The easiest way to capture Google Ads data in Kali Forms
Learn the easiest way to capture Google Ads data in Kali Forms so you can track which campaigns are generating leads.
Google Ads are a great way to get new leads and customers for your business.
But if you want to make the most of it, you have to know which campaigns, ad groups & ads are working best. Otherwise, how do you know what you can to to improve?
That's where Attributer comes in. It helps you figure out which campaign, ad group, keyword etc. is responsible for generating your leads.
This article will show you the four simple steps to use Attributer to capture Google Ads data (such as the campaign, ad group, keyword, etc the lead came from) in Kali Forms.
Why it's important to track customers and revenue from Google Ads
Imagine you're running a business that sells and installs pool gear. Right now, you're using Google ads to promote your products and have two campaigns: One for Pool Pumps and the other for Pool Cleaners.
If you were just using Google Analytics to track the performance of these campaigns your numbers might look a bit like this:
| Spend | $2,000 | $2,000 |
| Visitors | 200 | 100 |
| Goal Completions | 20 | 10 |
If that was all the data you had access to (visitors and form completions), then it would look like the Pool Pumps campaign was performing better than the Pool Cleaners campaign. You got 20 form completions as opposed to 10.
But what if you could see how many many of these leads actually went on to become customers? Or how much revenue they each 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 |
When you're able to track how many customers and how much revenue you get from each of your Google Ad campaigns, you can start to really see what's working and what isn't.
In this case, the Pool Cleaners Campaign is actually 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 you can see, when you can capture the source of every lead and track it through to customers and revenue, you get a much better picture of what's working and what isn't and you can adjust your approach accordingly.
4 simple steps to capture Google Ads data in Kali Forms
Attributer makes it easy to capture Google Ads data in Kali Forms. Here's how it works:
1. Add UTM parameters to your ads
If you want to collect Google Ads data with every Kali Forms submission, you need to start by adding UTM parameters to each of your Google ads.
In case you're not familiar with them, UTM parameters are basically extra bits of text you add to the URL you direct people to from your ads.
For example, if you would typically be directing people to attributer.io/integrations/kaliforms, you would instead send them to:
attributer.io/integrations/kaliforms?utm_medium=paidsearch&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=brand-campaign
You can put whatever information you want in your UTM parameters, but the general best practice for Google Ads would be something like this:
- UTM Medium = Paid search
- UTM Source = Google
- UTM Campaign = Your Google Ads campaign name
- UTM Term = The ad group name the ad is part of
- UTM Content = The keyword they searched for (which can be automatically added using ValueTrack parameters)
Luckily, adding UTM parameters to your URLs is an easy process and this article outlines the best way to do it in Google Ads.
2. Add hidden fields to your forms
After adding UTM parameters to your Google Ads URLs, the next step is to include a set of hidden fields into your lead capture forms. This might include your Contact Us or Request a Quote form.
For those who might not know, hidden fields are basically form fields that exist on your form but visitors cannot see them. These fields enable tools like Attributer to secretly write information into them without your visitors knowing.
To capture Google Ads data, you need to include the following hidden fields in your forms:
- Channel
- Channel Drilldown 1
- Channel Drilldown 2
- Channel Drilldown 3
- Landing Page
- Landing Page Group
Adding hidden fields to your existing Kali Forms is a relatively simple task. You just have to drag and drop a 'Hidden' field type into your form.
3. Attributer writes Google Ads data into the hidden fields
Once you have successfullyadded the hidden fields to your forms, Attributer will begin tracking where each of your website visitors comes from.
And when visitors complete one of the Kali Forms on your site, such as your Contact Us or Request A Quote form, Attributer will automatically populate the hidden fields with Google Ads data gathered from the UTM parameters you added (which may include the ad group, campaign, keyword, and more).
To better understand the process, let's imagine you are a marketer at Dropbox, and someone lands on your website through a Google Ads campaign.
Depending on the UTM parameters you put behind your ads, Attributer would fill in the hidden fields as shown below:
- Channel = Paid search
- Channel Drilldown 1 = Google
- Channel Drilldown 2 = Brand campaign
- Channel Drilldown 3 = Free account ad
In addition to capturing UTM parameters, Attributer would also record the visitor's landing page, such as dropbox.com/features/cloud-storage, and the initial landing page group, such as 'features.'
4. Google Ads data is captured in Kali Forms
When visitors submit the form, the Google Ads data (entered into the hidden fields by Attributer) is collected along with the details provided by the visitor in the form, such as their name, email, phone number, and company name.
With this data captured in Kali Forms, you can:
- Include it into new lead notification emails sent by Kali Forms
- Send it to your CRM, including Salesforce, Hubspot, Dynamics, Pipedrive, and many others.
- Export it to a spreadsheet and create charts and graphs that display the number of leads and customers you receive from each Google Ads campaign. (Or link the spreadsheet to platforms like Google Data Studio to create more advanced reports.)
Why Attributer is the best way to capture Google Ads data in Kali Forms
What makes Attributer the best option for capturing Google Ads data in Kali Forms?
These 4 things:
1. Attributer captures all traffic sources
In addition to providing attribution data on leads obtained through Google Ads, Attributer also provides information on leads that arrive at your website through other channels like Referral, Organic Social, Direct, Paid Social, or Organic Search.
By using Attributer, you can create reports that show you the source of ALL your leads and customers, not only those that clicked on your Google Ads.
2. Attributer remembers the data as visitors browse your site
The other ways to capture Google Ads data (which is pulled from the UTM parameters in your ads) in Kali Forms require the UTM parameters to be in the URL of the page where the form is filled out.
The trouble is, if visitors fill out the form on a different page from the one they first landed on, the UTM parameters could get lost.
Imagine a scenario where a visitor clicks on your Google Ad and lands on your homepage. They then navigate to another page (like the Contact Us page) to fill out a form. In this instance, the UTM parameters are lost since the form wasn't completed on the same page they initially landed on.
Thankfully, Attributer solves this problem by storing the UTM parameters in a cookie within the visitor's browser. This means that the UTM parameters can still be captured by Kali Forms regardless of what page the form is completed on.
This way, you get more accurate data on how many leads you're getting from your Google Ads.
3. Provides cleaner data
Attributer was designed to expect discrepancies in UTM usage and still assign leads with the right channel regardless.
Suppose you're using utm_source=google in some campaigns and utm_source=adwords in others (which is common if you've had multiple people or agencies running your Google Ads over time). In that case, Attributer could still attribute the lead to the appropriate channel (which would be Paid Search in this example).
This means that you receive more accurate about the number of leads generated from your Google Ads.
4. Attributer captures landing page data
In addition to collecting Google Ads data, Attributer records the landing page URL (like https://attributer.io/blog/capture-utm-parameters-kali-forms) and its group (like /blog).
This enables you to create reports that show the number of leads and customers you get from particular areas of your website, such as your blog. And on top of that, you can even break it down further and see how many leads and customers each blog post is producing.
Wrap up
Attributer captures the UTM parameters you put behind your Google Ads with every new Kali Forms submission.
This makes it easy to measure the number of leads your Google Ads are generating, the campaigns that are driving the most leads, the keywords visitors use to find your site, and more.
It's free to get started with Attributer, so sign up for a 14-day trial now and give it a try!
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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.