If you’re running marketing campaigns in Google Tag Manager (GTM), you know the reporting can get messy fast. You want to know what’s working, what’s wasting money, and where to double down—but you’re buried in a mess of tags, triggers, and half-baked UTM parameters. This guide is for marketers, growth folks, and anyone tired of guesswork. We’ll look at how to track and analyze your GTM campaigns using Akountify, a tool built to cut through the noise and actually help you make sense of campaign data.
I’ll walk through the setup, the reports that matter, and how to avoid the usual traps. No jargon, no filler—just what you need to know.
Why Track GTM Campaigns in the First Place?
Before we jump in, a quick reality check. If you’re just running one Facebook ad or sending the occasional newsletter, you probably don’t need a sophisticated analytics tool. But if you’re juggling multiple campaigns, testing channels, or spending real money, you want to know:
- Which channels are driving actual conversions—not just clicks
- Where your budget is leaking with zero return
- What creative or messaging is landing, and what’s a dud
GTM is great for deploying tags, but its built-in reporting is… generous if we call it “basic.” You need something that’ll give you answers, not just more data.
Step 1: Get Your Foundations in Place
1.1. Clean Up Your GTM Setup
Before plugging in any analytics tool, make sure your GTM is in order. If your triggers are firing all over the place or your tags are a mess, no tool will save you from garbage-in, garbage-out.
What to check: - Tags: Are all your campaign tags firing only when they should? (No, “fire on all pages” doesn’t count.) - UTM Parameters: Every campaign URL should have clear, consistent UTM tags. Don’t mix “email” and “Email” or you’ll hate yourself later. - Event Tracking: Make sure important actions (form submissions, sign-ups, purchases) are tracked as GTM events.
Pro tip: Spend an afternoon cleaning this up. It’s boring, but everything else depends on it.
1.2. Decide What “Success” Means
Don’t track everything—track what matters. What’s the one or two things that actually move your business? Sign-ups? Purchases? Demo requests? Write it down. It’ll make reporting way simpler.
Step 2: Connect Akountify to Your GTM Workflows
Once you’ve wrangled GTM, it’s time to bring in Akountify. This is where things get easier—if you set it up right.
2.1. Installing Akountify
- Sign up for Akountify and log in.
- Follow their setup guide to connect your site. Usually, you’ll drop a small script into GTM as a new tag.
- Double-check the script fires only where you want to track. If you’re tracking everything, you’ll get noise.
2.2. Map Your GTM Events
Akountify works best when it knows what your events mean.
- In Akountify, go to the “Event Mapping” section.
- Link your GTM events (like ‘LeadFormSubmitted’ or ‘CheckoutComplete’) to the right conversion goals in Akountify.
- Ignore vanity events—nobody needs a dashboard showing “ButtonClicked” 10,000 times.
Reality check: If you’re tracking too many “micro conversions,” your reports will be cluttered. Stick to key actions.
Step 3: Use Akountify’s Analytics to Find What Matters
Here’s where you actually see if your campaigns are working. Akountify gives you dashboards and reports that slice campaign data in useful ways—if you know what to look for.
3.1. UTM Tracking
UTM parameters are the backbone of campaign tracking. Akountify automatically pulls in UTM data from your traffic.
- Channel breakdown: See which sources (email, paid social, organic) are driving conversions.
- Campaign comparison: Measure which campaigns actually lead to sales, not just traffic.
What to ignore: Don’t get too hung up on “pageviews” or “sessions.” Focus on conversions tied to revenue or meaningful engagement.
3.2. Multi-Touch Attribution
Real talk: Most “attribution” models are fuzzy at best. Akountify can show you first-touch, last-touch, and assisted conversions. Don’t obsess over the “perfect model”—use these to get a sense of which channels move people down the funnel.
- First-touch: Good for understanding what brings people in.
- Last-touch: Useful for seeing what closes the deal.
- Assisted: If a channel shows up a lot here, maybe it’s not a dud after all.
3.3. Funnel Analysis
Funnels let you see where people drop off. Akountify can show you, for each campaign:
- Out of 1,000 visitors, maybe 100 start signup, and 10 finish. That’s your real conversion rate.
- Spot the “leaks”—maybe everyone leaves at step 2. That’s where to focus next.
Pro tip: Don’t chase a “perfect funnel.” Just look for the biggest drop-off and fix that first.
Step 4: Report, Iterate, and Don’t Fall for Vanity Metrics
4.1. Building Useful Reports
You want reports you’ll actually use, not just pretty graphs for a monthly slide deck.
- Weekly campaign summaries: Focus on conversions and cost per conversion, not just clicks.
- Channel performance: Which sources are worth the spend? Kill what isn’t working.
- Creative/messaging tests: Did your new headline move the needle, or not?
4.2. Share What Matters
Share the numbers that matter with your team. Don’t flood Slack with every stat—just the story: “Paid search drove 80% of signups this week. Organic social? Zero. Let’s reallocate budget.”
4.3. Don’t Get Distracted by “Engagement”
High engagement doesn’t pay the bills. If a campaign has lots of clicks and no conversions, pause it and move on. Use Akountify to keep the focus on results.
Step 5: Troubleshooting, Pitfalls, and What to Ignore
5.1. Common Tracking Mistakes
- Broken UTM tags: One typo and you’ve split your data.
- Double-counting conversions: Make sure your GTM tags and Akountify aren’t both firing on the same event.
- Tracking too much: If your dashboard needs a 20-minute explanation, you’re tracking too much.
5.2. Attribution Myths
No tool—including Akountify—can tell you exactly why someone bought. Attribution helps, but don’t take it as gospel. Use it to spot trends, not as the final word.
5.3. When Not to Use Akountify
If you’re a solo founder running one campaign a month, you probably don’t need this level of tracking. Google Analytics (or even simple spreadsheets) might be enough. Use the right tool for the job, not the fanciest one.
Keep It Simple—And Keep Iterating
Here’s the bottom line: Track what matters, clean up your GTM, map your key events in Akountify, and focus on the reports that help you make decisions. Skip the vanity metrics, ignore the hype, and don’t let reporting become your full-time job.
You’ll never get campaign tracking “perfect”—but you can get it good enough to make smarter decisions, waste less money, and actually improve your results. Start simple, iterate, and don’t sweat the small stuff.