The easiest way to capture Google Ads data in QuForms
Here's an easy way to capture Google Ads data in QuForms so you can track which campaigns are generating leads.
Using Google Ads is a great way to attract new customers and leads to your business.
But if you want to do it right, you need to know which ads, campaigns, and ad groups are working best. Otherwise, how do you know what to do to improve?
That's where Attributer comes in.
In this article, we'll show you the four simple steps to use Attributer to capture Google Ads data, like which campaign, ad group, or keyword your leads came from, in Quforms.
Why it's important to track customers and revenue from Google Ads
Picture yourself as the owner of a business that sells and installs pool equipment. You're currently advertising your products on Google ads, and you have two campaigns: one for Pool Pumps and another 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 the only data you had access to was visitors and form completions, it might seem that the Pool Pumps campaign outperformed the Pool Cleaners campaign since it resulted 2x the form completions.
However, imagine if you could see how many of those leads actually into actual customers, or the revenue each one generated. You'd end up with numbers like this:
| Spend | $2,000 | $2,000 |
| Visitors | 200 | 100 |
| Leads | 20 | 10 |
| Customers | 2 | 5 |
| Revenue | $8,000 | $25,000 |
When you can track the number of customers and revenue coming in from each of your Google Ad campaigns, you get a much better idea of what's actually working.
So, it turns out that the Pool Cleaners Campaign is actually performing better:
- The Pool Cleaners Campaign got 5 customers, while the Pool Pumps Campaign only got 2.
- The Pool Cleaners Campaign has a way better lead-to-customer conversion rate of 50%, which is five times higher than the 10% from the Pool Pumps Campaign.
- The Pool Cleaners Campaign has a higher average customer value at $5,000 per customer than the Pool Pumps Campaign at $4,000 per customer.
- The Pool Cleaners Campaign has a cheaper cost of getting a customer at $400, while the Pool Pumps Campaign costs $1,000.
- The Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) is three times higher for the Pool Cleaners Campaign.
As you can see from the above example, when you can track where each lead is coming from and which ones are ultimately becoming customers, you can adjust your Google Ads strategy to double down on what's working.
4 simple steps to capture Google Ads data in QuForms
Attributer makes it easy to capture Google Ads data in QuForms. Here's how it works:
1. Add UTM parameters to your ads
First off, you'll need to add UTM parameters to all your current Google Ads.
If you're not sure what UTM parameters are, they're basically extra bits of text that you add to the end of the URL you want to send people to from your campaigns. These little bits of information help analytics tools like Attributer figure out where the person came from.
For example, if you want someone to check out a page like attributer.io/integrations/quforms, your final URL with UTM parameters would look something like this:
attributer.io/integrations/quforms?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
Once you've added UTM parameters to your Google Ads, the next thing to do is include a set of hidden fields in your lead capture forms. This might include forms on your website like the Contact Us form, or the Request a Quote form.
If you're not familiar with them, hidden fields are fields that exist on your form but are not visible to your visitors. These fields allow tools like Attributer to input information into them without your visitors knowing.
To capture the Google Ads data, you'll 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 QuForms is pretty straightforward. All you have to do is drag and drop the 'Hidden' field type into your form. You can see full instructions here.
3. Attributer writes Google Ads data into the hidden fields
Once you've added hidden fields to your forms, Attributer will start monitoring where your website visitors are coming from.
When a visitor fills out one of the QuForms on your site (like your Contact Us or Request A Quote form), Attributer will complete the hidden fields with Google Ads data pulled from the UTM parameters you added (like the ad group, campaign, keyword, etc).
To illustrate, let's say you're a marketer at Dropbox, and someone lands on your website from a Google Ads campaign. Depending on the UTM parameters you used, Attributer would fill in the hidden fields like this:
- Channel = Paid search
- Channel Drilldown 1 = Google
- Channel Drilldown 2 = Brand campaign
- Channel Drilldown 3 = Free account ad
Besides capturing UTM parameters, Attributer also records the visitor's landing page (like dropbox.com/features/cloud-storage) and initial landing page group (like 'features').
4. Google Ads data is captured in QuForms
Once visitors submit the form, the Google Ads data (entered by Attributer into the hidden fields) is gathered alongside the visitor's name, email, phone number, and company name, provided in the form.
By capturing this data in QuForms, you can:
- Incorporate it into the new lead notification emails that QuForms sends out
- Forward it to your CRM, such as Salesforce, Hubspot, Pipedrive, and many others.
- Export it to a spreadsheet and produce charts and graphs that show the number of leads and customers you receive from each Google Ads campaign.
Why Attributer is the best way to capture Google Ads data in QuForms
What makes Attributer the best option for capturing Google Ads data in QuForms?
These 4 things:
1. Attributer captures all traffic sources
Apart from giving you attribution data on leads acquired via Google Ads, Attributer also gives you details on leads that come to your website through other channels like Organic Social, Referral, Direct, Paid Social, or Organic Search.
Ultimately this means that when you run reports to see where your leads are coming from, you'll be able to see the source of ALL your leads and customers, not just the ones that clicked on your Google Ads.
2. Attributer remembers the data as visitors browse your site
There are other ways to capture Google Ads data (which is taken from the UTM parameters in your ads) in QuForms, but they require the UTM parameters to be in the URL of the page where the form is filled out.
This is a problem if visitors fill out the form on a different page than the one they first landed on, as it will means the UTM parameters are lost..
To illustrate, imagine a visitor clicks your Google Ad and lands on your homepage. They then go to a different page (like the Contact Us page) to fill out a form. In this case, the UTM parameters get lost because the form wasn't filled out on the same page they first landed on.
Luckily, Attributer handles this problem by storing the UTM parameters in a cookie in the visitor's browser. This way, the UTM parameters will be captured in QuFOrms no matter what page the form is completed on.
In the end, you get more accurate data about how many leads you're getting from your Google Ads.
3. Provides cleaner data
Attributer was built to handle differences in UTM usage and still match leads with the correct channel.
To illustrate, let's say you use utm_source=google in some campaigns and utm_source=adwords in others (which is typical if multiple individuals or agencies have run your Google Ads over time). In that case, Attributer can still credit the lead to the right channel (which, in this case, would be Paid Search).
This ensures that you get more accurate information about how many leads are coming in from your Google Ads.
4. Attributer captures landing page data
Aside from gathering Google Ads data, Attributer also keeps track of the landing page URL (such as https://attributer.io/blog/capture-utm-parameters-quforms) and its group (like /blog).
This means you can create reports that show the amount of leads and customers coming from certain sections of your website, like your blog. Plus, you can dive deeper and see how many leads and customers each blog post is bringing in.
Wrap up
Attributer captures the UTM parameters from your Google Ads every time someone submits a QUForms form on your site.
This makes it easy to see the number of leads your Google Ads are generating, the campaigns that are performing the best, the keywords that visitors are using to reach your site, and more.
On top of this though, it also captures information on leads who come from other sources (like Organic Search, Organic Social * more) so you'll have a complete picture fo where your leads & customers are coming from.
It's completely free to begin using Attributer, so take advantage of the 14-day trial and try it out now!
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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.