Item: Google Tag Manager
Rating: 7
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Google Tag Manager was implemented by our public affairs department. However, the statistics that come along with using the tracking code are shared with any department that requests them. Google Tag Manager addresses the problems that come along with determining if your marketing efforts are successful or not. The way we use GTM allows us to verify which items are utilized on our website and if our campaigns are successful.

Pros and Cons

Creation and implementation of campaign-specific tags to track your marketing efforts
Integrates with Google Analytics so all of your statistics are in the same place, allowing you to easily pull reports that contain all of the data you need to know
Allows you to track website activities outside of Google Analytics, such as pdf views/clicks

Google Tag Manager was extremely difficult for me to set up on our website. I think additional documentation of implementation would be helpful
Maybe my knowledge of Google Analytics is not as high as I imagined, but setting up GTM within our GA account was a little difficult as well, thus the need for additional consumer-friendly knowledgebase articles or tutorials
It would be nice if the tracking code for GTM was already included in GA, so I wouldn't need to work with our website management folks to add another tag. They accidentally removed our GA tag while adding the GTM tag which resulted in lost tracking for us. Frustrating.

Return on Investment

Being able to see if our pdf publications are being read has allowed us to pivot and focus on our top items, instead of spending time on items that are not being utilized. This has a positive impact on ROI as staff time is better spent.
The positives outweigh the negatives as far as staff time goes for implementation. Although it took a while to get it set up, we no longer need to reach out to our website management company for pdf views. This saves internal staff time (and money).

Alternatives Considered

Bitly

I am not sure if you can fully consider using Bitly as an alternative for Google Tag Manager, but similar tracking efforts can be achieved by creating custom links for specific actions on your website. It is much easier to implement and viewing the statistics in the bit.ly dashboard is rather easy. You can also track your bit.ly links in your Google Analytics account, however, it takes a little finagling to be able to know which link goes where.

Key Insights

Do you think Google Tag Manager delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Google Tag Manager's feature set?

Yes

Did Google Tag Manager live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Google Tag Manager go as expected?

Would you buy Google Tag Manager again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Skype for Business (formerly Lync), now part of Microsoft Teams, Epic MyChart

Usability

I think Google Tag Manager's overall usability could be better for folks that do not have extreme knowledge of tracking codes. It seems as though the platform WANTS to be user-friendly, but it struggles along the way. Additional tutorials would be extremely helpful for initially setting up your account.

Support Rating

I really feel as though there could be more documentation about setting up Google Tag Manager. I cannot tell you how many hours I spent Googling articles to try to find out why my Google Tag Manager account was not working correctly. Perhaps some sort of Wizard that you could walk through that searches for errors would be helpful.

Likelihood to Recommend

Google Tag Manager is well suited for an organization that has at least one dedicated individual to manage the implementation of the tracking code, review statistics, and manage and adjust the marketing tags as needed. It would be less appropriate if someone does not have the time to dedicate to the platform. In that case, they could just use bit.ly links to get a basic overview of how well certain campaigns are performing.

Google Tag Manager - Not as Easy as I Thought 😬

Overall Satisfaction with Google Tag Manager