GA4 integrity

Executive Summary

Searchflex (GA4 property 475597986) has recorded 3,756 sessions but zero measurable conversion events of any kind — no form submissions, no lead events, no click-to-call, and no email clicks — meaning the business is operating entirely blind to whether any of that traffic is generating leads. With a trust score of 75 and full session data flowing, the instrumentation gap is almost certainly a tracking configuration issue rather than a traffic or form problem. Resolving this is the single highest-leverage action available: until conversions are measured, no channel, campaign, or landing page can be optimised with confidence.

Key metrics

Lead-gen funnel

Top recommendations

1. CRITICAL Implement `generate_lead` event on all contact and enquiry form submissions

   With 3,756 sessions and zero recorded conversions, Searchflex has no data to evaluate lead quality, cost-per-lead, or which channels drive pipeline — every marketing decision is currently guesswork.

   How to fix

   1. In GTM, create a new Tag > GA4 Event tag named 'GA4 – generate_lead' and set the Event Name field to `generate_lead`; add parameters `form_id` (DLV or CSS selector), `form_name` (e.g. 'Contact Us'), and `method` ('form') so you can segment by form later in GA4 Explorations.
   2. Create a GTM Trigger of type 'Form Submission' (or 'Custom Event' if the form fires its own JS event); if the form uses AJAX, use a DOM-ready / Element Visibility trigger on the thank-you message instead, and verify the element selector in GTM Preview mode.
   3. If a thank-you page exists (e.g. /thank-you), add a second trigger using Page URL contains '/thank-you' as a fallback to ensure no submissions are missed.
   4. Open GA4 Admin > Data Streams > your web stream > Enhanced Measurement and confirm 'Form interactions' is toggled ON as a quick-win baseline, but note this alone will NOT fire the `generate_lead` event — the GTM tag is still required for conversion modelling.
   5. In GA4 Admin > Events, click 'Mark as conversion' next to `generate_lead` (it will appear within 24 hours of the first fired event); also navigate to Admin > Conversions to confirm it is listed there.
   6. Validate in GTM Preview mode by submitting a test form — confirm the 'GA4 – generate_lead' tag fires with status 'Succeeded'; then open GA4 DebugView (Admin > DebugView) and verify the `generate_lead` event appears with the correct `form_name` parameter in real time.

2. CRITICAL Implement `form_start` event to measure funnel drop-off from first interaction

   Without a `form_start` event paired with `generate_lead`, you cannot calculate form abandonment rate — a key diagnostic for identifying UX friction that is silently killing lead volume.

   How to fix

   1. In GTM, create a new GA4 Event tag named 'GA4 – form_start' with Event Name `form_start`; include the same `form_id` and `form_name` parameters used in the `generate_lead` tag for accurate funnel matching.
   2. Create a GTM Trigger of type 'Element Visibility' or 'Click – All Elements' scoped to the first input field of each lead form (use the CSS selector for the first `<input>` or `<textarea>` inside the form container).
   3. Add a GTM Variable of type 'First Party Cookie' or 'Custom JS' to fire `form_start` only once per session per form (set a session cookie flag) — this prevents duplicate events if a user clicks in and out of the field multiple times.
   4. Publish the GTM container and verify in GTM Preview that interacting with the first form field fires the 'GA4 – form_start' tag with status 'Succeeded'.
   5. In GA4, navigate to Explore > Funnel Exploration, add Step 1 = `form_start` and Step 2 = `generate_lead`, filtered by `form_name`, to immediately surface abandonment rates by form.
   6. Validate in GA4 DebugView by clicking into a form field on a test device — confirm `form_start` fires before `generate_lead` and that both share the same `form_name` parameter value.

3. HIGH Track `phone_call` click events on all tel: links

   If Searchflex receives any proportion of leads via phone, every call originating from the site is currently invisible in GA4, causing under-reporting of total lead volume and misattribution of channel performance.

