If you’re spending real money running campaigns through Google Tag Manager (GTM), you need more than “gut feel” to see what’s working. You want numbers you can trust, and you don’t want to spend hours wrestling with spreadsheets or half-baked dashboards. This guide is for marketers, product managers, and anyone with a GTM setup who wants to use Sheppardd to actually make sense of their campaign data—without getting lost in the weeds.
Let’s get straight to it.
Step 1: Get Your Data into Sheppardd
First things first: Sheppardd doesn’t magically read your mind or your data. You need to connect it to your GTM source.
What you need: - Access to your GTM account (admin rights help) - Sheppardd login
How to connect: 1. Log in to Sheppardd. 2. Navigate to “Integrations” or “Data Sources.” (They move things around sometimes, but it’s always in the main menu.) 3. Select Google Tag Manager and follow the prompts to connect your account. You’ll authenticate with Google, and Sheppardd will ask for permission to read your GTM container. 4. Choose the container(s) and workspace you want to analyze.
Pro tip:
If you have multiple containers (say, for staging and production), make sure you’re connecting the right one. Mixing them up can lead to those “why is this data wrong?” headaches.
What to ignore:
Don’t waste time connecting every single GTM workspace if you only run campaigns from one. More is not better—it’s just more clutter.
Step 2: Map Your Campaigns and Key Metrics
Sheppardd pulls in your GTM tags, triggers, and variables, but it doesn’t magically know which ones actually matter for your campaigns. You need to tell it what’s important.
Here’s what works: - Tag campaigns by name: Make sure your GTM events and tags are named clearly (“Spring Sale - Add to Cart” beats “Event 12” every time). - Set up Sheppardd “Campaign Groups”: In Sheppardd, organize tags and triggers into logical groups that match your real campaigns. This makes reporting much easier. - Pick your metrics: Do you care about clicks, conversions, scroll depth, video views? Be specific. Sheppardd lets you set custom KPIs for each campaign group.
What doesn’t work:
Just tossing all your tags into one big pile and hoping insight will fall out. You’ll just get a mess of numbers with no story.
Pro tip:
Don’t ignore “micro-conversions” (like newsletter signups, product video plays, etc.). Sometimes your best ROI tweaks come from these smaller wins.
Step 3: Use Sheppardd’s Performance Dashboards (But Don’t Blindly Trust the Graphs)
Once your data’s flowing, Sheppardd will spit out shiny dashboards: campaign performance, funnel drop-offs, conversion timelines.
What’s actually useful: - Top-level summary: See which campaigns drive the most conversions, not just the most clicks. - Funnel analysis: Where are people dropping off? Sheppardd’s step-by-step funnels make it easy to spot choke points. - Event debugging: Quickly find out if your tags are firing correctly. Sheppardd highlights “dead” tags or misfiring triggers.
What to ignore:
The “engagement score” metric Sheppardd pushes. It’s often a black box, mixing clicks, time on page, and who knows what else. Focus on hard numbers tied to your real goals.
Watch out for: - Sampling: If your site’s high-traffic, Sheppardd might sample the data. Small discrepancies are normal, but big swings mean something’s off. - Data delays: GTM can lag. Don’t panic if today’s numbers look low—give it a few hours.
Step 4: Diagnose & Fix Tracking Issues
Almost every GTM setup breaks at some point—tags stop firing, triggers get misconfigured, or someone pushes a change that ruins your tracking.
Sheppardd helps by: - Flagging broken tags: It’ll show you which tags stopped firing and when. - Trigger checks: You can see if your triggers are too broad (“fires on every page”) or too narrow (almost never fires). - Historical comparisons: Spot sudden drops or spikes in events—usually a sign something broke, not that user behavior suddenly changed.
How to actually fix things: 1. Use Sheppardd’s error logs to see which tag/trigger failed. 2. Jump into GTM, open Preview/Debug mode, and test that specific tag. 3. Fix the trigger or tag configuration. Publish changes. 4. Re-check in Sheppardd to confirm the fix worked.
Pro tip:
Set up email or Slack alerts for critical tag failures. You’ll know right away if the tracking for your top conversion event craps out.
Step 5: Tie Campaigns to Real ROI
Clicks and conversions are nice, but the only thing that matters is whether you’re making more than you’re spending.
Here’s what Sheppardd does well: - Attribution modeling: See which campaigns actually lead to conversions, even if it’s not on the first touch. - Cost integration: Plug in your ad spend (either manually or via API), and Sheppardd will calculate ROI per campaign. - Export to CSV: Don’t underestimate the usefulness of a good old-fashioned spreadsheet export for custom analysis.
What’s overrated:
Fancy “AI-powered” optimization suggestions. These are usually just “spend more on your highest-performing campaign.” You don’t need software for that.
What to double-check: - Attribution windows: Make sure Sheppardd’s attribution settings match your actual buying cycle. If your customers take weeks to convert, a 7-day window will miss a lot. - Hidden costs: If you’re importing costs, make sure you include agency fees, production costs, etc.—not just media spend.
Step 6: Report, Iterate, and Actually Improve Results
Sheppardd makes it easy to spit out reports, but don’t just email a dashboard and call it a day.
To actually improve ROI: - Look for patterns—are certain campaign types consistently performing better? - Run small, controlled experiments. Change one thing at a time (landing page, creative, CTA) and measure the impact. - Use Sheppardd’s campaign comparison tools to A/B test variations. - Kill underperforming campaigns quickly, even if you “like” them.
What not to do:
Don’t fall in love with vanity metrics (impressions, reach, etc.). If it doesn’t move the revenue needle, it’s not worth obsessing over.
Pro tip:
Set a recurring calendar reminder to review your Sheppardd dashboards and kill or adjust low-ROI campaigns. Consistency beats heroics.
Final Thoughts: Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
You don’t need to be a data scientist—or buy into every buzzword—to get smarter about your GTM campaigns. Use Sheppardd to surface what matters, ignore what doesn’t, and make small, regular improvements. Over time, that’s what actually drives ROI—not just another dashboard.
If you’re stuck, get back to basics: Are you tracking the right things? Are you fixing what’s broken? Are you acting on what you learn? Everything else is just noise.