The simplest way to track Instagram Ads in WPForms
Learn how to use a tool called Attributer to capture Instagram Ads data in WPForms, so you know which campaigns, ad sets, and ads are generating your leads
While tools like Google Analytics are great for helping you understand how many visitors you get to your website from your Instagram Ads or other means.
But what if you want to see which marketing activities are actually generating leads or customers?
To do that, you need to understand where each lead came from.
In this post, we'll show you how to use a tool called Attributer to track the number of leads you get from your Instagram Ads.
4 steps to track leads from Instagram Ads in WPForms
Attributer makes it easy to see how many leads you receive from your Instagram Ads. Just follow these 4 simple steps to get going:
1. Add UTM parameters to your Instagram Ads
First up you need to add UTM parameters to your Instagram Ads.
UTM parameters are simply little bits of text you put at the end of the URL behind each of your ads.
So if the page you are sending someone to is attributer.io/integrations/contact-form-7 then your final URL (with UTM parameters) could look like this:
attributer.io/integrations/contact-form-7?utm_medium=paidsocial&utm_source=instagram&utm_campaign=brand-campaign
While you can put any information you want in the UTM parameters, generally the best practice for Instagram Ads is:
- UTM Medium = Paid social
- UTM Source = Instagram
- UTM Campaign = The name of your campaign
- UTM Term = The name of the ad set the ad belongs to
- UTM Content = The specific ad
Tagging URLs with UTM parameters is easy and there are free tools available online that can help you do it. There's also an article on our Help site that provides some recommendations on what information you should put in your UTM parameters.
2. Install Attributer and add some hidden fields
Once you've added UTM parameters to your ads, you need to add Attributer to your website.
When you sign up for a 14-day free trial, we'll send you a small snippet of code to add to your website. Instructions on how to do it can be found here.
After adding the code, you need to add a number of hidden fields to your forms, including:
- Channel
- Channel Drilldown 1
- Channel Drilldown 2
- Channel Drilldown 3
- Channel Drilldown 4
Full instructions on how to do this in WPForms can be seen here.
3. Attributer writes Instagram Ads data into hidden fields
Once Attributer is added, it will start tracking where your website visitors are coming from (including from your Instagram Ads) and store the data in a cookie in the visitor's browser (so that it is remembered as people browse your website, or if they leave and come back).
Once a visitor finally completes a form on your website, Attributer will write the information on where they came from (I.e. Instagram Ads) into the hidden fields.
4. Instagram Ads data is captured in WPForms
Once a visitor submits a form on your website, the Instagram Ads data that Attributer wrote into the hidden fields of your form is captured by WPForms along with all the usual information your lead enters into the form (like their name, email, phone, etc).
Once you have this data you can use it to:
- Include it in notification emails - You can include the data in the notification emails WPForms sends each time a form is submitted.
- Send it to your CRM - Use WPForms native integrations, or third-party tools like Zapier, to send it to CRM's like Salesforce, Pipedrive, Hubspot & more.
- Send it to a spreadsheet - You can use various add-ons or third-party tools (like Zapier) to send the data to a spreadsheet and generate reports.
What data gets captured in WPForms?
When you are using Attributer to track Instagram Ads data in WPForms, you'll get the following information:
1. Marketing channel data
Attributer sends the data about how a lead arrived at your website.
As an example, pretend for a moment that you're a marketer working for a home-building company, and you've decided to run Instagram ads to generate new leads.
If someone clicks on your ad and fills out a form on your website, the below information would be sent (based on the UTM parameters you attached to your ads):
- Channel: Paid Social
- Channel Drilldown 1: Instagram
- Channel Drilldown 2: House Campaign (or the specific campaign name)
- Channel Drilldown 3: Window Ad (or whatever ad creative they clicked on)
2. Landing page data
Attributer also sends the initial landing page (e.g., londonbridgebuilding.com/blog/best-builders) and its corresponding landing page category (e.g., /blog).
With this data, you can monitor the number of leads you can get from the different content sections on your site (such as your blog), as well as being able to dive deeper and see the specific blog posts that are generating leads.
What is Attributer and why use it?
Attributer is a piece of code that you add to your website.
When someone arrives on your website, Attributer looks at where they came from and categorizes them into different channels, including Paid Social, Paid Search, Organic Search, etc. This information is then saved as a cookie in the visitor's web browser.
If that person fills out a form on your website, Attributer places that information on where they came from into the hidden fields behind your forms. It can then be sent to your CRM, a spreadsheet, billing platform, analytics tools, etc.
Attributer is the best solution for tracking Instagram Ads in WPForms because:
- Captures the source of ALL leads: Attributer can tell you when leads come from other channels like organic Google searches, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, etc.
- Remembers the data: Unlike other solutions, Attributer stores the marketing attribution information in a cookie inside the visitor's web browser. This means that regardless of which page a visitor submits the form on, the information on where they came from gets passed through.
- Cleans the data: Attributer was designed to understand and expect data inconsistencies. For example if you're using "instagram" in one place and "instagram.com" in another, Attributer knows what to do and categorizes everything in the right group. This means your data is always correct.
Reports you can run when you track your Instagram Ads in WPForms
By capturing Instagram Ads data in WPForms and sending it to your CRM or a spreadsheet, you can run all kinds of reports to see how your ads are performing.
Below are some example reports I've used over my career as a marketing lead at various tech companies over the past 15+ years:
1. Leads by channel
This report provides you with an overview of which channels (I.e. Organic Search, Paid Search, Paid Social, etc) are delivering your leads. It helps you understand where you should focus your efforts to grow.
For example, if the chart shows that most of your leads are coming from Organic Search (like in the graph above) but you're spending most of your budget on Instagram Ads, it might be a good idea to change your strategy.
2. Leads by network
Like most businesses running ads on Instagram, your ads are probably also appearing on the other networks Meta owns (like Facebook, Messenger and WhatsApp).
This report shows how many leads you're getting from each advertising network and helps you better understand which is performing best (and subsequently where you should be spending your budget).
3. Leads by campaign
The above chart shows how many leads you're getting each month broken down by the Instagram Ads campaign they came from.
This can help you understand which campaigns are generating the most leads, and where you should be investing your time and budget to help generate more leads.
Wrap up
Yes, Google Analytics is a great way to track how many visitors you are getting from your Instagram Ads, but to truly understand how well they are actually performing you need to track how many leads (and ultimately customers) you are getting from them.
That's where Attributer can help. It gives you the power to see the exact source of every lead, right down to the exact campaign, ad set, or ad they clicked.
Best of all, it's free to get started and only takes about 10 minutes to set up. So start a free 14-day trial of Attributer today to see how it can help you!
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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.