   How to fix

   1. In GTM, create a new GA4 Event tag named 'GA4 – phone_call' with Event Name `phone_call`; add parameters `link_url` (use the built-in GTM Variable 'Click URL') and `link_text` (GTM Variable 'Click Text').
   2. Create a GTM Trigger of type 'Click – Just Links' with the condition 'Click URL starts with tel:' to scope it exclusively to phone number links.
   3. Add the parameter `conversion_type` with value 'phone_call' to allow easy filtering alongside `generate_lead` in GA4 conversion reports.
   4. In GA4 Admin > Conversions, mark `phone_call` as a conversion event once it has fired at least once.
   5. Validate using GTM Preview by clicking a phone number link on mobile or desktop — confirm the 'GA4 – phone_call' tag fires and the `link_url` parameter shows the correct `tel:` value; cross-check in GA4 Realtime > Event count.

4. HIGH Track `email_click` events on all mailto: links

   Email enquiries initiated via mailto links are a zero-cost conversion touchpoint; without tracking them, the reported lead count is incomplete and channel ROI calculations are deflated.

   How to fix

   1. In GTM, create a new GA4 Event tag named 'GA4 – email_click' with Event Name `email_click`; add parameters `link_url` (GTM Variable 'Click URL') and `outbound` set to 'true'.
   2. Create a GTM Trigger of type 'Click – Just Links' with the condition 'Click URL starts with mailto:' to isolate email link clicks from all other link clicks.
   3. Mark `email_click` as a conversion in GA4 Admin > Conversions so it contributes to conversion path reports alongside `generate_lead` and `phone_call`.
   4. Validate in GTM Preview by clicking an email address link on the site — confirm the 'GA4 – email_click' tag fires with 'Succeeded' status and the `link_url` parameter contains the correct mailto: address; verify the event appears in GA4 DebugView within seconds.

5. MEDIUM Standardise all existing custom conversion event names to include `generate_lead` as a parallel event

   If any legacy or custom-named events (e.g. 'enquiry_sent', 'quote_request') already exist in GTM but are not named `generate_lead`, they are excluded from Google Ads Smart Bidding and GA4 cross-channel attribution models, reducing the value of any paid media spend.

   How to fix

   1. In GTM, open each existing GA4 Event tag that represents a lead or enquiry action and add a second GA4 Event tag (or duplicate the tag) firing the same trigger but with Event Name hardcoded as `generate_lead`.
   2. Add a custom parameter `original_event_name` set to the legacy event name (e.g. 'enquiry_sent') so you can distinguish sources within GA4 Explorations without losing historical naming context.
   3. In GA4 Admin > Events, verify `generate_lead` appears in the event list within 24 hours of the first firing; then navigate to Admin > Conversions and mark it as a conversion.
   4. In Google Ads (if running paid campaigns), navigate to Tools > Conversions > New Conversion Action > Import from GA4, select `generate_lead`, and set it as the primary conversion action to enable Smart Bidding.
   5. Validate by submitting a test form and checking GA4 DebugView — confirm both the legacy event name and `generate_lead` fire simultaneously with matching `form_name` parameter values.

6. MEDIUM Enable GA4 Enhanced Measurement for scroll depth and outbound clicks as supplementary engagement signals

   With zero conversion events currently recorded, scroll depth and outbound click data provide the only available proxy signals for user engagement quality, helping identify which pages hold attention until conversion tracking is fully operational.

   How to fix

   1. In GA4 Admin > Data Streams > [your web stream] > Enhanced Measurement settings (the gear icon), toggle ON 'Scrolls' (fires `scroll` at 90% depth) and 'Outbound clicks' (fires `click` with `outbound: true`).
   2. In GA4 Admin > Events, confirm `scroll` and `click` events appear in the event list within 24 hours of enabling.
   3. Navigate to GA4 Reports > Engagement > Events and filter by Event Name = 'scroll' to identify which landing pages have high scroll depth but zero `generate_lead` events — these pages have engagement but a conversion barrier worth investigating.
   4. Create a GA4 Exploration using Segment comparison: Segment A = users who triggered `scroll` (90%) on a key landing page; Segment B = all sessions on that page — the gap between these two segments reveals how many engaged users are not converting, prioritising UX fixes once lead tracking is live.
   5. Validate immediately after enabling Enhanced Measurement by opening GA4 DebugView on a test device, scrolling to 90% of a page, and confirming a `scroll` event fires with parameter `percent_scrolled: 90`.

Findings

Trend vs previous period