Matomo Analytics can measure almost everything that happens on a website. Page views, events, sessions, clicks, and downloads.
But measurement is not the goal.
The purpose of analytics is to support better decisions.
If the data you collect does not help someone decide what to improve, invest in, or change, it has very little practical value. Goal tracking helps translate user behaviour into outcomes that matter for the organisation.
What is goal tracking?
A goal represents a meaningful outcome.
When a visitor performs an action that supports your organisation’s objectives, Matomo records a conversion.
Typical examples include:
- completing a purchase
- submitting a contact or lead form
- signing up for a newsletter
- downloading a report or brochure
- reaching a confirmation page after completing a process
These actions represent more than interaction. They represent progress toward a business objective.
Page views describe navigation.
Events describe interaction.
Goals describe outcomes.
This distinction matters because analytics tools generate a large amount of behavioural data. Goals help identify which actions actually matter.
Goals and events serve different purposes
A common implementation question is whether a specific interaction should be tracked as an event or a goal.
The distinction becomes clearer when we separate process from result.
Events describe behaviour.
Goals describe outcomes.
Both are useful, but they answer different questions.
Events explain behaviour
Events capture interactions with elements of the interface.
Examples include:
- button clicks
- video plays
- scroll depth
- navigation interactions
- use of calculators or interactive tools
Events help you understand how users interact with the site.
Typical questions include:
- Are visitors clicking the call-to-action?
- Do they watch the video?
- Do they scroll far enough to see important content?
Events provide insight into the user journey.
Goals measure outcomes
Goals measure actions that represent success from the organisation’s perspective.
Examples include:
- completed purchases
- successful lead submissions
- newsletter subscriptions
- account registrations
Goals help answer questions such as:
- Which marketing channels generate conversions?
- Which landing pages perform best?
- Did a design change improve results?
Events explain behaviour.
Goals show whether that behaviour produces value.
Goals are often a subset of events
Very often, goals are simply a subset of events.
For example, it is useful to track all form submissions as events. This allows you to analyse user behaviour, detect errors, and understand how people interact with the form.
However, only some of these events should qualify as goals. A goal should only be triggered when the submission is successful and meaningful from a business perspective.
Tracking both levels helps distinguish between user actions and actual outcomes.
What triggers a goal in matomo?
In Matomo, a goal is recorded when a predefined condition is met. This condition defines what counts as a successful outcome.
The most common trigger is reaching a confirmation page.
For example, after completing a purchase or submitting a form, the user may be redirected to a page such as:
/thank-you
/order-confirmation
Because this page only appears after a successful process, it provides a reliable way to measure conversions.
Matomo also allows goals to be triggered by other conditions. These include:
- Page titles, when URLs are dynamic but titles remain consistent
- Events, when a specific interaction represents a completed action
- File downloads, such as brochures or reports
- Outbound link clicks, when conversions happen outside the website
The trigger you choose should reflect the most reliable signal that the outcome has actually occurred.
Triggering goals programmatically
Sometimes the success state can only be detected in application logic.
For example, a form submission might happen via AJAX without a page reload. In these cases, a goal can be triggered directly in JavaScript using the trackGoal method.
window._paq = window._paq || [];
window._paq.push(['trackGoal', 1]);
This sends a conversion to Matomo for the goal with ID 1.
Programmatic goal tracking is useful when conversions happen without navigation or when success can only be confirmed by application logic.
Triggering goals with tag manager
If you are using Matomo Tag Manager, goals can also be triggered through a tag.
In this case, the tag fires when a defined trigger occurs. For example:
- form submission
- button click
- custom JavaScript event
This approach often makes implementation easier because the tracking logic can be managed inside the tag manager rather than directly in the website’s source code.
Assigning value to goals
Goals become significantly more useful when they include a monetary value.
For ecommerce transactions, the value usually comes directly from the purchase amount.
For other conversions, the value can be estimated. For example, a qualified lead might be worth €50, while a newsletter subscription might be worth €5.
These estimates do not need to be perfect. Even approximate values allow you to compare the relative importance of different traffic sources, campaigns, and pages.
Once values are defined, Matomo can calculate metrics such as:
- total revenue generated by conversions
- average value per conversion
- value generated by each traffic source
This allows marketing performance to be analysed in terms of economic impact, not just activity.
Practical guidelines for goal tracking
Not every interaction should become a goal.
Goals should represent actions that move the organisation closer to its objectives. Turning every click into a goal quickly makes analysis confusing.
In many cases, a website only needs a small number of meaningful goals. Five to fifteen goals are often enough.
Naming also matters. Labels such as Goal 1 or Conversion quickly become difficult to interpret. Clear names such as Newsletter signup or Checkout completed make reports easier to understand.
Finally, always test the implementation. After creating a goal, complete the process yourself and verify in Matomo’s real-time reports that the conversion is recorded correctly.
Small implementation errors can otherwise remain unnoticed for a long time.
Final thoughts
Analytics tools can collect enormous amounts of data.
But the purpose of analytics is not measurement itself. The purpose is to support decisions.
Goals play an important role in this process. They translate user behaviour into outcomes that reflect the organisation’s objectives.
Events explain how users interact with the website.
Goals show whether those interactions lead to meaningful results.
When both are implemented thoughtfully, analytics becomes more than a reporting tool. It becomes a system for learning, improving, and making better decisions.