The easiest way to capture UTM Parameters in Elementor Forms
Learn how to capture UTM parameters and other lead source information in Elementor forms so you know what's generating your leads, customers & revenue.
Attributer makes it easy to capture UTM parameters in Elementor Forms. Just add hidden fields to your forms and Attributer will automatically fill them with UTM data each time a lead submits a form. It also captures data on leads from organic channels like Organic Search, Organic Social, and others.
Elementor is one of the best drag and drop page builders available for WordPress, and its form building tool is quite versatile given that it's not a dedicated form builder.
But it doesn't have a a great, out-of-the-box way to capture UTM parameters or any other marketing attribution data about leads.
So how are marketers and business owners who use Elementor supposed to collect this vital information on their leads?
In this article, we'll show you how to use Attributer to capture UTM parameters and other lead attribution information in Elementor Forms and send them to your CRM & other tools.
4 steps for capturing UTM parameters in Elementor Forms
Using Attributer to capture UTM parameters in Elementor Forms is easy. Here's how to do it in 4 easy steps:
1. Add the Attributer code to your website
When you sign up for a free 14 day trial of Attributer, you'll get a small piece of code to place on your website.
Most WordPress users can add this through their theme settings or by using a plugin like Insert Headers and Footers. You can also add it through Google Tag Manager if that's part of your setup.
If you need help, instructions can be found here.
2. Add hidden fields to your forms
The next step is to add hidden fields to your lead capture forms (the forms on your site where visitors enter their details).
If you haven't used hidden fields before, they're simply form fields that exist behind the scenes but aren't visible to the person filling out the form. They let tools like Attributer write data into them without the visitor ever knowing.
Adding hidden fields in Elementor Forms is straightforward. Just click on your form in the Elementor builder to open the form editor, then hit 'Add Item' to create a new field. From there, click on the new field and select 'Hidden' from the 'Type' dropdown.
Here are the hidden fields you'll need to add:
- Channel
- Channel Drilldown 1
- Channel Drilldown 2
- Channel Drilldown 3
- Landing Page
- Landing Page Group
3. Attributer automatically completes the hidden fields with UTM data
With everything in place, Attributer will automatically detect visitors who arrive at your site with UTM parameters and populate the hidden fields with that data when they submit a form.
To show you how this works, let's say you're a marketer at Salesforce.
Someone searches Google for 'Best CRM software', clicks on one of your Google Ads, spends some time learning about your product, and then fills out a form to request a demo.
Based on the UTM parameters behind your ad, Attributer would fill in the hidden fields like this:
- Channel = Paid Search
- Channel Drilldown 1 = Google
- Channel Drilldown 2 = CRM campaign
- Channel Drilldown 3 = Best CRM Ad
Attributer also captures the page the visitor first landed on and passes it through in the hidden fields as well. Continuing with the Salesforce example, that might look like:
- Landing Page = www.salesforce.com/products/crm
- Landing Page Group = Products
4. UTM parameters are captured by Elementor Forms
Finally, when the visitor submits one of your Elementor forms, the UTM parameters and other attribution information are captured along with the lead's name, email, phone number and other information provided on the form.
Once the data is in Elementor, you can see it in the Submissions section of your WordPress Admin area as well as in the new form submission emails that you'll receive.
Furthermore, you can use native integrations or third-party apps like Zapier to send the information into CRM systems like Salesforce, ActiveCampaign or Hubspot.
What is Attributer?
At its core, Attributer is a small piece of code that sits on your website.
When someone visits your site, it analyses technical information like UTM parameters, HTTP referrer data, device type, and more to figure out where that visitor came from.
It then categorises each visitor into a marketing channel (such as Paid Search, Organic Search, Paid Social, Referral, and others) and stores this data in the visitor's browser.
When that visitor fills out an Elementor form on your site, Attributer writes the UTM parameters into the hidden fields on your form. This data is then captured alongside the lead's name, email, phone number, and whatever else they entered.
Attributer was created by a marketing consultant who needed a reliable way to track where his clients' leads and customers were coming from, so he could accurately report on the performance of his work.
He initially built it just for his own clients, but eventually turned it into a product that anyone could use.
Today, Attributer runs on thousands of websites and provides attribution data on over 2 million leads every month.
Why using Attributer is better than capturing raw UTM parameters
There are other methods available for capturing UTM parameters in Elementor Forms, so why choose Attributer?
Simple: Attributer doesn't only capture raw UTM parameters. It does a whole lot more:
1. Captures all traffic
Attributer does more than just capture UTM parameters in Elementor Forms. It also provides attribution data on leads who come through channels where UTM parameters don't exist (like Organic Search, Organic Social, Direct, Referral, and others).
This means you get lead source information for every single lead, not just the ones from your paid campaigns.
Why does this matter? Because if your SEO efforts are bringing in more leads than your Facebook Ads, you'll want to know that so you can shift your budget to where it's actually working.
2. Remembers the data across pageviews & sessions
Elementor Forms does have an option where you can add some hidden fields to a form and it will pull UTM data from the URL and write it into those hidden fields.
