Why this one measurement change will (actually) transform your marketing actions.

Yes, a human (me - Ryan Levander) did write this article title. Sorry for using the word "transform" since Generative AI loves that word now.

I do actually think this process will transform your marketing actions. If it doesn't then please comment below if you need help here (seriously, it's awesome).

The one thing that will help transform your marketing actions is learning how Element Visibility works in Google Tag Manager.

But that's not what I'll be writing about today...

...first, I need to convince you that this will actually transform your marketing.

Let's start by addressing 2 core problems with how Marketers measure website behaviors:

1. They only set up bottom of funnel goals (see my previous M&M edition guiding you on why/how you should fix this)
2. "Engagement" is one of the worst terms Marketers use and never define.

What does engagement mean??

GA4's definition of an "Engaged Session" is

The number of sessions that lasted 10 seconds or longer, or had 1 or more conversion events or 2 or more page or screen views. Engaged sessions is the inverse of low engagement sessions.

The only time you should use this is if you don't have something setup outside of this. It's a "good enough to get going" type of metric, but please, don't count on this long term...set up your own definition ASAP! (if you are using this longer than 1 month you are doing it wrong)

Why are engaged sessions a "bad" metric?

That's like saying I walked into a car dealership and asked to use their bathroom, then left. Technically I was in there for a few mins, so it was an "engaged session" - right?

It was not "engaged" at all. Heck, I'm not even in the market to buy a car.

...we would never call that "engaged" or that the prospect was interested, so why settle for that with our website measurement?

I've even seen bots show up as "engaged" with GA4's built in Engaged Sessions 🙄

The problem is we aren't listening to the conversation the user is having with the website.

And yes, the user is having a conversation with your website.

...the problem is that we aren't listening. Or we are, but we are too far away (scroll depth, time on page, engaged sessions) to actually make out what they are saying.

Imagine if you had to sell a car to a prospect who was inside the car and the doors were shut and windows were closed.

You could make out a few things they were saying, but if they weren't shouting, you would never make out what they are actually saying.

Selling the car would be hard because you wouldn't be listening at all! You might say "This has all the safety features for you and your family" and they would be like, "I'm a single Entrepreneur looking for a sports car!"

Of course car salesmen don't sell that way...but website Measurement functions this way all the time 🤦🏼♂️

This is why you should be using element visibility on your site.

You will be on the same side of the table as that prospect looking to buy a car to truly hear their conversation.

Element visibility has the ability to tell you what sections are actually being read on your site.

You can get as detailed as you want, down to the element (hence the name). But usually it makes sense to focus on sections since they are grouped together.

I like to focus primarily on headlines and CTAs to start. That can get you SO far with your marketing (and honestly, website never have this setup). It can drastically improve your actions especially if you are looking at traffic sources leading to those headlines/CTAs to look at congruency. (Ads message --> Landing Page headline and CTA, etc)

Let's use an example from my site.

Since I have a simple site (soon to be updated, btw) I want to know if users are aware of the services that I offer when coming to my site.

Let's take this services section, right below the homepage hero:

I'll go into more of the setup on how to do this next week, but just know that you can customize the rules for element visibility. And you absolutely should customize it across page templates (the homepage is worth the custom setup effort).

I setup this in GTM to make sure this is in their viewable window for 4 seconds (this way I know they are actually learning/reading about my services and not just scrolling past the section).

Here is a sneak peak at how I do this initial part (so you can see how this works - a teaser for next week's edition):

And how I use that in GTM's Element Visibility Trigger:

Now instead of just saying "Did they scroll to here?" - I can level up my question-game in Measurement to be, "Did they actually read this?"

And if so, what is the click through rate (CTR) for this section as a whole?

Imagine, you now have a CTR for all headlines and CTAs on your website. If this isn't a Copywriter and Marketer's data dream, I don't know what is...

Here is how it looks in GA4:

If I was to look at how many viewed this page and scroll 25% or more, it would be over 8,000 total users. The reality is that over half aren't even looking at my services. It's pretty hard to do business with someone when they don't seriously consider the services offered.

So should we try to get more people to book a call? NO!

We should try to focus on driving more awareness of the services I/Rednavel Consulting offers. 4% isn't high enough at all.

Sure, users could learn about the services I offer via LinkedIn, etc...but even then, chances are high you are going to want to read about what those are on the site, see pricing, FAQs, etc.

Can you start to see the power here? It forces you to break down the user website journey to make sure no section goes to waste.

What about the sections without buttons? Those are less common, but they will occur (like looking over testimonials, maybe). There is still value in setting up this for sections without CTAs. This way you know what is engaging for users (are they actually reading testimonials or just scrolling by them)?

If they are scrolling by them, then that might be a good reason to run a test to increase the prominence.

I'll leave you with another teaser for next week - think if you could "optimize like an SEO" with this newfound knowledge of what gets impressions on your site, but has low clicks?

I might even share a Looker Studio template where you can sort by the CTR of sections with impressions and low clicks.

At the very least, this is useful in all hero sections of your website.

And remember when you hear "engagement" always ask "What is that definition?" - it should be treated no different than conversions.

First thing I ask is "What conversion?" - what I mean by that is my different goal types article I wrote last week :)

Was this useful? Please comment below! The more comments and feedback I get the quicker I'll write/shape next week's edition 🙂