15 May 2024
Using Google Analytics 4 with your LMS
Ian McNaught
Senior Solutions Consultant
Why you should add Google Analytics 4 to your LMS to build valuable insights.
Data and analytics are a vital part of modern workplace learning. While learning platforms like Moodle LMS, Totara Learn and Moodle Workplace all have powerful reporting systems, there are some key benefits of using Google Analytics 4 with your learning platform.
Your learning platform’s native reporting system will offer valuable insights into how your users are interacting with courses, their activity and course completions and user navigation.
But the very simple extra step of syncing your LMS with Google Analytics will help you to get even more useful data. This data can be used to drive decision-making and help you to achieve better levels of performance and engagement.
Why add Google Analytics to your LMS?
For obvious reasons, LMS reporting is predominantly focused on learning and development outcomes. Google Analytics is necessarily broader. For that reason, it can be useful in providing an overview of your LMS as a digital asset.
You can use it to measure things like:
- Total number of unique users who have visited your LMS
- Number of new users who have visited your LMS for the first time
- Total number of pageviews on your LMS
- The number of sessions — continuous periods of using your LMS without 30 minutes of inactivity — on your platform
- The site your LMS users came from
- User journeys and how learners are moving around your LMS
- Engagement and conversion statistics when users take specific actions
As that snapshot of potential insights shows, Google Analytics 4 can help you view your LMS as a part of your organisation’s digital infrastructure and place it within that context. It can help you to evaluate the impact of your LMS in a more detailed and comprehensive way than can be achieved with an LMS reporting system alone.
Benefits of adding Google Analytics to your LMS
The benefits of using Google Analytics with your LMS include:
More detailed user analytics
Google Analytics makes it easier to track how users are engaging with your learning platform.
Better marketing insights
Marketing your LMS to users is key to increasing engagement. Using Google Analytics gives a clearer picture of which aspects of your marketing strategy are successful in driving users to the platform, as well as areas where there is room for improvement.
Sales mindset
Google Analytics is sales-focused but incredibly versatile. You can use its conversion tracking to help you to set and measure goals. Bring a sales-inspired focus on reaching the outcomes you need to achieve.
How to integrate Google Analytics 4 with your LMS
It is very easy to add Google Analytics to your LMS. Google offers step-by-step instructions that will result in you adding a tracking code to the additional HTML section of your learning platform. This works in exactly the same way as it would for your organisation’s website.
The basic suite of Google Analytics 4 reporting is available immediately when you sync with your LMS. It can then be fine-tuned to provide additional insights. You can also build more detailed or specific analytics using Google Tag Manager.
Get started with Google Analytics on your LMS
If you’ve not yet got Google Analytics integrated with your LMS, get in touch to start capturing useful insights about your learning platform.
