How to Implement Enhanced Conversions with Gravity Forms (+ GTM Setup Guide)

How to Use Enhanced Conversions with Gravity Forms (and Why It Matters)

Implementing Enhanced Conversions in Google Ads can significantly improve the accuracy of your conversion tracking. Similarly, using Advanced Matching for Meta campaigns can boost your attribution accuracy—sometimes increasing reported conversions by as much as 10%.

If you're also using tools like Octanist for Offline Conversion Tracking or Lead Qualification, you'll need to capture and send the same key fields, like email address or phone number, to properly recognize and qualify leads. That’s where Enhanced Conversions and Advanced Matching come in handy: once set up, they allow seamless integration with Octanist.

What Are Enhanced Conversions and Advanced Matching?

Let’s clarify the terms first.

Enhanced Conversions (Google Ads) and Advanced Matching (Meta Ads) refer to sending first-party, anonymized user data, such as email addresses or phone numbers, from your website to the advertising platform. This data is then securely hashed and used to match ad interactions more accurately.

Why is this important? With the phase-out of third-party cookies, and privacy-centric browsers like Safari and Brave (as well as search engines like DuckDuckGo) blocking tracking parameters, platforms like Google and Meta are losing some ability to match ad clicks to conversions. Enhanced Conversions help fill this gap by sending robust, consented first-party data instead.

Using Gravity Forms? Here's What to Know

Tracking conversions with Gravity Forms is a bit more complex than with other form builders. This is because Gravity Forms uses AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), making it harder to detect form submissions using a simple listener or default dataLayer push.

But don’t worry, we’ve got two solutions!

Step-by-Step: Implementing Enhanced Conversions with Gravity Forms

There are currently two ways to set this up: the official Google Analytics add-on provided by Gravity Forms, and the “Event Tracking for Gravity Forms” plugin, which is useful when the official plugin does not work or when you don’t have a valid subscription.

Installing using the official Google Analytics 4 integration

Follow the steps below to set up the Enhanced Conversions data layer using the official plugin.

1. Install the Google Analytics 4 Add-On for Gravity Forms

Go to Gravity Forms → Add-Ons and install the official Google Analytics 4 Add-On. This add-on allows Gravity Forms to send events directly to Google Tag Manager, which is required for tracking Enhanced Conversions and for integrating with Octanist.

If prompted, select Google Tag Manager out of the options that Gravity Forms provides.

2. Configure the Form You Want to Track

Go to Forms (Formulieren in the screenshot) and open the form you want to send Enhanced Conversions data for. Click Settings → Google Analytics 4.

In the form settings menu, click Add New (Nieuwe toevoegen) to create a new feed.Navigating to the Google Analytics add-on for a specific form. Give your feed a name (optional) and, under Google Tag Manager Trigger, enter the event name you want to appear in the dataLayer (for example, form_submission). If prompted, connect to your Google Tag Manager account, this is safe and does not publish any changes.

3. Map Gravity Form Fields to DataLayer Parameters

In the fields section, define which form fields you want to send to the dataLayer.

• On the left, under Parameter Name, enter the name as it should appear in the dataLayer event.
• On the right, under Parameter Value, select the matching Gravity Forms field from the dropdown.

For example, set Parameter Name to email_address and Parameter Value to the Email field from the Gravity Form. Add at least the email and phone number fields (if available), and then click Save Settings at the bottom.

4. Test the DataLayer Event

Go to your website, fill in the form, and open Google Tag Manager Preview Mode. Submit the form and check if a dataLayer event appears with the parameters you configured (for example, email_address and phone_number). If the event appears correctly, your setup is working.

Next, create Data Layer Variables in Google Tag Manager, one for each field name you defined in Gravity Forms (for example, email_address, phone_number, and company_name).

Save each variable once created.

5. Add the Octanist Tag in Google Tag Manager

Create a new Octanist Tag in Google Tag Manager and enter your Octanist ID.

Then map the Data Layer variables you just created (for example, email_address, phone_number, and company_name), and save the tag when you’re done.

6. Test and Publish

Use Google Tag Manager Preview Mode again to test the full setup. Submit the form and verify that the Octanist tag fires correctly and includes the expected data.

Once confirmed, submit and publish your GTM workspace.

Installing using the “Event Tracking for Gravity Forms” Integration

If, for any reason, the official template does not work, you can use the

“Event Tracking for Gravity Forms” integration instead.

1. Set Up the Basic Gravity Forms Integration

Ensure you’re using the official Gravity Forms plugin and that your forms are properly embedded on your website. Some forms allow a native dataLayer push via their UI, but Gravity Forms typically doesn’t behave the same way due to AJAX.

2. Install the “Event Tracking for Gravity Forms” Plugin

The “Event Tracking for Gravity Forms” plugin extends Gravity Forms functionality and allows you to push form field data to the dataLayer. It’s crucial for capturing the first-party data needed for Enhanced Conversions or for use with Octanist.

From here, go to Gravity Forms > General Settings > Event Tracking.
Under "How would you like to send events?", select Google Tag Manager (AJAX only forms).

Just below that, there’s also an option to send UTM variables along with the form submission. This isn’t required, but you can include them if you’d like.

3. Configure the Form for Tracking

• Go to the specific form you want to track.
  
• A new tab for Event Tracking will appear and click it.
  
• In this tab, you can assign form field values (like email, phone number, company name) to the Event Category, Action, and Label fields.

Be consistent across forms. For example, add the email address to the Event Category, and the telephone number to the Event Action.
You can find the available fields by clicking the {…} variable icon.

💡Tip: If you're using Octanist or Enhanced Conversions/Advanced Matching, it’s best to send email, phone number, and optionally company name here.

Unfortunately, you’ll need to configure each form manually—there’s no global setting for all forms.

A video explaining how to set up “Event Tracking for Gravity Forms” plugin

4. Test Your Setup in Google Tag Manager

• Open GTM Preview / Debug Mode.
  
• Navigate to the form page and fill out the form.
  
• You should see the "GFTrackEvent" event and associated data pushed to the dataLayer.

5. Use the Data in GTM and Your Ad Platforms

• Create dataLayer variables in GTM for the fields you’ve sent (e.g., email, company name).
• Use these variables in:
  
  • Your Octanist setup.
    
  • Your User-Provided Data Variable in GTM for Google Ads Enhanced Conversions.

Connect these values to the relevant User-Provided Data variables for Google Ads, so they’re included with the form submission.

Adding the variables to Octanist for Lead Qualification.

Final Tips

• Double-check that the data is being captured only after user consent, especially under GDPR.
  
• Always test thoroughly before publishing your GTM container.
  
• Make sure hashing is handled correctly by the advertising platform (e.g., Google Ads handles this automatically).