The best way to capture UTM parameters in Jotform
Use Attributer to capture UTM parameters with each Jotform form submission and send them to your CRM, include them in notification emails, and more.
You can track UTM parameters in Salesforce using Attributer. Simply add hidden fields to your forms, Attributer writes the data into them, and they are sent to Salesforce. It even gives you information on leads that come from organic channels (like Organic Search, Organic Social, etc).
Have you ever wondered which of your marketing campaigns are actually bringing in leads and customers?
If you can't answer that question, there's a good chance you're wasting budget on things that aren't working and missing opportunities to double down on the things that are.
The good news? There's a simple fix.
In this article, we'll show you how to use Attributer to capture UTM parameters with every submission of the Jotform forms on your site, so you can pass that data to your CRM and other tools and finally get a clear picture of what's driving your business.
4 steps for capturing UTM parameters in Jotform
Using Attributer to capture UTM parameters in Jotform is easy. Here's how to do it in 4 easy steps:
1. Add the Attributer code to your website
After you've signed up to Attributer’s 14-day free trial, a snippet of code will be given to you to install on your site.
You can find a guide on how to install it here, but generally speaking, you can add the code directly to your site (usually through the Settings section) or use tools like Google Tag Manager.
2. Add hidden fields to your forms
The next step is to add a series of hidden fields to your forms. The fields you need to add are:
- Channel
- Channel Drilldown 1
- Channel Drilldown 2
- Channel Drilldown 3
- Landing Page
- Landing Page Group
Jotform makes it really easy to create hidden fields. Start by adding 6x "Short Text Entry" fields to your form and then select the settings icon next to each field and toggle the 'Hide field' switch on.
You can see step-by-step instructions with screenshots here.
3. Attributer automatically completes the hidden fields with UTM data
When a visitor lands on your site, Attributer captures their UTM parameters and stores them in the visitor's browser. Then, when they fill out a form, it automatically writes that stored data into the hidden fields.
Here's a quick example to show how it works in practice.
Say you're a marketer at Dropbox running Google Ads to bring in new customers.
Someone searches for "ways to share large files," spots your ad in the results, and clicks through to your site. They browse around for a bit and then fill out a form to request a demo.
Depending on how you've set up your UTMs, Attributer might write the following data into the hidden fields:
- Channel = Paid Search
- Channel Drilldown 1 = Google
- Channel Drilldown 2 = Brand Campaign
- Channel Drilldown 3 = Dropbox
On top of that, Attributer also captures the landing page and landing page group, so you have a complete picture of exactly how that lead found their way to your site.
4. UTM parameters are captured by Jotform
Finally, when a visitor hits submit on your Jotform form, all the UTM parameter and landing page data that Attributer wrote into those hidden fields gets submitted right along with it.
From there, you can use Jotform's built in integrations or a tool like Zapier to send everything through to your CRM (like Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Dynamics, etc.) or whatever other sales and marketing tools you use.
Once the data is in your CRM, it sits alongside each lead's contact details and you can start running reports that show you exactly which campaigns are generating leads, which ones are turning into paying customers, how much revenue each channel is driving, and much more.
What is Attributer?
So how does Attributer actually work under the hood?
When you install the Attributer code on your website, it starts tracking where your visitors are coming from the moment they land on your site. It looks at things like UTM parameters and referrer information to figure out how each visitor found you, then stores that data in their browser.
Using that information, Attributer categorizes each visitor into a marketing channel like Paid Search, Organic Search, Paid Social, and so on.
Then, when that visitor fills out a form on your site, Attributer writes the data into the hidden fields you added to your Jotform.
FInally, when they hit submit, it all gets captured alongside the other information they entered into the form (like their name, email, etc).
Attributer was built by Aaron Beashel, a B2B marketing consultant who kept running into the same problem with his clients. They could see how many visitors their campaigns were generating, but they had no way of knowing which of those visitors were actually turning into leads and customers. He built Attributer to solve that problem, and it's now used on thousands of websites around the world.
Why using Attributer is better than capturing raw UTM parameters
There are other methods of capturing UTM parameters in Jotform forms, so why choose Attributer?
Well, Attributer does more than just capture UTM parameters:
1. Captures all traffic
Attributer will capture the source of ALL leads that come through your website, not just the users who have followed a link with UTM parameters.
This includes leads that come from channels like Organic Social, Organic Search, Direct, Referral, etc.
