How to properly track the source of leads in Sugar CRM
Need to see the source of all your leads in Sugar CRM? Read on to find out how you can do exactly that in 4 simple steps.
Do you have a way to track the source of all your leads as they come in to Sugar CRM?
If not, you're like struggling to understand things like how many leads you get from your Google Ads, how many customers you're getting from your Facebook Ads, etc.
Don't worry though, because there is a solution.
In this article, we'll show you how you can use a tool called Attributer to properly track the source of your leads & customers in Sugar CRM.
4 steps for properly tracking the source of leads in Sugar CRM
Attributer makes it easy to see the source of every lead & customer in Sugar CRM. Here's how to do it in 4 simple steps:
1. Install Attributer and add hidden fields
The first step is to install Attributer on your website (you'll get given a bit of code to add to your website once you signup for an account).
How you add that code depends on what website builder you are using (I.e. WordPress, Wix, Webflow, etc).
Generally speaking though, you can usually add it through the settings section of your website builder or you can use tools like Google Tag Manager to add the code to your site as well.
Regardless, full step-by-step instructions can be seen here.
Once the code is on your site, you then need to add a few hidden fields to your forms, including:
- Channel
- Channel Drilldown 1
- Channel Drilldown 2
- Channel Drilldown 3
- Channel Drilldown 4
Similarly, the way you add these hidden differs depending on what form tool you use (I.e. Gravity Forms, Typeform, Wix Forms, etc), but step-by-step instructions for most form-builders can be seen here.
2. Attributer writes the lead source data into the hidden fields
Once everything is installed, Attributer will monitor where each of your website visitors has come from and categorize them into a series of channels (the same ones you see in tools like Google Analytics, such as Organic Search, Paid Search, Paid Social, and more).
It then stores the data in a cookie in the visitor's browser, meaning the information on how they originally found your site even as people browse around your site, or even if they leave and come back a few days later.
And then when that visitor decides to complete a form on your website, Attributer will write the lead source information into the hidden fields you added to your form in step 1.
3. Lead source data is sent to Sugar CRM
When the visitor finally submits the form on your website, the lead source data that Attributer wrote into the hidden fields is captured by your form tool and sent to Sugar CRM.
Attributer works with almost all form builders, including Gravity Forms, Jotform, Wix Forms, Webflow Forms, Squarespace Forms and more.
4. Run reports to see where your leads & customers are coming from
Finally, with the lead source data in Sugar CRM, you can use Sugar's built-in reporting tools to build reports that answer questions like 'how many leads did I get from my Google Ads?' or 'how many customers did I get from my Facebook Ads?'
To give you an example of the kind of reports & dashboards you can create, check out our example marketing dashboard, example Google Ads dashboard or example SEO dashboard.
What data gets passed into Sugar CRM?
Once you've set everything up, Attributer will pass the following lead source data will get passed into Sugar CRM with each new lead:
1. Marketing Channel Data
Information on how each lead arrived at your website is passed through by Attributer.
For example, if I was in the marketing team at Sugar and I was running Google Ads to promote the Sugar CRM, a lead who clicked one of my ads would have the following information (depending on what UTM parameters I put behind the ad):
- Channel: Paid Search
- Channel Drilldown 1: Google
- Channel Drilldown 2: Brand Campaign (or whatever the campaign was called)
- Channel Drilldown 3: Sugar CRM (or whatever keyword they used)
Similarly, if the lead arrives organically through a Google search, Attributer would capture:
- Channel: Organic Search
- Channel Drilldown 1: Google
- Channel Drilldown 2: www.google.com (or the specific Google domain they came from)
- Channel Drilldown 3: Sugar CRM (or the keyword they used to find the site, if available)
2. Landing page data
On top of the information on what channel drove the lead to your website, Attributer also helps you understand what content attracted them there by capturing the lead's initial landing page (I.e. sugarcrm.com/blog/best-crm) as well the landing page group (I.e. /blog).
With this data in Sugar CRM, you can see how many leads & customers you get from different sections of your site (I.e. your blog) as well as drill down into how many leads you got from each individual page (I.e. each individual blog page).
3 example reports you can run when you properly track the source of your leads in Sugar CRM
Back in the day (before founding Attributer), I used to run marketing & analytics teams at various companies.
I ran literally hundreds of reports to see where our leads & customers were coming from, and ended up having a few key reports I used most frequently to understand what was working and what wasn't.
These are those reports:
1. Leads by channel
The above shows how many leads you're getting each month colored by the channel they came from (I.e. Paid Search, Paid Social, Organic Search, etc).
It's a great report to run to get a high-level view of where your leads are coming from and how those channels are trending (I.e. more lead or less over time). It helps you understand what channels are actually generating leads for your business, and what ones you should invest further in to drive growth.
2. Opportunities by Google Ads campaign
This chart tells you how many Opportunities are generated from your Google Ads campaigns each month, colored by the campaign they came from.
It can help you understand which of your campaigns are actually driving good leads (I.e. leads that become sales opportunities) and ultimately helps you know which campaigns to put more budget into and which ones to pause
3. Customers by Facebook Ads Network
This chart tells you how many new customers you've gotten each month from your Facebook Ads, colored by the network they came from (I.e. Facebook itself, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp)
This lets you know where your ads are performing best, and ultimately which networks you should double down on to get more customers.
Wrap up
If you need to know where your leads & customers are coming from, then Attributer is a great way to get this information directly inside Sugar CRM.
It's free to get started and usually takes less than 10 minutes to set up, so start your 14-day free trial today and try it out!
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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.