Track Exit Intent

Exit intent tracking lets you understand abandonment patterns: which pages lose users, at what point in their journey, and with what context. On desktop, the signal is the mouse moving above the viewport. On mobile, it is the user switching to another tab or app.

Desktop: mouse exit detection

When the mouse leaves the top of the viewport (heading toward the browser chrome), the user is likely about to close the tab or navigate away. This is the classic exit intent signal.

dataLayer.push() exit_intent

Fires once per page when the user's mouse leaves the top of the viewport.

(function() {
  var hasExitFired = false;

  document.addEventListener('mouseleave', function(event) {
    // Only trigger when mouse exits through the top of the viewport
    if (event.clientY > 0) return;

    // Only fire once per page
    if (hasExitFired) return;
    hasExitFired = true;

    window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
    window.dataLayer.push({
      event: 'exit_intent',
      exit_method: 'mouse_leave',
      exit_page_path: window.location.pathname,
      exit_page_title: document.title,
      scroll_depth_at_exit: Math.round(
        (window.pageYOffset / (document.documentElement.scrollHeight - window.innerHeight)) * 100
      ),
      time_on_page: Math.round((Date.now() - performance.timing.navigationStart) / 1000)
    });
  });
})();

Mobile: Page Visibility API

Mobile browsers do not have a cursor, so mouse exit does not apply. Instead, detect when the user switches apps or locks their screen using the Page Visibility API:

(function() {
  var hasExitFired = false;
  var pageLoadTime = Date.now();

  document.addEventListener('visibilitychange', function() {
    if (document.visibilityState !== 'hidden') return;
    if (hasExitFired) return;

    // Only trigger as exit intent if user has been on page > 5 seconds
    var timeOnPage = (Date.now() - pageLoadTime) / 1000;
    if (timeOnPage < 5) return;

    hasExitFired = true;

    window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
    window.dataLayer.push({
      event: 'exit_intent',
      exit_method: 'tab_hidden',
      exit_page_path: window.location.pathname,
      time_on_page: Math.round(timeOnPage)
    });
  });
})();

Combined implementation

dataLayer.push() exit_intent

Detects both desktop mouse exit and mobile tab-hide as exit intent signals.

(function() {
  var hasExitFired = false;
  var pageLoadTime = Date.now();

  function pushExitIntent(method) {
    if (hasExitFired) return;
    hasExitFired = true;

    var scrollHeight = document.documentElement.scrollHeight - window.innerHeight;
    var scrollDepth = scrollHeight > 0
      ? Math.round((window.pageYOffset / scrollHeight) * 100)
      : 100;

    window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
    window.dataLayer.push({
      event: 'exit_intent',
      exit_method: method,
      exit_page_path: window.location.pathname,
      exit_page_title: document.title,
      scroll_depth_at_exit: scrollDepth,
      time_on_page_seconds: Math.round((Date.now() - pageLoadTime) / 1000)
    });
  }

  // Desktop: mouse leaves top of viewport
  document.addEventListener('mouseleave', function(e) {
    if (e.clientY <= 0) pushExitIntent('mouse_leave');
  });

  // Mobile / tab switch: page becomes hidden
  document.addEventListener('visibilitychange', function() {
    if (document.visibilityState === 'hidden') {
      var timeOnPage = (Date.now() - pageLoadTime) / 1000;
      if (timeOnPage > 5) pushExitIntent('tab_hidden');
    }
  });
})();

1. Add the code as a Custom HTML tag in GTM

   • Trigger: DOM Ready (All Pages, or limit with Page Path condition)

2. Create a Custom Event Trigger

   • Trigger type: Custom Event
   • Event name: exit_intent

3. Create Data Layer Variables

   • DLV - exit_method → exit_method
   • DLV - scroll_depth_at_exit → scroll_depth_at_exit
   • DLV - time_on_page_seconds → time_on_page_seconds

4. Create a GA4 Event Tag

   • Event name: exit_intent
   • Parameters:
     • exit_method → {{DLV - exit_method}}
     • scroll_depth_at_exit → {{DLV - scroll_depth_at_exit}}
     • time_on_page_seconds → {{DLV - time_on_page_seconds}}
     • page_path → {{Page Path}}
   • Trigger: the Custom Event trigger

5. Test in Preview Mode

   Open GTM Preview, visit a page, then move your mouse to the top of the browser window (not into the address bar, just toward the top). The exit_intent event should appear in the Summary pane within a second.

Tag Configuration

GA4 - exit_intent

Type

Google Analytics: GA4 Event

Trigger

Custom Event - exit_intent

Variables

DLV - exit_methodDLV - scroll_depth_at_exitDLV - time_on_page_seconds

Using exit intent data

In GA4, create an Exploration report to analyse:

• Which pages have the highest exit intent rates (by page_path)
• At what scroll depth users are abandoning (scroll_depth_at_exit)
• Whether desktop vs. mobile shows different abandonment patterns (exit_method)

A high exit_intent rate at low scroll depth suggests a content or relevance problem. A high exit_intent rate at 75%+ scroll depth suggests users read the content but did not find the CTA compelling.

Test it

1. Open GTM Preview, navigate to a page
2. Slowly move your mouse upward until it exits the top of the visible browser content area
3. The exit_intent event should fire once
4. Move the mouse back in and out again — it should NOT fire a second time
5. Verify scroll_depth_at_exit reflects how far you had scrolled

Common gotchas

Event fires too easily. Some users move their mouse to the browser chrome frequently (to switch tabs, use bookmarks). Consider adding a minimum time threshold (time_on_page > 15) before enabling exit intent detection to reduce noise.

Event fires multiple times. The hasExitFired flag prevents this, but ensure the Custom HTML tag only fires once per page. Use a DOM Ready trigger, not a Page View trigger that might fire on SPA navigations.

Mobile detection is a superset of tab visibility. If you also use the Track Tab Visibility recipe, the visibilitychange handler in this recipe will overlap. Separate the two concerns or add a guard to check which recipe should fire based on time thresholds.

Track Tab Visibility More detailed visibility tracking with timing data.

Track Scroll Milestones Context for interpreting scroll depth at exit.