Setting up Click Tracking Goals in Optimizely - by Michael Droz

Setting up click tracking goals in Optimizely is easy, once you understand how the tool works. I wasted a full day analyzing results that weren't what I expected so I decided to write this article to help anyone new to Optimizely avoid the trap I fell into. 

Trap: Default goal isn't tracking your "specific" goal

By default Optimizely enables an "Engagement" goal that will look like it's tracking your specific CTA experiment but it isn't. The engagement goal is the percentage of visitors who clicked on "ANY PART" of the experiment page. 

To enable tracking of your specific CTA experiment follow these simple steps:

1. Click "Edit Experiment" from the dashboard

2. Click "Set Up Goals" from the secondary navigation

3. Set "Goal Name" of your choice

4. Change "What to Track" to "Clicks"

5. Click "Advanced"

6. Set the jQuery formatted Selector that identifies your "CTA"

Example: 

#join-link

In your html this code might look like this: 

<a href="www.yourdomain.com" id="join-link"> 

7. Click "Save" 

*Helpful hint: This selector needs to be added to your CTA for the default page and all of your experiments - they need to match. This was a confusing fact for me because I thought the very nature of the experiments meant that they differed but after I figured it out it was clear that while the CTA might look different they must be identified the same for reporting purposes.