The best way to capture Facebook Ads data in WeForms
Learn the best way to capture Facebook Ads data (like the campaign, network, ad set, etc.) in WeForms so you can track the success of your Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads can be a highly effective way to generate leads and customers for your business.
But in order to make the most of it, you need to be able to track which campaigns, networks, ad sets, etc are performing best. Otherwise, you won't know what to invest more in to grow.
This is where Attributer comes in. It's enables you to capture the specific campaign, network, ad set, etc a lead came from whenever they submit one of your WeForms forms.
In this article, we will walk you through four simple steps for using Attributer to capture Facebook Ads data in WeForms, as well as show you some example reports you can run with the data.
4 simple steps to capture Facebook Ads data in WeForms
Capturing Facebook Ads data with each submission of your WeForms forms is simple with Attributer. Here's how it works:
1. Add UTM parameters to your Facebook Ads
To start, you must add UTM parameters to all your active Facebook Ads.
If you’re unfamiliar with the term UTM parameters, they’re basically extra bits of text that you add at the end of the URL you want to send to people from your campaigns.
For instance, if the page you wish to send to someone is attributer.io/integrations/weforms, then your final URL with UTM parameters may look like this:
attributer.io/integrations/weforms?utm_medium=paidsocial&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=brand-campaign
You can put whatever data you want in the UTM parameters, but the general best practice for Facebook Ads would be something like this:
- UTM Medium = Paid social
- UTM Source = Facebook (or Instagram or whatever network it's on)
- UTM Campaign = The name of your campaign
- UTM Term = The name of the ad set the ad belongs to
- UTM Content = The specific ad
Adding UTM parameters to your URLs is simple. Plus, there are free tools available on the web that can help you in adding them.
2. Install Attributer on your website
Attributer is a small piece of code that you add to your company’s website.
Once a user reaches your site, Attributer looks at a bunch of technical data on how the user got there and uses this to identify their origin (i.e., Facebook Ads).
Then when the user submits a form on your site, Attributer places the attribution data into a series of hidden fields you add to your forms, and it is then captured by WeForms together with the lead’s name, email, etc.
Adding Attributer to your site is simple. You will be given a snippet of code after signing up for a 14-day free trial. This code snippet can be added to your website by following these instructions.
3. Add hidden fields to your forms
The third step is to add several hidden fields to your lead capture forms (I.e. the forms you use to collect information from site visitors).
The hidden fields you need to add are:
- Channel
- Channel Drilldown 1
- Channel Drilldown 2
- Channel Drilldown 3
- Channel Drilldown 4
- Landing Page
- Landing Page Group
Adding hidden fields to your WeForms forms is super simple. You just drag and drop a ‘Hidden’ field type into the form.
4. Attributer writes the Facebook Ads data into the hidden fields and it’s captured by WeForms
Every time a user arrives at your site from your Facebook Ads, Attributer captures the UTM parameters you added in Step 1 and keeps them in a cookie in a user’s browser. This way, they won’t be forgotten as the user explores your site.
Then when the user completes a form on your site, Attributer will place the Facebook Ads data (derived from the UTM parameters) into the hidden fields, and these will be captured alongside the lead’s name, email, etc., once the form is submitted.
What you can do with the data
Once the Facebook Ads data has been captured in WeForms, you can utilize WeForms’ native integrations or third-party tools like Zapier to send the data to a variety of places:
- Send it to your CRM - When you send the Facebook Ads data into Pipedrive, Salesforce, and more, you can use it to run reports that show the number of leads from your Facebook Ads, how many of those turned into customers, how much revenue was produced, etc.
- Send it to a spreadsheet - You can do basic analysis in Google or Excel sheets by using Zapier or a WeForms Add-On to send the data to these platforms. Or connect analytics tools like Microsoft Power BI to your spreadsheet to build a more advanced report.
- See it in your email notifications - If you use emails to respond to your new leads instead of a CRM, you can add the Facebook Ads data to the lead notification email so you can know the origins of each lead.
Why use Attributer
Other ways to capture Facebook Ads data in WeForms are available, so why choose Attributer?
There are a few main benefits:
Captures other attribution information
Apart from the capturing information on the leads that come from your Facebook Ads, Attributer also captures information on leads who arrive on your site through other channels like Paid Search, Direct, Referral, Organic Social, or Organic Search.
This means you’ll be able to see where ALL your leads and customers are coming from, not just the ones from your Facebook Ads.
Remembers the data
Other methods for capturing Facebook Ads data require that the UTM parameters you put behind your ads be present on the same page where the user submits a form.
However, this approach can create problems, as demonstrated in the following scenario.
Imagine a user clicks on your Facebook Ad and lands on your homepage. They then click the 'Get A Quote' button, which takes them to a different page to fill out the form. As the visitor is completing the form on different page from where they originally landed, the UTM parameters would be lost and could not be captured in WeForms.
Thankfully, Attributer offers a solution to this problem. It saves the UTM parameters in a cookie within the user's browser. This means that no matter which page the user completes the form on, the UTM parameters will always be sent with the form submission.
Cleans the data
Built to expect inconsistencies in UTM usage, Attributer can assign leads to the correct channel regardless of any discrepancy, which ensures you always have accurate data.
For instance, if you are using utm_source=facebook in some campaigns and utm_source=facebook.com in others, Attributer would still be able to assign this lead to the Paid Social channel.
Captures landing page data
Besides the Facebook Ads data, Attributer also captures the landing page URL (e.g., https://attributer.io/blog/capture-utm-parameters-salesforce) and landing page group (e.g., /blog).
This enables you to generate reports that show the number of leads and customers you get from specific sections of your website (such as your blog) as well as break it down to determine the number of leads and customers obtained from each individual blog post.
3 example reports you can run to understand the performance of your Facebook Ads campaigns
If you capture Facebook Ads data in WeForms using Attributer and you send this data into a platform like CRM or spreadsheet, then the following reports are possible to run:
1. Leads by channel
Attributer captures the source of all your leads, not just those from Facebook Ads. As a result, it is possible to generate reports like the one mentioned above, which shows the number of leads by channel.
This report allows you to analyze the performance of your Facebook Ads in comparison to other channels and can help you decide where to best invest your resources.
In my experience, Facebook Ads can often generate a lot of clicks & website visits that don't often turn into leads & customers, so if you see this happening it might be worth moving some of your budget to channels that typically convert higher (such as Google Ads)
2. Leads by Network
If you have ads on Facebook’s various networks (like Instagram and Messenger), then the report above can help you understand which networks are creating the most leads.
This can help you know which social network your ads are doing best on and can let you focus on what’s working to get better results.
3. Leads by campaign
The graph above provides data on the number of leads you get each month from Facebook Ads, broken down by the campaign they came from.
Knowing this information on which campaigns are producing leads, and not just clicks and visitors that don’t convert, can help you refine your strategy and get more leads.
Wrap up
Capturing UTM parameters behind your Facebook Ads is easy with Attributer. And when you capture this data, you can easily see the number of leads you get, which campaigns they’re coming from, and more.
And because Attributer can track the source of ALL your leads (not just those from your Facebook Ads), you'll ultimately know where to invest your marketing budget to grow your business.
Have we mentioned it’s free to get started? That’s right! So start your free trial today and discover what Attributer can contribute to your company.
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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.