Google Analytics has become a standard tracking mechanism for web businesses. By simply adding some code to each page on your site, you can quickly and effectively get a genuine feel for how your site is being navigated.

So how do you keep this going within your BuyNow pages, given that they're not in fact on your website?

As it turns out, it's easier than it looks. The two things you need to know are:

   * How to create and monitor Conversion Goals
   * How to create code for the different steps in the BuyNow page that give the
      impression of a navigation between different pages

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Step One: Setup Conversion Goals

For the purpose of this article, we're assuming you already have a Google Analytics account setup, and that you are using it for your own website.

To add a conversion goal, start at the Google Analytics home page. Under the column, click Edit. You have the option to create as many as four conversion goals - for now, we're just going to deal with one, so click on the Edit link in the Settings column for G1.

You now can create a series of pages that will take you to your goal. In this case, we are going to set the Goal URL as "http://[your site]/page4.html". Then we'll create three steps; each will be set as URL "http://[yoursite]/page[x].html", where x is 1 for step one, 2 for step two and 3 for step three. Under Additional Settings, ensure that Match Type is set to 'Head Match'. Once you're done, hit Save Changes.

Now, you might be saying to yourself "hey, I don't have those four pages". You're right. Google Analytics doesn't care whether the pages actually exist, only that it can find apparent instances of them. You'll see how this works in a moment.

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Step Two: Add Analytics Code to BuyNow Pages

First, you're going to need some code. Go back to the Home of Google Analytics (click the Analytics Settings link), then click on Edit in the Settings column again. At the top of the page you'll see a link for Check Status - click it now.

On the next page, you'll see a code block - you don't want this one! Click the tab labeled Legacy Tracking Code (urchin.js)- you do want this one.

The code will look something like this:
<script src="https://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
_uacct = "[Your Google Code] ";
urchinTracker();
</script>

Make a copy, then login to the Plimus Control Panel.

In the Control Panel, navigate to one of your contracts; then click on the Order Page link. About halfway down the page, you'll find some fields specifically intended to put code onto the different stages of the order process. They are labeled

    * Promotions Page HTML
    * First Page HTML
    * Billing Page HTML
    * Last Page HTML

The good news with the Google code is it can be pasted anywhere you like on a page. So take the code above and, first, paste it into the Promotions Page HTML. Now comes the clever bit! Edit it to look like this:

<script src="https://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
_uacct = "[Your Google Code] ";
urchinTracker("Page1.html");
</script>

You'll see that we're forcing Google Analytics to 'believe' that when it sees this code, it's tricked into thinking it's seeing a file called Page1.html.

Now do the same thing for the next three fields, editing the same line to reflect the different pages we set in Google Analytics. Ensure that Last Page HTML is set to send Page4.html.

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Step Three

The first element of this step is to be patient - perhaps the hardest part of the whole thing!

Google Analytics takes about 24 hours to report activity back for you to look at, so you're always going to be that far apart - don't let this stop you from running tests though! Work your way through the process, then make yourself a note to go back and check tomorrow.

When you return tomorrow, log in, then click on the View Reports link. At the top left, you'll see some Navigation - click on the Goals link. This will show you how many users made it to your virtual Page4.html. Once there, you can then click on the Funnel Visualization link to see where people dropped out of the process.

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You're done! A quick and simple way to see where your shoppers drop out.