Are you sending your leads to Salesforce but have no idea where they are coming from?
The method below shows you how to track the lead source in Salesforce (Organic Search, Social Paid, Email Marketing, Referral, etc.), and many more lead data, for each lead you generate.
In that way, you can optimize your marketing strategy based on the sources that perform best.
Let’s dive into it.
How to track the source of leads in Salesforce
1. How LeadSources collects lead source data
Leadsources is a simple lead tracking (compatible with Salesforce) that you can insert on your website to capture the source of your leads.
When visitors enter your website, their browser stores information about them in a cookie: which site they came from, on which landing page they landed, which keyword they clicked, etc.
LeadSources.io collects this data, categorizes it, and passes it into your form as hidden fields.
When your visitors fill out your form, they enter their data in the visible fields of the form (name, email, etc.). Meanwhile, Leadsources.io inserts lead source data into the form as hidden fields (channel, source, etc.).
When a visitor submits the form, the lead source data is sent along with their answers to Salesforce. You can find the lead source along with the lead name, email, etc. on the same Salesforce entry.
2. How LeadSources passes lead source data into Salesforce
Start by signing up at LeadSources.io - it's free for 14 days. Grab the tracking code provided and add it to your website - Find easy-to-follow instructions for the installation process in our detailed guide.
Next, add hidden fields to your form (to capture the lead source data). Leadsources is compatible with any form builder. We’ve created a tutorial to guide you.
When a visitor fills out and submits a form on your website, Leadsources populate those hidden fields with the following lead source information:
- Channel
- Source
- Campaign
- Term
- Content
- Landing page
- Landing page subfolder
When the form is submited , the lead source details stored in the hidden fields are sent to Salesforce. You’ll now find this information within your leads dashboard on Salesforce.
This gives you powerful insights into where each lead comes from!
How to analyze the lead source data
What data is tracked in Salesforce?
As we saw briefly, you can track not only the source of your lead but also various lead source data.
Leadsources tracks up to 7 data points for each lead you generate. They are defined as follows:
- Channel: The type of traffic. LeadSources categorizes your leads into 10 different channels: Paid Search, Organic Search, Email Marketing, Paid Social, Organic Social, Referral, Direct Traffic, Affiliates, Display Advertising, Other UTM-tagged campaigns.
- Source: The specific source or platform that sends the visitors. For example, in the case of “Organic Social,” the source could be Facebook, Instagram, etc.
- Campaign: The name of the specific marketing campaign. For example, when running several campaigns on Google Ads, you can track which exact campaign your leads came from.
- Term: The keyword targeted by a specific campaign. Example: you run a Google Ads campaign called “Search campaign corporate lawyers.” Leadsources categorizes your leads by keyword targeted: “Corporate lawyer in New York,” “Corporate lawyer in Miami,” etc.
- Content: The exact element of your ad that was clicked.
- Landing Page: The URL of the landing page where the lead landed. Examples: domain.com/services/corporate-lawyer-miami.
- Landing Page Subfolder: This isolates the subfolder of the landing page. Example: a visitor lands on the page domain.com/services/corporate-lawyer-miami. The subfolder tracked is “services.”
How to create performance reports?
Leads source reports
Understand better where your leads are coming from with the leads reports.
First, segment your leads by Channel to visualize which channels generated the most leads.
Second, choose one specific channel, for example, Search Paid, and segment your leads into campaigns to get insights on which campaign is driving most of your leads.
Third, when you want to dive into the performance of one specific campaign, you can segment the leads further with the “Volume of Leads by Keyword” and the “Volume of Leads by Ad” reports.
Sales source reports
Now you know which ads and keywords are driving most of your leads. But does that mean these ads and keywords are adding up to your revenue line?
By sending your leads into Salesforce (or another CRM), you can generate the same reports, but by sales.
Imagine the following example:
| Channels | Search Paid | Social Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Leads | 50 | 75 |
| Sales | 5 | 6 |
| Average order value | $150 | $100 |
| Revenue | $750 | $600 |
You ran ads on Google and Facebook, and with the initial “Leads by Channel” report, you found that Social Paid ads generated more leads than Search Paid ads.
After a few weeks, you analyze which leads transformed into paying customers and discover that the Search Paid channel generated more revenue with fewer leads than the Social Paid channel. You conclude that you should increase your Search Paid budget.
