Analytics Recipe Cookbook - Summaries

 View Only

How to track Keyboard Shortcuts via Google Tag Manager

  • 1.  How to track Keyboard Shortcuts via Google Tag Manager

    Posted 08-20-2018 10:40 AM

    Introduction:

    Last week my fridge broke. And what's with the recipe?

    Everything arises from the specs when looking for the new appliance, such as "No frost", "Reversible doors", etc.

    While browsing the main technology and electronic e-commerce websites and starting digging around, I tried to find the specs without looking through the entire spec sheet – frequently hidden inside tabs. So I compulsively started to use the shortcut CMD (Ctrl) + F.

    At this point I asked myself: is it possible to track the different shortcuts via Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics? The answer is: of course, yes it is!


    Analysis Overview
    :

    Tracking the shortcuts allows to understand how many users (few? a lot?) engage with the site without using a mouse and specifically I'm interested in those who use the shortcuts search into pages CMD (Ctrl) + F and the reload pages CMD +R.

    By using shortcuts they are searching for something inside the website. In which page they perform such a deep searching action? Are pages that present technical contents? Are very long articles? And so on.

    Unfortunately it is not possible to identify the keyword the user is typing in the browser search bar, but we can match it with the text highlight selected with the mouse.

    While conducting usability tests at tour headquarters, I noticed that some users, once performed their search, highlighted the keyword or part of the text near the keyword itself with the mouse.

    We know that a strong correlation between the tracking of Ctrl+F and the text highlight is a kind of stretch, however we can get a sense of the searches performed by the users into the website.


    Analysis Benefits:

    A low percentage of users typing shortcuts is expected, but the tracking provides the opportunity to better understand our users' habits, mostly with regard to page reload and site search.

    DAA members, go here to view full recipe.



    ------------------------------
    Enrico Pavan
    Digital Analytics and CRO
    Enrico Pavan
    Paese
    +393283898383
    ------------------------------
    2020 compensation survey now open