4 steps to capture Google Ads data in FormAssembly
A simple approach for capturing Google Ads data in FormsAssembly so you know which campaigns generate your leads, customers and revenue.
Do you find it tedious to determine which of your Google Ads campaigns are generating customers and revenue?
What if you could track every lead, pinpointing the exact campaign and ad they clicked on? With this information, you would be able to identify the successful campaigns and ads, and allocate more resources to them.
This blog post will guide you through the process of using Attributer to capture Google Ads data in FormAssembly so you can exactly which campaigns and ad groups are generating leads and customers.
Why it's important to track customers and revenue from Google Ads
Let's say that you run a business that sells and installs pool equipment. To promote your business, you run Google ads highlighting the various products you offer, such as Pool Pumps and Pool Cleaners.
If you were using a tool like Google Analytics to count visitors and form completions, you'd get something like this:
| Spend | $2,000 | $2,000 |
| Visitors | 200 | 100 |
| Goal Completions | 20 | 10 |
If the only data you have is how many visitors and leads you got, then it would look like the Pool Pumps campaign was excelling more than your Pool Cleaners campaign, which would make you direct more of your budget to the former.
On the other hand, imagine if you could see the results all the way through to the number of customers and the amount of revenue generated.
You'd get something like this:
| Spend | $2,000 | $2,000 |
| Visitors | 200 | 100 |
| Leads | 20 | 10 |
| Customers | 2 | 5 |
| Revenue | $8,000 | $25,000 |
If you're able to track how many customers and how much revenue you get from each of your Google Ads, you can start to see the full picture.
Looking at the numbers above, you can see the Pool Cleaners Campaign is performing better:
- You received more customers from the Pool Cleaners Campaign (5) than the Pool Pumps Campaign (2)
- Your lead-to-customer conversion rate is five times greater for the Pool Cleaners Campaign (50% vs. 10%)
- Your average customer value is higher for the Pool Cleaners Campaign: $5,000 per customer vs. $4,000 per customer from the Pool Pumps Campaign.
- Your cost of acquiring a customer is lower through the Pool Cleaners Campaign: $400 vs. $1,000
- Your Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) is three times higher in the Pool Cleaners Campaign
As the above analysis has proven, you get a much better understanding of what's working and what isn't when you can capture the source of every lead and track it through to customers and revenue.
4 simple steps to capture Google Ads data in FormAssembly
Attributer makes it easy to capture Google Ads data in FormAssembly. Here's how it works:
1. Add UTM parameters to your ads
To capture Google Ads data in FormAssembly, it is necessary to first include UTM parameters behind your ads.
If you are unfamiliar with UTM parameters, they are basically additional bits of text that you add to the end of the URL you send to people from your campaigns.
For instance, if the URL you are sending people to is attributer.io/integrations/formassembly, your final URL with UTM parameters might resemble the following:
attributer.io/integrations/formassembly?utm_medium=paidsearch&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=brand-campaign
While you have the freedom to customize your UTM parameters as you please, it is advisable to adhere to Google Ads' best practices, which typically entail:
- UTM Medium = Paid search
- UTM Source = Google
- UTM Campaign = The name of your Google Ads campaign
- UTM Term = The name of the ad group the ad belongs to
- UTM Content = The specific ad
Fortunately, tagging your URLs with UTM parameters is a simple task that can be accomplished using free online tools.
2. Add hidden fields to your forms
Once you have added UTM parameters to your URLs, the next step is to incorporate several hidden fields into your lead capture forms. These forms are used to collect data from individuals who visit your website. The hidden fields that must be included are:
- Channel
- Channel Drilldown 1
- Channel Drilldown 2
- Channel Drilldown 3
- Landing Page
- Landing Page Group
Adding hidden fields to FormAssembly is incredibly easy. All you have to do is add a 'Hidden Field' field type to your form and then configure it to have a default value. For more detailed instructions, please refer to this help article.
3. Attributer writes Google Ads data into the hidden fields
After integrating the hidden fields into your forms, Attributer will monitor where your website visitors are coming from and whenever one of them submits a form on your site, Attributer automatically populates the hidden fields with the values you specified in your UTM parameters.
