Short answer. Count three things for the same week and put them side by side: the inquiries your website saved, the emails that reached your inbox, and one event in your analytics. The three numbers will rarely match. That is fine, because each one can see something the others miss, and the gaps tell you where to look.
The three places an inquiry can be counted
Saved entries. Most form plugins can keep a copy of every submission inside the website. On our site, Contact Form 7 sends the message and a plugin called Flamingo stores each inquiry. It does not depend on email or on a browser.
Emails. The message the form sends to your inbox. If mail fails, the entry is saved but no email arrives. Spam filters, forwarding rules and a wrong “from” address can all hide an email that was sent. We cover those causes in Why is my website contact form not sending emails?.
An analytics event. In Google Analytics 4 you mark an action as a key event, which Google describes as an event that measures an action important to your business. We use one called generate_lead, set up on 3 October 2026, which fires when the form is sent. It can miss visitors whose browsers block tracking, and it counts nothing for phone calls or emails sent straight to you.
What each one cannot see
Saved entries cannot say where a visitor came from, emails can be lost on the way, and analytics can be blocked. The card shows each side by side.
Side by side
Three ways to count an inquiry
| Saved entries | Emails | Analytics event | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it counts | Every form submission stored by the site | Messages that reach your inbox | Form sends the browser reports |
| What it misses | Phone calls, direct emails | Mail that fails or lands in spam | Visitors who block tracking; calls |
| Good for | The true count | Checking delivery | Where visitors came from |
Long Square Studio. Our own setup, read 2026-10-23. Google Analytics Help, About key events.
A five-minute weekly routine
- Open the saved entries and count the real inquiries for the week. Ignore spam and test messages.
- Search your inbox for the same dates and count what arrived.
- Read the key event count in Google Analytics for the same dates.
- Write the three numbers and the date in one spreadsheet row.
- Saved entries higher than emails means check email delivery. Analytics lower than entries is common.
What our own numbers look like
Google Analytics shows one generate_lead event for 9 to 15 October 2026 and none for 16 to 22 October. That is two weeks and one event: far too small to call a rate, and we do not.
A few common questions
How do I check that my website contact form is really reaching me?
Send a test message yourself, then look in three places: the saved entries, your inbox and your spam folder. If the entry is saved and no email arrives, the form works and email delivery is the problem.
How do I track where my inquiries come from in Google Analytics?
Mark the form submission as a key event, then look at that event in the traffic acquisition report to see which sources it came from. With few inquiries the split is noisy, so read it over months.
How do I see what visitors do on my website before they contact me?
Google Analytics lists the pages visitors view and where they came from. Start with the pages seen just before the key event. It shows what people read, not why they chose to ask.
Sources
Google’s page, read 23 October 2026. It changes, so check it before you act.
Want your inquiries counted in one place? Start an inquiry.
