At Converge, we’re dedicated to finding new and next solutions to challenges. Recently we received a question from a client, asking if we could track text typed into an autocomplete search bar.

There were a few challenges here. Google Tag Manager can track the text submitted in a form, but if users select an autocomplete option, we don’t know what or how much they typed to get there. Having this information can provide insight into what users are searching for, and if we’re getting a high volume of searches for something we don’t offer, we can gauge interest in new programs.

To experiment, we created our own custom Javascript tag. Rather than keep track of what’s in the form itself, we wrote a listener to store user input. By taking this route, we don’t have to rely on the user submitting the form. Instead, we can store and style each keystroke and pass it into Google Analytics in an easy-to-digest format.

This information gives us an event labeled with the user’s input on a case-by-case basis. Now we can look at what users have been searching for and adjust platform as necessary. As we get more uncompleted searches, we can take this data and use it to mold our platform according to what users are looking for.

Without surveys or user input, we’re able to get site content suggestions from users. This helps us find holes in our content and lets us know if there are things that need to be worded differently to improve navigation.

Can’t get enough info on Google Analytics? Check out 5 Custom Google Analytics Segments to Simplify Your Data.