A better way to get UTM Parameters into Perfex
Identify which marketing channels attract the best leads, opportunities & customers by tracking UTM parameters in Perfex
It is important to identify which marketing channels and campaigns are the most effective in generating leads and sales.
Without the ability to do so, it is almost impossible to make smart decisions on which marketing strategies are the most impactful.
One way to identify the right channels and campaigns is to pass marketing attribution information (such as UTM parameters, landing page, and other marketing channel data) into your CRM. That way, you can create reports that identify what channels are driving leads, opportunities, customers, and revenue.
In this article, we'll show you how you can track marketing attribution information (such as UTM parameters) in Perfex.
4 steps for capturing UTM parameters in Perfex
Using Attributer to capture UTM parameters in Perfex is easy. Here's how to do it in 4 easy steps:
1. Add UTM variables to your ads
The first thing you need to do to start tracking UTM parameters in your CRM is to add them to your ads and campaigns. This allows Attributer to determine exactly where your website visitors are coming from, and in turn, pass that information through to your CRM for reporting on.
You should add UTM parameters to any ads or campaigns you are running. This could be on social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter, or on search engines like Google and Bing. It's even a good idea to use them on bespoke campaigns as well, such as advertisements you may have in trade publications, email campaigns, etc.
2. Add hidden fields to your forms
The next thing you need to do is to add hidden fields to your lead capture forms (I.e. Your Request A Demo form and your whitepaper download form). Hidden fields, as their name suggests, are fields that are technically on the form but are not visible to your website visitors. We'll explain the significance of this in the next step.
The hidden fields that you need to add are:
• Channel
• Channel Drilldown 1
• Channel Drilldown 2
• Channel Drilldown 3
• Landing Page
• Landing Page Group
In most form builders, adding hidden fields is simply a case of dragging it into your form or changing a setting on a standard text field. If you're working with a custom HTML form, you can define a hidden field by adding input type=”hidden” to the form field.
3. Attributer automatically completes the hidden fields with UTM data
Remember what we said about Attributer being able to see your hidden fields?
What Attributer does is complete the hidden fields with the UTM parameters you put behind your ads in Step 1.
Let's take Dropbox as an example. A user googling ways to share large files comes across a Dropbox ad in Paid Search and clicks on it, before filling out a form to request a demo. Attributer would then complete the hidden fields with UTM data like that might look like this (depending on what you put in your UTM parameters):
- Channel = Paid Search
- Channel Drilldown 1 = Google
- Channel Drilldown 2 = Brand Campaign
- Channel Drilldown 3 = Dropbox
On top of this, Attributer would also track what page they arrived on and pass it through in the hidden fields. Continuing the Dropbox example from above, it could be:
- Landing Page = www.dropbox.com/features/share
- Landing Page Group = Features
4. UTM parameters are passed into Perfex
Now for the exciting part. When a site visitor submits a form, the landing page data, as well as the channel data acquired from the UTM parameters are sent to Perfex, together with the lead's name, email, phone number, and other information provided on the form.
Once the data is in Perfex, your can employ your reporting and other existing BI tools to create reports that can inform and guide your subsequent marketing plans.
Aside from knowing which of your channels are pulling in the highest number of leads, you should also be able to view the Closed Won deals from your channels, the conversion rate to opportunity, etc.
What is Attributer?
As you can see from the steps above, Attributer makes it easy to get UTM parameters into Perfex.
But what is Attributer, and how does it actually work?
When placed on your website, Attributer collects visitor data on everyone that visits your site, including the UTM parameters they arrived on your site with. Using this data, Attributer assigns the visitor a channel (such as Paid Social, Paid Search, or Organic Search) and stores it in a cookie in the visitor's browser.
When the visitor submits a form on your site, their information is sent to your customer relationship management software along with the channel information (derived from the UTM's) and landing page data.
Attributer was born from a need to know exactly which channels were bringing in genuine leads, not just visitors. Built by a B2B marketing consultant who initially just wanted to make working with clients easier, Attributer is now available for digital marketers and B2B owners who want to get more out of marketing analytics.
Why using Attributer is better than capturing raw UTM parameters
Of all the tools you can use, why choose Attributer?
Simple: Attributer doesn't only capture raw UTM parameters, like most other tools do. It does a whole lot more, including:
1. Captures all traffic
Attributer is able to capture all traffic sources, and we mean all of them, including those where UTM parameters aren't present. For instance, Attributer captures channel information on visitors who land on your site through channels that may not have UTM parameters, such as Organic Search, Referral, Organic Social, Direct, Email, and more.
Attributer sends all of this information into Perfex so you know where all of your leads are originating from, regardless of whether they're coming from paid ads or not.
2. Provides cleaner data
Attributer gives you cleaner, more organized data. One of the problems with capturing UTM parameters raw is that you inevitably end up with loads of messy data that can make Marie Kondo cry.
As an example, imagine some of your Twitter campaigns are tagged with UTM_Source=Twitter.com (capital T), others with UTM_Source=twitter (lowercase, no domain), and others with UTM_Source=tw.
When you run reports in Perfex with just these raw UTM parameters to see how many leads your Twitter campaigns have brought you, you get three different sources that you would then have to stitch together.
With Attributer, you don't have to deal with this because it takes the possibility of capitalization and other inconsistencies into account, and will ascribe leads to Paid Social.
3. Captures landing page data as well
You work so hard at creating quality content on your blog, so wouldn't it be great to know how it's performing?
With Attributer, you'll be able to. Attributer not only captures UTM parameters and other channel data but also captures info such as the landing page (I.e. dropbox.com/blog/collaborate-word-docs) & the landing page category (I.e. Blog). This lets you see if your hard work is paying off or if you may need to tweak your content to bring in more leads.
Wrap up
Attributer exceeds expectations as a UTM parameter capturing tool because it does a whole lot more.
Attributer captures and passes UTM parameters into Perfex while also giving you data on leads from channels where UTM parameters aren't present It could be from Organic Social, Organic Search, Referral, or other channels.
Ready to experience what Attributer can do for you? It's free to try, so get started using Attributer today.
Get Started For Free
Start your 14-day free trial of Attributer today!
About the Author
Aaron Beashel is the founder of Attributer and has over 15 years of experience in marketing & analytics. He is a recognized expert in the subject and has written articles for leading websites such as Hubspot, Zapier, Search Engine Journal, Buffer, Unbounce & more. Learn more about Aaron here.