The easiest way to capture UTM parameters in Typeform
Use Attributer to capture UTM parameters in your Typeform forms and send the data into your CRM, include it in email notifications, and more.
Attributer makes it easy to capture UTM parameters in Typeform. Add hidden fields to your forms, Attributer will write the data into themm and it will be captured with the form submission. It even captures leads coming from organic channels like Organic Search and Organic Social, not just paid campaigns.
Do you know which marketing campaigns are actually generating leads and customers for your business?
Tools liek Google Analytics make it really easy to see which campaigns, ads, etc are driving visitors to your website, but it's pretty much impossible to see how many of those visitors turn into leads and customers (yet alone how much revenue you generated and what your ROI is).
Don't worry though, because there is a solution.
In this article, we'll show you how to use Attributer to capture UTM parameters with every Typeform submission and send that data to your CRM, so you can finally see which campaigns are driving real results.
4 steps for capturing UTM parameters in Typeform
Using Attributer to capture UTM parameters in Typeform forms is easy. Here's how to do it in 4 easy steps:
1. Add the Attributer code to your website
Sign up for a 14-day free trial of Attributer and you'll get a small snippet of code to install on your website.
Depending on what website builder you use, you should just be able to add it directly to your site through the Settings section.
Alternatively, you can add it to your site through tools like Google Tag Manager as well.
2. Add hidden fields to your forms
Now you need to add a series of hidden fields to your forms.
In order to capture UTM parameters (and other marketing attribution data), you'll need the following six hidden fields:
- Channel
- Channel Drilldown 1
- Channel Drilldown 2
- Channel Drilldown 3
- Landing Page
- Landing Page Group
Typeform makes it easy to add hidden fields to your forms and step-by-step instructions can be seen here.
3. Attributer automatically completes the hidden fields with UTM data
Once everything is set up, Attributer will start capturing UTM parameters with every Typeform submission. Here's an example of how it works in practice.
Say you're a marketer at Dropbox. Someone searches for "ways to share large files," clicks on your Google Ad, lands on your site, and fills out a form to request a demo. Depending on the UTM parameters behind your ad, Attributer would write the following into the hidden fields:
- Channel = Paid Search
- Channel Drilldown 1 = Google
- Channel Drilldown 2 = Share Files Campaign
- Channel Drilldown 3 = Blue Ad
It also captures the landing page data:
- Landing Page = www.dropbox.com/features/share
- Landing Page Group = Features
4. UTM parameters are captured by Typeform
When the visitor hits submit, Typeform captures all the attribution data Attributer wrote into the hidden fields alongside whatever the lead entered into the form, like their name, email, phone number, and so on.
From there, you can send it wherever you need it. Typeform has native integrations with popular CRMs like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Pipedrive, or you can use Zapier to push the data to thousands of other tools including spreadsheets and other sales and marketing platforms.
What is Attributer?
Attributer is a small piece of code that you install on your website. When a visitor lands on your site, it looks at a range of technical details like UTM parameters, HTTP referrer data, and device information to figure out where they came from.
It then sorts each visitor into a marketing channel (like Paid Search, Organic Search, or Paid Social, similar to how Google Analytics categorises traffic) and stores that information in their browser.
Then, when that visitor fills out a form on your site, Attributer writes the attribution data into the hidden fields you added to your Typeform. When the form is submitted, that data gets captured alongside the lead's name, email, and other details they entered.
You can then see the data in the Results table in Typeform, send the data to your CRM, include it in email notifications, etc.
Attributer was created by Aaron Beashel, a B2B marketing consultant who kept running into the same problem with his clients: they could see which channels were driving website visitors, but had no way of knowing which ones were actually generating leads and customers.
Why using Attributer is better than capturing raw UTM parameters
There are other ways to capture UTM parameters in Typeform, so why use Attributer?
Here are 4 reasons why it's the better option:
1. Captures all traffic
Unlike other tools that only work for paid campaigns with UTM parameters, Attributer captures attribution data for every lead that submits a form, regardless of how they found you (including leads that come from Organic Search, Organic Social, Referral, Direct Traffic, etc.).
So instead of only seeing where your paid leads come from, you get a complete picture of all your lead sources.
2. Remembers the data as visitors browse your site
Most other methods for capturing UTM parameters in Typeform only work if the visitor fills out the form on the exact same page they originally landed on.