For example, let's assume I am a marketer at Dropbox and an individual arrives on my site via one of my brand campaigns in paid search. Attributer would complete the hidden fields as follows (depending on the UTM parameters used):
- Channel = Paid search
- Channel Drilldown 1 = Google
- Channel Drilldown 2 = Brand campaign
- Channel Drilldown 3 = Free account ad
In addition to the UTM parameter values, Attributer would also capture the visitor's landing page (e.g., dropbox.com/features/cloud-storage) and the initial landing page group (e.g., features).
4. Google Ads data is captured in FormAssembly
Finally, when a visitor submits the form, the Google Ads data is captured along with the information provided by the lead in the form, such as their name, company, email, phone number, etc.
With this information, you can accomplish a variety of tasks, such as:
- Including it in each new lead notification email, allowing you to quickly identify the source of each lead
- Sending it to your CRM (including Salesforce, Pipedrive, Hubspot & more) so your sales team can also track the lead's source
- Utilizing it to create reports that reveal which Google Ads campaigns are generating leads, revenue, and customers.
Why using Attributer is the best way to capture Google Ads data in FormAssembly
What makes Attributer the best option for capturing Google Ads data in your FormAssembly forms?
Here are the 4 main reasons:
1. Captures all traffic
In addition to being a powerful tool for capturing Google Ads data in FormAssembly, Attributer can also track all other lead sources, such as Organic Social, Paid Social, and Organic Search.
This means that when you run reports to understand the origin of your leads and customers, you'll be able to see the source of ALL your leads, not just those from your Google Ads campaigns.
This data can be extremely valuable, particularly if something like your SEO efforts are actually generating the majority of your leads and customers instead of your Google Ads campaigns. This knowledge can help you make informed decisions about where to allocate your resources to ensure that your budget is being utilized effectively.
2. Attributer remembers the data as visitors browse your site
Many other UTM capturing tools and methods require the UTM parameters to be present on the page where the form is completed, which can be problematic if the visitor doesn't complete the form on the same page they landed on.
For instance, if a visitor clicks on a Google Ad, is taken to your homepage, and then navigates to a different page to fill out a form, the UTM parameters may get lost.
However, with Attributer, this is not a concern because it stores the UTM parameters in a cookie in the visitor's browser. This ensures that the UTM parameters will be passed through regardless of the page the visitor completes the form on.
As a result, you can trace every lead back to your Google Ads campaign, regardless of their navigation activity on your site before filling out the form.
3. Provides cleaner data
When using other tools that only capture raw UTM parameters, a common issue is that the data can become disorganized, making it difficult to generate accurate reports.
For instance, imagine that some of your Google Ads campaigns have UTM_Source=Google.com (capital G), others have UTM_Source=google (lowercase, no domain), and others have UTM_Source=adwords.
If you capture these raw UTM parameters in FormAssembly and use them to determine the number of leads generated by your Google Ads campaigns, you will end up with three separate sources that you must manually piece together.
Attributer, on the other hand, is different in that it recognizes variations in capitalization and other inconsistencies and will assign leads to the correct channel regardless (Paid search in this case).
4. Attributer captures landing page data
Have you ever been curious about whether your blog and other content marketing efroets are actually bringing in leads and customers? If so, have you ever wondered exactly how many?
Attributer has a solution for this as well. Not only does it capture channel data, but also landing page information such as the URL (e.g., attributer.io/blog/capture-utm-parameters) and landing page category (e.g., /blog).
With this information, you can determine how well certain sections of your website are performing, such as your blog, in generating leads, revenue, and customers.
Furthermore, because both the landing page and landing page group are recorded, you can analyze your blog's performance in two ways: as a whole section or as individual blog posts.
Wrap up
If you're looking for a reliable solution to track leads and customers from your Google Ads in FormAssembly, look no further than Attributer.
It captures the UTM parameters from your Google Ad campaigns, enabling you to see which campaigns your leads and customers are coming from. Moreover, it offers insights on leads that come from other channels, so you can track the source of ALL your leads, not just those from Google Ads.
This information will help you make more informed decisions about where to invest your money to grow your business.
The best part? You can start using Attributer for free with a 14-day free trial. Don't hesitate to sign up today and discover the benefits for yourself.
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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.