This gives you a much more comprehensive understanding of where your leads are coming from and where your biggest opportunities for growth are.
2. Remembers the data as people browse your site
Most other methods for capturing UTM parameters in Jotform 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. Imagine someone clicks one of your Google Ads and lands on your homepage. They like what they see, click your "Get a Quote" button, and get taken to a separate page to fill out the form. Because the page they completed the form on is different from the page they originally landed on, 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 as soon as they land on your site. So no matter which page they end up filling out your Jotform form on, the original UTM parameters are always there and always passed through with the submission.
3. Captures Click ID's
Attributer also captures click IDs like the Google Click ID (GCLID), Microsoft Click ID (MSCLKID), and Facebook Click ID (FBCLID) with each Jotform submission.
Once those click IDs are in your CRM, you can send them back to the relevant ad platform at a key moment in your sales process, like when a lead converts into a paying customer. This is known as offline conversion tracking.
The big benefit here is that instead of optimizing your ad campaigns around thank you page visits or form submissions, you can feed your ad platforms data on actual customers and revenue. This gives the platform's smart bidding algorithms much better data to work with, which typically leads to lower cost per acquisition and better overall campaign performance over time.
3. Captures landing page data as well
Attributer also captures the landing page and landing page group for every lead that fills out a form on your site.
So for example, if someone lands on attributer.io/blog/capture-utm-parameters and fills out a form, Attributer will capture both the specific landing page (attributer.io/blog/capture-utm-parameters) and the landing page group (/blog).
This data gets passed through with each Jotform submission, which means you can run reports in your CRM that show you which individual pages and sections of your site are generating the most leads, customers, and revenue.
4 example reports you can run when you capture UTM parameters in Jotform
Using Attributer to capture UTM parameters in Jotform enables you to run the following reports (and many more):
1. Leads by Channel
Attributer captures the source of all your leads, not just those from your paid ad campaigns with UTM parameters.
Because of this, you can build reports like the one above that shows the number of leads grouped according to the channel (I.e. Organic search, paid search, paid social, organic social, etc.)
This can help you understand which channels are driving the most leads and customers and by extension, where you should be investing further.
For example, if most of your leads are coming from Organic Search but most of your budget is going into Facebook Ads, it might be time to rethink your budget.
2. Leads by Facebook Ads Network
One of the benefits of Facebook Ads is that it allows you to run ads across multiple networks (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, etc) from one spot.
But these networks are very different environments. People are on them for different purposes, they offer very different ad formats, etc.
As a result, it's important to track which networks are performing best for you and this is exactly what this report does.
Having this information can help you tweak your targeting settings to focus more on the networks that are working, and you'll be able to drive more leads at a lower cost per lead.
3. Customers by Google Ads campaign
This graph shows the number of customers you get each month from Google Ads, broken down by the exact campaign they came from.
This can help you understand which campaigns are actually generating customers (as opposed to those that are just driving visitors that don't convert) and can help ensure you are focusing your budget on the best-performing campaigns.
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.
This can help you further refine your Google Ads bidding strategy and ultimately generate more leads and customers.
Helping Non Plus Ultra understand the ROI of their digital marketing campaigns
Non Plus Ultra (NPU Events) is a company that transforms iconic properties like the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco and Sports Castle in Denver into unique event spaces.
They were running Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and a range of other campaigns to drive bookings across their venues. Google Analytics could tell them how many visitors each campaign was sending their way, but they had no visibility into which of those campaigns were actually generating event bookings and revenue.
That's where Attributer came in.
Now, every time someone fills out an event booking form on their site, Attributer automatically captures where that lead came from and passes it through to their CRM alongside the lead's contact details.
With that data in hand, the NPU team could finally connect the dots between their marketing activity and actual revenue. Instead of just tracking 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 return on investment.
They also uncovered something they weren't expecting. Because Attributer tracks the source of 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 an insight they never would have found with their previous setup.
The result is that the NPU team now has a clear picture of which ad platforms, campaigns, and ads are driving the most bookings, and can make smarter, more confident decisions about where to put their marketing 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 looking for a way to understand which channels and campaigns are actually driving leads and customers for your business, Attributer is a great place to start.
It goes well beyond just capturing UTM parameters. It tracks the source of every lead that fills out a form on your site, including those coming from organic channels like Organic Search and Organic Social, so you always have a complete picture of where your leads are coming from.
The best part? You can get started with a 14 day free trial and have everything 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.