How to create an interactive product guide via Google Tag Manager without a developer

By Andrey Davydov · updated September 18, 2026

A help guide that shows instead of tells via Google Tag Manager: a checklist of how-to topics, each opening the right page and walking the user through it with tooltips.

Time: ● 30 minutes
Price: 14-day free trial, no card
Who does it: Anyone who can publish in GTM

Example: an interactive guide via Google Tag Manager

A marketing automation SaaS gets the same integration questions every week. A “How do I…” checklist opens when the user clicks the Help button (data-tour="help"); topics like “Connect a CRM” open /app/integrations?tutorial=connect-crm and the tour starts there.

This format is part of the Pro plan. Every new account starts with a 14-day free trial with all formats and audience rules, no card required. When the trial ends nothing is deleted and published items keep showing; the Free plan keeps tours and tooltips free.

How to build the interactive guide via Google Tag Manager, step by step

Step 01
Copy your Clew snippet
Create a free account (or sign in), add your site and open Admin → Overview. Click the line in the “No signal from the widget yet.” card to copy it — it carries your real site key instead of the placeholder.
```

<script src="https://tryclew.io/widget/PASTE_YOUR_SITE_KEY.js" async></script>
```
Step 1 · schematic illustration
Step 02
Create a Custom HTML tag in GTM
In tagmanager.google.com open your container, Tags → New → Tag Configuration → Custom HTML, and paste the Clew line. Name the tag Clew widget.
Step 2 · schematic illustration
Step 03
Fire it on All Pages
In Triggering choose All Pages and save. Load it everywhere: which page shows the interactive product guide is decided in Clew, not in GTM.
Step 3 · schematic illustration
Step 04
Preview, then Submit and Publish
Check in Preview that Clew widget is under Tags Fired, then Submit → Publish. Nothing reaches the live site before you publish.
Step 4 · schematic illustration
Step 05
Create the tours, then the guide checklist
First build one Step-by-step tooltips tour per topic with Edit on your site and Pick element, and note each tour’s Slug (used in links). Then create a Onboarding checklist: one item per topic, and in Link URL the page address plus ?tutorial= and the tour slug.
Step 5 · schematic illustration

Step 06

Choose where, when and for whom it shows

In the same editor, set Where to show (page URL), When to show, Audience targeting and Frequency. These are the settings of the example above:

Setting	Value
Checklist
Format	Onboarding checklist
Where to show (page URL)	Section by prefix `/app`
When to show	On click on an element: `[data-tour="help"]`
Audience targeting	No rules — everyone who opens the page
Frequency	Every visit
Product tour
Format	Step-by-step tooltips
Where to show (page URL)	Section by prefix `/app/integrations`
When to show	Right on page load
Audience targeting	No rules — everyone who opens the page
Frequency	Once per visitor

Clew tour editor with the format, page URL rule, trigger and audience rule fields (interactive product guide via Google Tag Manager) — Step 6 · schematic illustration

Step 07
Publish and check it on the live site
Set Status to Published and save. Open the page in a private window — Clew remembers who has already seen a “once” item, so your usual browser may skip it. Views, completions and drop-offs appear in the tour stats.
Step 7 · schematic illustration

Pitfalls: interactive product guide via Google Tag Manager

Don’t use a History Change trigger

The widget follows single-page navigation on its own. A second trigger on History Change only loads the script again for nothing.

Keep query parameters intact

Some sites redirect and drop query strings (for example, forcing a trailing slash). Open each topic link once: if ?tutorial= disappears in the address bar, link to the final URL instead.

The help button needs a stable selector

On click on an element listens for clicks on the selector you enter. Use an id or a data-tour attribute on the help button, not a class that styling changes may rename.

Questions and answers

Can support send a tour link in a chat reply?

Yes: any link with ?tutorial=<slug> to a page with the widget starts that tour.

Does GTM slow the interactive product guide down?

The widget loads a moment after the container. Only an item with Right on page load on the very first page view might appear a fraction of a second later than with a direct install.

What does it cost?

Tours are free; the guide checklist is part of Pro. Every new account gets a 14-day trial with both, no card.

Can the same tour also run for new users automatically?

Yes. A tour opened with ?tutorial= ignores its rules, so the same tour can also have its own URL rule and Once per visitor for first-time visitors.

What else you can add via Google Tag Manager

Interactive guide on other platforms

WordPressHow to create an interactive product guide on WordPress without a developer

How to create an interactive product guide via Google Tag Manager without a developer

Example: an interactive guide via Google Tag Manager

How to build the interactive guide via Google Tag Manager, step by step

Copy your Clew snippet

Create a Custom HTML tag in GTM

Fire it on All Pages

Preview, then Submit and Publish

Create the tours, then the guide checklist