Why Your Current Website Data is Probably Lying to You
Most Brisbane business owners I talk to have the same frustration. They’re spending money on Facebook ads, Google ads, or a local SEO company, but when I ask them, "Which one got you that $5,000 job last Tuesday?" they have no idea.
They look at their Google Analytics (GA4) and see a bunch of graphs showing "users" and "sessions." But here’s the truth: Users and sessions don't pay the bills. Customers do.
If you aren't tracking specifically when someone clicks your phone number or finishes filling out your quote form, you are essentially throwing darts in the dark. You might be spending $1,000 a month on an ad campaign that brings in 500 visitors but zero phone calls, while another campaign brings in 10 visitors who all book a job. Without setting up "events" properly, you’ll never know the difference.
In this guide, I’m going to break down the different ways you can set up tracking to see exactly what people are doing on your site. We’ll compare the "Quick and Dirty" way, the "Professional Standard," and the "Data Obsessed" approach. By the end, you’ll know exactly which one your business needs to stop wasting money.
The Three Ways to Track Your Customers
When we talk about "custom events" in GA4, all we really mean is telling Google to make a note every time someone does something important. There are three main ways to set this up.
1. The "Quick and Dirty" Method (Enhanced Measurement)
Google tries to be helpful by automatically tracking certain things like how far people scroll or when they click an outgoing link.
How it works: You flick a switch in your settings and Google guesses what’s important. The Cost: $0 (takes 5 minutes). The Reality: It’s better than nothing, but it’s often wrong. It might tell you someone clicked a link, but it won't tell you if that link was your "Pay Now" button or just a link to your Facebook page. For a local plumber or lawyer, this doesn't provide enough detail to make business decisions.
2. The "Professional Standard" (Google Tag Manager)
This is what we use for 95% of our clients at Local Marketing Group. It involves using a middleman tool (Tag Manager) to tell Google Analytics exactly what to watch for.
How it works: We set up a specific "trigger." For example: "If a person clicks a button that starts with 'tel:' (a phone number), tell Google they just made an enquiry." The Cost: Usually a few hundred dollars for a professional to set up once, or a few hours of your time watching YouTube tutorials and pulling your hair out. The Result: You get a clean report that says: "You had 14 phone calls this week. 10 came from Google Search, 2 from Facebook, and 2 from people typing your name in directly."
3. The "Data Obsessed" Method (Developer Custom Code)
This is for larger Brisbane companies or e-commerce stores where every cent of margin matters.
How it works: A web developer writes actual code into your site to track complex things, like how much a person spent in their shopping cart or exactly which options they picked on a multi-step quote form. The Cost: Expensive. You’re paying for developer hours. The Result: Incredible detail, but usually overkill for a local service business.
Comparison: Which Approach Wins for a Small Business?
Let’s look at these side-by-side based on what actually matters to you: your time and your profit.
| Feature | Quick & Dirty | Professional Standard | Data Obsessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy | Low (Lots of "noise") | High (Tracks real leads) | Very High |
| Setup Time | 5 Minutes | 2-4 Hours | Days/Weeks |
| Actionable Info | "People are visiting" | "This ad made me $10k" | "Users like blue buttons" |
| Best For | Brand new hobby sites | Tradies, Shops, Pros | Large E-commerce |
If you want to measuring ROI properly, you must move to at least the Professional Standard. Without it, you're just guessing.
Why Tracking "Phone Clicks" is the Only Metric That Matters
If you run a service business, the "Contact Us" page is important, but the "Click to Call" button is king. Most of your customers are looking at your site on a mobile phone while they’re on the go. They don't want to fill out a long form; they want to talk to someone right now.
If your tracking isn't set up to capture those phone clicks, your data is missing about 70% of your actual leads.
I recently looked at the data for a landscaper in the Redlands. Their GA4 showed they only had 5 form submissions in a month. They were ready to cancel their marketing. When we set up proper phone call tracking, we discovered they actually had 42 phone calls that month from the website. The marketing was working brilliantly; the tracking was just broken.
By knowing which pages those calls came from, we could see exactly where their best customers were coming from and put more money into those specific areas.
The Problem with "Thank You" Pages
A lot of old-school marketing guys will tell you to just track "Thank You" pages. This is when a customer fills out a form and gets redirected to a page that says "Thanks, we'll call you soon."
While this is better than nothing, it’s a bit outdated for three reasons: 1. Modern websites don't always redirect. Many forms just show a small message on the same page. If there's no new page, the old tracking method sees nothing. 2. It misses the phone calls. As I mentioned, most people just want to call you. 3. It's easy to break. If you change the name of that page from /thank-you to /thanks, your tracking stops working instantly and you won't even know it.
This is why we prefer the "Event-Based" approach. It doesn't care what the page is called; it only cares that the customer took the action you wanted them to take.
How Long Until You See Results?
Data isn't magic. It doesn't fix your business overnight. However, it does give you the map to fix it yourself.
Week 1: You set up the tracking. You start seeing the real numbers. Month 1: You notice a pattern. You realize that your "Service A" page gets 100 visits and 0 calls, but your "Service B" page gets 20 visits and 5 calls. Month 2: You stop spending money on "Service A" and move it to "Service B."
- Month 3: Your phone starts ringing significantly more for the same total spend.
What's a Waste of Money in Tracking?
Don't let a marketing agency charge you thousands to track "Scroll Depth" (how far down a page someone goes) or "Video Engagement" (how much of your video they watched).
Unless you are a massive media company, that data is useless. It won't help you pay your mortgage. For a small business owner, there are only 4 things worth tracking: 1. Phone Number Clicks 2. Form Submissions 3. Email Address Clicks 4. Actual Sales (if you sell online)
Anything else is just "fluff" that agencies use to make their reports look thick and impressive. If your agency is sending you 20-page reports full of charts but you don't know how many leads you got, fire them.
Action Plan: What Should You Do First?
If you're feeling overwhelmed, here is the exact order I would do things if I were opening a new business in Brisbane today:
1. Check your current setup: Open your website on your phone and click your phone number. Then check your GA4 "Realtime" report. If nothing shows up under "Events," your tracking is broken or non-existent. 2. Install Google Tag Manager: It's a free tool. It’s the "toolbox" where all your tracking will live. 3. Set up 'Lead' Events: Create specific events for your phone clicks and form submissions. 4. Link it to your Ads: If you're spending money on Google Ads, make sure these events are imported. This tells Google's system, "Hey, that person who searched for 'Plumber Brisbane' actually called me. Find me more people like that."
The Verdict
Most small business owners treat their website like a digital brochure. They put it up, hope for the best, and ignore the data because it looks too complicated.
But in 2024, the business with the best data wins. When you know exactly which marketing efforts are making you money, you can stop wasting cash on the stuff that doesn't work. It's the difference between a business that struggles to find leads and one that has a predictable stream of new customers.
Setting up custom events isn't about being a "tech person." It's about being a smart business owner who refuses to fly blind.
Want to stop guessing and start seeing exactly which marketing makes you money?
At Local Marketing Group, we specialise in stripping away the jargon and giving Brisbane business owners the clear, honest data they need to grow. We can set up your tracking properly so you know exactly where every dollar is going.
Contact Local Marketing Group today and let's get your business growing with data, not guesswork.