Here's why that's a problem. Say someone clicks one of your Google Ads and lands on your homepage. They browse around, hit your "Get a Quote" button, and get taken to a separate page to fill out the form. Because that's a different page from where they originally landed, the UTM parameters are gone and you have no idea which ad drove that lead.
Attributer solves this by storing the UTM data in the visitor's browser the moment they arrive on your site. So no matter which page they end up completing your Typeform on, the original attribution data is always captured and passed through with the submission.
3. Captures Click IDs
Attributer also captures click IDs like the Google Click ID (GCLID), Microsoft Click ID (MSCLKID), and Facebook Click ID (FBCLID) with each Typeform submission.
You can send these click IDs to your CRM and then, at a key point in your sales process like when a lead becomes a paying customer, push them back to the ad platform as an offline conversion. That means instead of optimising your campaigns around thank you page visits, you can train the algorithm on the thing that actually matters: real customers.
4. Captures landing page data as well
In addition to capturing UTM parameters and other channel data, Attributer also captures the landing page (I.e., attributer.io/blog/capture-utm-parameters) and the page’s category (I.e.,/blog).
This data can be useful for analysing how certain sections of your website are performing when it comes to generating leads, customers, and revenue.
As an example, imagine you have a blog on your website and want to know how well your blogging efforts are performing. With Attributer, you can run reports that show you how many leads your blog has generated as a whole, as well as drilling down and seeing which exact blog posts are bringing in the most leads, customers & revenue.
4 example reports you can run when you capture UTM parameters in Typeform
If you are using Attributer to capture Facebook Ads data in Typeform, 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
Since Attributer captures the source of all your leads (not just those from your paid ad campaigns), you can build reports like the one above that display the number of leads grouped according to the channel.
This report can be useful in understanding which channels are driving the most leads and where you should be investing further. For instance, if most of your leads are coming form Organic Search but most of your budget is going into paid ads, then it may be worth shifting some of the budget to SEO.
2. Leads by Facebook Ads Network
If you have ads running on the different networks Facebook offers (i.e., Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, etc.), the report above can help you understand which network is generating you the most leads.
Having this information can help you optimise your ad spend. By tweaking your targeting settings to focus more on the networks that are working, you'll be able to drive more leads at a lower cost per lead.
3. Customers by Google Ads campaign
The above report, which shows the number of customers generated each month from your various Google Ads campaigns, can help you understand which campaigns are actually generating customers (as opposed to those that are just driving visitors that don't convert).
This can help you optimize your spend in Google Ads by focusing your budget and A/B testing efforts on the campaigns hat are actually generating you paying customers.
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 your leads are using to find your business.
Not only can this help you to understand which keywords to bid higher on in Google Ads, but it can also give you insights into what keywords you should be focusing your SEO efforts on, the kind of language you should be using in your messaging, and more.
Helping Non Plus Ultra understand the ROI of their digital marketing campaigns
Non Plus Ultra (NPU Events) transforms iconic properties like the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco and Sports Castle in Denver into event spaces. They were running Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and other campaigns to drive bookings, and while Google Analytics could tell them how many visitors each campaign was sending, they had no way of knowing which ones were actually generating bookings and revenue.
That's when they started using Attributer.
Now, whenever someone fills out their event booking form, Attributer automatically captures where that lead came from and passes it into their CRM alongside the lead's details.
With that data in hand, the NPU team could finally connect their marketing campaigns to actual revenue. Instead of just looking at visitor numbers, they could see how many leads from each campaign went on to book an event, how much revenue those bookings generated, and whether each campaign was delivering a positive ROI.
They also uncovered something unexpected. Because Attributer tracks all leads and not just those from paid campaigns, they discovered that referral traffic from the websites of the venues they manage was driving a significant number of bookings. It was something they never would have found without it.
The result is that the NPU team now knows exactly which ad platforms, campaigns, and ads are driving the most bookings, and can make smarter decisions about where to put their budget.
“Attributer allows us to go beyond just measuring form completions in Google Analytics and truly understand which of our marketing initiatives are generating event bookings and revenue."
Maria Redin - COO, Non Plus Ultra
Wrap up
If you've been struggling to figure out which channels and campaigns are actually generating leads and customers for your business, Attributer is a great place to start.
It goes beyond just capturing UTM parameters. It tracks leads from organic channels too, so you get a complete picture of where every single lead is coming from, not just the ones from your paid campaigns.
Best of all, it's free to get started. Sign up for a 14-day free trial and you can have it up and running on your site today.
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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.