A better way to get UTM Parameters into Freshsales CRM
Discover how to track UTM parameters in Freshsales CRM in order to identify what marketing tactics are generating potential leads and customers
It is important to identify which marketing channels and campaigns are the most effective in generating leads and sales.
Without the ability to do so, it is almost impossible to make smart decisions on which marketing strategies are the most impactful.
One way to identify the right channels and campaigns is to pass marketing attribution information (such as UTM parameters, landing page, and other marketing channel data) into your CRM. That way, you can create reports that identify what channels are driving leads, opportunities, customers, and revenue.
In this article, we'll show you how you can track marketing attribution information (such as UTM parameters) in Freshsales CRM.
Using Attributer to capture UTM parameters in Freshsales CRM
Using Attributer to capture UTM parameters in Freshsales CRM is easy. Here's how to do it in 4 easy steps:
1. Add UTM variables to your ads
Attributer uses UTM parameters to identify where visitors to your website are coming from, so it's important to place them behind all of your advertising campaigns.
Search engine marketing tools like Google or Bing Ads make this easy to do, same with social media networks like Facebook or Twitter. You simply append them to the URL you are sending your traffic to (or in cases like Google or Facebook Ads, you can add them into the dedicated tracking fields).
If you're running a bespoke campaign (say on an industry news site), then simply make sure the publisher puts them in the URL behind each ad.
2. Add hidden fields to your forms
The next thing you need to do is to add hidden fields to your lead capture forms (I.e. Your Request A Demo form and your whitepaper download form). Hidden fields, as their name suggests, are fields that are technically on the form but are not visible to your website visitors. We'll explain the significance of this in the next step.
The hidden fields that you need to add are:
• Channel
• Channel Drilldown 1
• Channel Drilldown 2
• Channel Drilldown 3
• Landing Page
• Landing Page Group
In most form builders, adding hidden fields is simply a case of dragging it into your form or changing a setting on a standard text field. If you're working with a custom HTML form, you can define a hidden field by adding input type=”hidden” to the form field.
3. Attributer automatically completes the hidden fields with UTM data
Here's where the magic happens. When a visitor completes a form, Attributer automatically populates the form's hidden field with the UTM data.
Let's say you're doing marketing for Dropbox and someone comes to your site from your Brand campaign in Paid Search. Attributer then would fill in the hidden fields in this manner:
• Channel = Paid Search
• Channel Grouping 1 = Google
• Channel Grouping 2 = Brand Campaign
• Channel Grouping 3 = Dropbox
In addition to the values from the UTM codes, Attributer also captures the site visitor's first landing page (i.e. dropbox.com/features/content-collaboration) as well as the first landing page group (i.e. Features).
4. UTM parameters are passed into Freshsales CRM
Now for the exciting part. When a site visitor submits a form, the landing page data, as well as the channel data acquired from the UTM parameters are sent to Freshsales CRM, together with the lead's name, email, phone number, and other information provided on the form.
Once the data is in Freshsales CRM, you can then use Freshsales' built-in reporting tools or your existing BI software to create reports that can inform and guide your subsequent marketing plans.
Aside from knowing which of your channels are pulling in the highest number of leads, you should also be able to view the Closed Won deals from your channels, the conversion rate to opportunity, amount of revenue generated by channel & campaign, etc.
What is Attributer?
With a bit of an understanding of how Attributer can help you get UTM parameters into Freshsales CRM, it's probably time to talk about exactly how Attributer works.
When a visitor arrives on your website, Attributer looks at a bunch of technical information about the visit (I.e. Whether UTM parameters are present, what the referring site was, what device the user is on, etc) to essentially identify where the user came from.
Based on this technical information, Attributer then categorizes the visit into channels similar to those in Google Analytics (I.e. Organic Search, Paid Search, Paid Social, Referral etc.). Once categorized, the data is stored as a cookie in the visitor's browser. When the user fills out and submits a lead form, Attributer passes this information and the lead's information into Freshsales CRM.
Attributer came about to address a particular need: determine which channels were driving actual leads and customers. Tools like Google Analytics only show visitors, which, though helpful, isn't enough to help you make smart marketing decisions.
Attributer was created by a B2B marketing consultant who, after some time using it with his clients, decided to make it available for other marketers and B2B business owners to use.
Why using Attributer is better than capturing raw UTM parameters
Of all the tools you can use, why choose Attributer?
Simple: Attributer doesn't only capture raw UTM parameters, like most other tools do. It does a whole lot more, including:
1. Captures all traffic
Attributer is designed to capture all sources of traffic before passing these into Freshsales CRM. This means you'll get not only UTM parameters but also channel information on users who visit your site through channels where UTM parameters may be absent (like Direct, Referral, Organic Social, Organic Search, etc.)
Because Attributer captures all traffic sources, you'll be able to know where each and every lead comes from, including the ones that don't come from your paid ad campaigns.
2. Provides cleaner data
Attributer gives you cleaner, more organized data. One of the problems with capturing UTM parameters raw is that you inevitably end up with loads of messy data that can make Marie Kondo cry.
As an example, imagine some of your Twitter campaigns are tagged with UTM_Source=Twitter.com (capital T), others with UTM_Source=twitter (lowercase, no domain), and others with UTM_Source=tw.
When you run reports in Freshsales CRM with just these raw UTM parameters to see how many leads your Twitter campaigns have brought you, you get three different sources that you would then have to stitch together.
With Attributer, you don't have to deal with this because it takes the possibility of capitalization and other inconsistencies into account, and will ascribe leads to Paid Social.
3. Captures landing page data as well
Along with UTM parameters and channel information, Attributer captures landing page data too, including landing page category. With this Attributer feature, you'll be able to see how different content on your site (I.e. your blog) is performing in terms of bringing in leads and customers.
Wrap up
Attributer exceeds expectations as a UTM parameter capturing tool because it does a whole lot more.
Attributer captures and passes UTM parameters into Freshsales CRM while also giving you data on leads from channels where UTM parameters aren't present It could be from Organic Social, Organic Search, Referral, or other channels.
Ready to experience what Attributer can do for you? It's free to try, so get started using Attributer today.
Get Started For Free
It's free to get started with Attributer, and paid plans start at just $49 per month