🧠 Custom Goals Overview

• What are Custom Goals?
• How Custom Goals Work
• How to Set Up Custom Goals
• Common Mistakes
• Limitations

What are Custom Goals?

Custom Goals allow you to track actions that occur on your website..

// Args:
// Arg0: The name of the custom goal. 
// Arg1: An empty object.
<script>
  window.Northbeam.fireCustomGoal("sms_signup", {})
</script>

Examples include:

• Email or SMS signups
• Add to Cart events
• Initiate Checkout events
• Quiz submissions
• Lead form submissions
• Any other important website interaction

How Custom Goals Work

1. A visitor completes an action on your website
2. fireCustomGoal() sends the event to Northbeam
3. The Goal ID is registered in your dashboard
4. The event becomes available as a metric in reporting

📘

Custom Goals are client-side events

fireCustomGoal() must fire directly on your website while the Northbeam Pixel is active in the visitor’s browser session.

Server-side events, webhook events, or backend-only events are not currently not supported.

These events must occur on the same website domain where the Northbeam Base Pixel is installed.

Supported Examples

• Button clicks
• Form submissions
• Quiz completions
• Add to Cart actions
• Initiate Checkout events

Unsupported Examples

• Backend webhook events
• Server-side API calls
• Offline events
• CRM-triggered events
• Events occurring outside the browser session

How to set up Custom Goals

Step 1: Confirm the Northbeam Pixel is Installed

Before implementing Custom Goals, confirm:

• The Northbeam Base Pixel is firing on the page where the event occurs
• The event occurs on the same website domain where the Northbeam Base Pixel is installed

🚧

Custom Goals will not track correctly unless the Northbeam Base Pixel is already installed and firing first.

Step 2: Implement the Script

<script>
  window.Northbeam.fireCustomGoal("sms_signup", {})
</script>

1. Replace sms_signup with your own Goal ID.
2. This Goal ID becomes the metric name you'll register in the Northbeam dashboard.

The event can be deployed:

• Through Google Tag Manager (recommended for most setups)
• Directly in your website code

🚧

fireCustomGoal() should only fire when the intended action occurs.

Examples:

• After a form submission succeeds
• After an Add to Cart button click
• After a quiz submission completes

📘

Goal ID rules:

1. Lowercase letters, numbers, and underscores only (e.g. sms_signup, add_to_cart)
2. No hyphens or spaces — the event won't show up in the dashboard
3. Must exactly match what you register in Step 3
4. Tracks event count only — no revenue or values can be passed

Recommended Naming Conventions

Examples:

• sms_signup
• email_signup
• add_to_cart
• quiz_submit
• initiate_checkout

Step 3: Add the Goal ID in the dashboard

Go to Settings → Custom Goals and add a new entry:

• Goal ID → Enter the exact same Goal ID used in your script (example: sms_signup)
• Display Name → Enter the reporting label shown in Northbeam (example: SMS Signup)

Step 4: Add the goal to your Sales view

After at least one event fires successfully, the Custom Goal becomes available as a metric on the Sales page.

1. Go to the Sales Page
2. Click Customize Table

3. Click Custom Goals
4. Find your Custom Goal metric(s) and add them to your view

Common Mistakes

• The Northbeam Base Pixel is not firing on the page
• The Goal ID in the dashboard does not exactly match the script
• The trigger conditions are incorrect
• The event is implemented on a different domain than the Base Pixel

Limitations

Custom Goals track event count only.

Revenue, monetary values, or additional parameters cannot be passed through fireCustomGoal().