How to set up a goal funnel in GA4 with cross-domain tracking (for event ticket sales)

If you're running events and using an external ticket provider like Eventbrite, Ticket Tailor, or similar, tracking the full user journey—from landing on your website to purchasing a ticket—can be tricky. The good news? With Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and proper cross-domain tracking, you can stitch together that full funnel.

In this post, we’ll walk through how to set up a goal funnel in GA4 that includes both your main website and the external ticketing platform.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure:

• GA4 is installed on both domains (your site and the ticket provider)
• Cross-domain tracking is configured correctly (more on that below)
• You have access to set up custom events or conversions in GA4
  
  

Step 1: Confirm cross-domain tracking is working

GA4 uses measurement ID–based tagging, so cross-domain tracking must be enabled via Google Tag Manager (GTM) or directly using the gtag.js configuration. Here’s how to confirm it:

• In GTM, go to your GA4 configuration tag and add your domains under “Fields to set”:
  
  
  • fieldName: linker:autoLink
  • value: ["yourdomain.com", "ticketprovider.com"]

Alternatively, if you’re using gtag.js directly:

gtag('config', 'G-XXXXXXX', {  'linker': {

    'domains': ['yourdomain.com', 'ticketprovider.com']

  }

});

Use the GA Debugger Chrome extension and test a journey from your site to the ticket site. Check that the _gl parameter persists across domains and that session continuity is maintained in GA4.

Step 2: Identify key funnel steps

Here’s a simple example funnel for an event:

1. Page view: user lands on your event details page
2. CTA click: user clicks “Buy tickets” (link to ticket provider)
3. Ticket checkout view: user lands on checkout page (external)
4. Purchase: ticket purchase is completed (thank you page or purchase event)

Step 3: Set up events in GA4

You need to ensure each of those funnel steps is tracked as an event.

1. Page views

No extra configuration needed—GA4 tracks these by default.

2. Click to ticket provider

Use GTM or gtag to create a custom event when the "Buy tickets" button is clicked:

gtag('event', 'buy_ticket_click', {

  event_category: 'engagement',

  event_label: 'Event XYZ'

});

3. Ticket checkout and purchase events

Check whether your ticket provider supports GA4 e-commerce or custom event tracking. If not, you can still track visits to key URLs (like /checkout or /thank-you) via page_view events and create custom events in GA4 based on those.

Step 4: Mark key events as conversions

In GA4:

1. Go to Admin > Events
   
   
2. Find the events (like buy_ticket_click, purchase, or any custom ones you created)
3. Toggle them ON as Conversions
   
   

Step 5: Build the funnel in GA4 explorations

While GA4 doesn’t have a traditional “goal funnel” like Universal Analytics, you can use the Funnel exploration report.

• Go to Explore > Create new exploration
  
  
• Choose Funnel exploration
  
  
• Define your funnel steps using the events or page paths you’ve set up

Example steps:

• Step 1: page_view where page_location contains /events/event-xyz
  
• Step 2: buy_ticket_click
  
• Step 3: page_view where page_location contains checkout.ticketprovider.com
  
• Step 4: purchase or page_view contains /thank-you

Tick the “Open funnel” option if you want to see drop-offs at any point without requiring a strict sequence.

Bonus tips

• Use UTM tags to track campaign effectiveness
• Set up audiences based on drop-offs (e.g. clicked but didn’t purchase)
• Consider server-side tracking for more reliable conversion data if visibility is dropping

Final thoughts

Setting up a GA4 goal funnel for a cross-domain event journey takes a bit more effort, but once it’s in place, you’ll be able to clearly see how users move from interest to purchase—even if the ticket sale happens offsite. With accurate funnel tracking, you can optimise your event marketing with confidence.

Have questions about your setup? Lets chat!