the popup is displayed.
   • Verify the event in GA4’s DebugView.

Tracking a Popup Success Message

1. Find the Success Message Element:
   • Use developer tools to locate the ID or class of the success message.
2. Create a Click Trigger:
   • Go to GTM’s Triggers section and create a new trigger.

• Choose the Click – All Elements trigger type.

• Configure the trigger:
  • This Trigger Fires On: Select “Some Clicks”.
  • Add conditions based on the success message’s ID or class (e.g., Click ID equals success message).
• Save the trigger.

3. Set Up a Tag for Tracking:
   • Create a new tag in GTM.
   • Choose GA4 Event as the tag type.
   • Configure the event:
     • Event Name: Use something like “popup_success”.
     • Parameters: Add details such as form_name or popup_type.
   • Assign the click trigger to this tag.
   • Save and publish the tag.
4. Test the Setup:
   • Use GTM’s Preview mode to check if the trigger fires when the success message appears.
   • Confirm the event in GA4’s DebugView.

How to Track Popup in Google Analytics

Once you’ve set up popup tracking using GTM, the data will flow into Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Creating a custom report in GA4 helps you analyze popup performance. Follow these steps to set up the report:

1. Access GA4 Explore

• Log in to your GA4 account.
• Navigate to the Explore section on the left-hand menu.                                      

• Click Blank to start a new exploration.

• Name your exploration (e.g., “Popup Tracking Report”).

2. Add Key Metrics and Dimensions

• Metrics:
  • Click + Add Metric and select relevant metrics like:
    • Event Count (to track how often popup events occur).
    • Conversions (if linked to popup events).
  • Save your selection.
• Dimensions:
  • Click + Add Dimension and include relevant options like:
    • Event Name (e.g., “popup_displayed” or “popup_success”).
    • Page Path (to see which pages triggered popups).
    • User Device or Browser (to understand user demographics).

• Save your dimensions.

3. Build the Report

• Drag and drop the dimensions into the Rows section and metrics into the Values section.
• Example setup:
  • Rows: Event Name, Page Path.
  • Values: Event Count, Conversions.

4. Visualize Your Data

• Choose a visualization type (e.g., table, line chart, or bar chart).
• Review how different popups perform across various pages and user segments.

5. Save and Share the Report

• Save your exploration for future use.
• Share the report with stakeholders if needed.

This report provides insights into how often popups are displayed, clicked, or lead to conversions. Use this data to optimize your popups for better engagement and results.

Different Types of Popup Tracking with GTM

If your website uses multiple types of popups, you can track them separately:

Timed Popups: Configure triggers that fire after a set time on the page.

• Create a Timer Trigger in GTM:
• Set the timer interval (e.g., 30 seconds).
• Limit the number of times the timer fires (e.g., once per page view).

Example Setup:

• Trigger Type: Timer.
• Event Name in GA4: timed_popup_shown.
• Parameters:
  • popup_type: timed
  • time_delay: 30s

This trigger will fire a Google Analytics 4 (GA4) event when the popup appears after the set time. It will help you in tracking popup messages in GTM.

Exit-Intent Popups: Use a custom JavaScript trigger to track user mouse movements that activate exit-intent popups.

Inline Popups: Use an Element Visibility trigger to detect popups embedded within the page content.

• Set the trigger to fire when the popup’s CSS selector (e.g., #popup-inline) is visible in the viewport.

Example Setup:

• Trigger Type: Element Visibility.
  • Selection Method: CSS Selector.
  • Selector: #popup-inline.
• Event Name in GA4: inline_popup_shown.
• Parameters:
  • popup_type: inline
  • content_id: {{Element ID}}

This trigger fires when the specific inline popup becomes visible, ensuring accurate tracking.

Setting different event names or parameters for each type allows for better analysis in GA4.

Popup Tracking Best Practices

Properly categorizing popup events ensures cleaner and more actionable data:

• Use consistent naming conventions for events (e.g., “popup_displayed”, “popup_success”).
• Add custom parameters like popup_type, popup_name, or form_status for detailed segmentation.
• Group similar events together in GA4 to simplify reporting (e.g., all popup-related events under “Popup Events”).

Troubleshooting Popup Tracking

If Popups tracking isn’t working as expected, try these fixes:

• Check GTM Debug Mode: Use the Preview mode to verify that triggers and tags fire correctly.

• Inspect GA4 DebugView: Ensure events are visible in GA4’s real-time DebugView to confirm data is flowing.

• Validate Selectors: Double-check the CSS selector or ID used in your triggers. Incorrect or dynamic selectors may cause the tag to fail.
• Look for Conflicts: Ensure no other GTM tags interfere with popup tracking tags.

Popup Tracking in WordPress

For WordPress users, Analytify offers an alternative and simplified solution for tracking popups. With its easy-to-use interface, you can track popup interactions and gain insights without needing complex setups in GTM or GA4.

How to Track Popup Form Submissions with Analytify

• If your popups include forms (e.g., email signups or lead generation), the Analytify form tracking add-on helps you track form submissions seamlessly.

• It captures form submissions as events and displays them in an organized dashboard.

• No manual setup is needed—Analytify automatically integrates with Google Analytics.

Ecommerce Popup Tracking

• For online stores, popups promoting discounts or deals can directly impact sales.
• Analytify’s ecommerce tracking feature monitors how popups influence conversions and revenue.
• Example: Track how many users clicked on a popup offering a discount code and completed a purchase.

Why Use Analytify?

• Ease of Use: Ideal for WordPress users who want simple popup tracking without managing triggers and tags.
• Comprehensive Reporting: Get detailed reports on popup interactions alongside other website data.
• Integrated Solution: Automatically connects with Google Analytics, eliminating the need for additional tools.

If you’re looking for a fast and efficient way to track popups, Analytify is a great choice for WordPress sites.

Popup Tracking FAQs

Final Thoughts: Popup Tracking

Tracking popups is essential for understanding how users interact with them and improving their effectiveness. You can collect meaningful data without modifying your website’s code by using Google Tag Manager for tracking and Google Analytics 4 for reporting.

The insights you gain from tracking popup impressions, clicks, and form submissions can help you optimize designs, messaging, and targeting. It leads to better user engagement and higher conversion rates.

If you’re a WordPress user, tools like Analytify provide an easier alternative for popup tracking. They eliminate the need for manual setups while offering detailed reports and actionable insights.

We hope this article helped you understand how to track popups in GA4.

You may also like to read:

• Google Analytics 4 Click Tracking: A Complete Guide
• How to Track Form Submissions in Google Analytics 4

Now, we’d love to hear from you. Share your thoughts in the comment below.