Google Analytics is a service that provides creators with the tool to be able to track activity on their project.
As a creator, using Google Analytics on your project will give insight into the traffic coming to your project page in addition to seeing an extensive breakdown of referrer data, an overall conversion rate (such as how many visits to the project page are converting into pledges), ad conversion rate, and more.
The ability to access this data can help you to better understand how your promotion efforts are paying off, and where your backers are finding your project.
Important Notice: Google’s Universal Analytics will be deprecated on July 1 2023. If you have not yet started using Google Analytics 4, we strongly suggest you transition to this at your earliest convenience.
How do I set up Google Analytics 4 for my project?
To set up a Google Analytics 4 property for your project, you will need a Google tag ID (tracking ID). This usually starts with "G-". To find your tracking ID follow the below steps:
- Log in to your Google Analytics account and click “Admin”
- At the top of the ‘Property’ column, select your property
- In the ‘Property’ column, click “Data streams”
- Select the data stream for which you need the ID
- In the ‘Google tag’ section, click “Configure tag settings”
- Under ‘Your Google tag’, copy the ID that starts with "G-" or "AW-"
- Now, navigate to Kickstarter and to the Promotion tab of your project editor, paste your tracking ID into the field and click “Save”
Check out this help center article from Google if you need more help finding this information.
Allow up to 24 hours from when you link your tracking ID for the data to populate in your Google Analytics account.
Important things to note about your Google Analytics configuration:
- Kickstarter will never send any data for users who have not provided or who have withdrawn consent to tracking.
- Kickstarter respects users consent management preferences, so data will not be sent to tools if a user has asked not to be tracked.
- Kickstarter only sends necessary data to Google.
- It can take between 5 minutes and 24 hours for your event data to show up in Google Analytics.
- You can see the events and parameters that Kickstarter sends here.
- Under Kickstarter’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, all creators are required to keep backer information confidential, except as strictly necessary to communicate with backers directly and fulfill rewards. No information provided by or about backers should be used for any other purpose without first receiving consent from the backer as required by applicable data privacy laws.
Visit Google’s Analytics Help Center for more information on getting started with this powerful tool.
When can I add Google Analytics to my project?
You can add your Google Analytics tracking ID ahead of launching your project by navigating to the Promotion tab in your project editor. If your project is already live, you can also enter this information through your creator dashboard. To access this, select ‘Dashboard’ from the creator tools menu, located on the left-hand side of your project page.
After a project has ended it will no longer be possible to add your tracking ID to your project page.
Please note: It is not possible for a collaborator to add a Google Analytics tracking ID to a project.
What URL should I enter as I’m setting up my Google Analytics property settings?
When adding a property to your Google Analytics you should use your main project URL. This can be generated before you launch (after your project has been submitted for review) in the Promotion tab.
Visit Google’s Analytics Help Center for more information on getting started with this powerful tool.
How do I track events across the Kickstarter mobile apps?
The Google Analytics 4 implementation listed above will capture events that come from Kickstarter.com. However, to track events from our iOS and Android apps you will need to connect your Google Analytics API Secret Value to your Kickstarter project. To do so, follow the below steps:
- Log in to your Google Analytics account and click “Admin”
- Click “Data Streams” and choose your stream
- Next, click “Measurement Protocols”, followed by “Create”
- Add a Nickname for your API secret, and click “Save”
- Copy your Secret Value
- Now, navigate to Kickstarter and to the Promotion tab of your project editor, and enter your Secret Value
Further reading:
How do I track my project’s conversion rate?
Google and Meta Marketing Event Types and Schemas