The problem with this approach is that it only works if the visitor submits the form on the exact same page they initially landed on.
If you're using Google Ads and sending visitors to your homepage, and they then click through to your Contact Us page to complete a form, the UTM parameters will be lost from the URL and won't be captured in your forms.
Attributer works differently though. It stores the UTM parameters in the visitor's browser and then writes them into hidden fields regardless of where the form is completed.
This ultimately means that you'll get more accurate data and be able to properly understand the ROI of your campaigns.
3. Capture's Click ID's
Attributer can also capture click identifiers like the Google Click ID (GCLID), Microsoft Click ID (MSCLKID), and Facebook Click ID (FBCLID) alongside each form submission.
You can then send these click IDs to your CRM and other tools. When a lead reaches a key milestone in your sales process (such as becoming a paying customer), you can pass the click ID back to the ad platform as an offline conversion.
This lets you move beyond tracking thank-you-page visits as conversions and instead optimise your campaigns around what actually matters: real paying customers.
3. Captures landing page data as well
Ever wanted to know how many leads and customers come from your blog? Or those in-depth content pieces you spent hours writing?
Attributer not only captures UTM parameters and other channel data, but it also captures the landing page (I.e. salesforce.com/blog/10-best-crm-tools) and the landing page category (I.e. /blog).
This means that you can see how well certain sections of your website are performing (I.e. your blog) in terms of generating leads, customers & revenue.
And because it captures both the landing page and the landing page group, you can look at how content groups as a whole are performing (I.e. your blog) as well as how individual pages or pieces of content are performing (I.e. individual blog posts).
How Attributer helped Harris Federal Law track which Google Ads are truly generating customers & revenue
Harris Federal Law Firm is a legal practice in Washington D.C that specialises in helping federal employees secure their benefits.
They were running Google Ads to bring in new customers and could see how many website visitors their ads were generating through Google Analytics, but they had no way of knowing how many of those visitors were actually turning into leads and customers.
That's when they turned to Attributer.
Now, every time someone submits a form on their site, Attributer automatically populates the hidden fields with attribution data from the UTM parameters (including campaign, ad group, ad, and search term), and that information flows into their CRM with each new lead.
With this data in hand, the team could run reports that revealed which campaigns were generating real leads and paying customers, not just website traffic that never went anywhere.
What they found was eye opening. Several of their display campaigns were driving plenty of visitors but barely producing any paying clients. Armed with this insight, they reallocated that budget toward the search campaigns that were actually delivering results.
The outcome? More customers, smarter use of their ad spend, and full confidence that every dollar was working as hard as possible.
"With Attributer we can see which campaigns are actually generating customers & revenue, rather than just website visitors. We were able to see that some of our campaigns were driving lots of visitors but few of them converted into leads and customers. Now we’re able to reinvest that budget into other campaigns that we can see are generating revenue."
Nick Child - Director of Marketing, Harris Federal Law Firm
4 example reports you can run when you capture UTM parameters in Elementor forms
If you are using Attributer to capture UTM parameters in Elementor forms, then you should be able to send the data into your CRM or a spreadsheet and runs reports similar to the following:
1. Leads by Channel
The report above shows the number of leads you get each month broken down by the channel they came from (I.e. Organic Search, Paid Search, Paid Social, etc)
This report is only possible because Attributer captures the source of all your leads, not just those from paid ad campaigns with UTM parameters behind them.
It can help you see which channels are driving the most leads and where you should be investing further.
As an example, if most of your leads are coming form Organic Search but you're putting most of your marketing budget into Paid Search ads, then it's likely your missing a big opportunity for growth.
2. Leads by Meta Ads Network
When you run Meta Ads, your campaigns can appear across multiple networks (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and others). This report breaks down how many leads each of those networks is generating.
This insight makes it easier to allocate your budget effectively. For example, if you can see that Instagram is driving more leads than Facebook, you can shift more of your spend toward Instagram to maximise your results.
3. Customers by Google Ads campaign
This report shows you how many customers you have gotten from your Google Ads each month, broken down by the campaign they came from.
This can help you truly understand which of your Google Ads campaigns are working and which one's aren't, and allows you to spend more time and money optimising the campaigns that are working to drive more customers for your business.
4. Revenue by Keyword
If you put the keyword in the UTM parameters behind your Google Ads (which is easy to do using tracking templates), then you can capture the keyword each of your leads are coming from.
With this insight, you can increase bids on the ones that are driving real revenue for your business, and ultimately get more customers and revenue from them.
Wrap up
If you're looking for a way to capture UTM parameters in Elementor forms, then Attributer is a great option.
It stores the UTM parameters in the visitor's browser, so the data is never lost, even if they browse your site, exit, and return later. It also tracks leads from organic channels such as Organic Search and Organic Social, so you get a complete view of where your leads and customers come from.
Best of all, it usually takes less than 10 minutes to set up. So start your 14-day free trial and start seeing where your leads and customers are coming from!
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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.