Although Google Analytics tracks lead origin, it does not offer a direct link between each lead and the marketing channel.
There is no means of connecting a customer back to the specific channel or advertisement that led to their conversion after they become a customer.
Why? Because Google Analytics presents lead source data in an aggregate form, for example, 50 leads generated via Paid Search.
Our goal is to track the source of each lead on an individual basis.
Once the lead converts into a paying customer, we are able to trace its origin to the specific channel responsible for generating it.
Fortunately, it’s possible to connect each lead to the channel that created it and send this data to Sugar CRM to monitor customer acquisition by channel.
Let’s break this down into steps!
How to track Google Analytics data in Sugar CRM
Step 1: Add Leadsources in your website
Leadsources is a user-friendly tool designed to track lead source information, just like Google Analytics. Once you install it, it will track up to 7 different lead sources for every lead generated:
- Channel
- Source
- Campaign
- Term
- Content
- Landing page
- Landing page subfolder
➡️ Sign up to Leadsources.io for free
➡️ Add the Leadsources tracking code to your site
Step 2: Add the hidden fields in your form
Hidden fields are invisible inputs within a form that can carry data that is sent along when the form is submitted.
Leadsources automatically adds lead source data to hidden fields. Once the form is submitted, these fields are filled with the lead source.
Step 3: Send lead source data to Sugar CRM
Lead source information can be transferred from your form builder into Sugar CRM.
You can track and view the source of your leads, sales, and revenue directly in Sugar CRM.
This connects the dots between your marketing activities and sales performance.
➡️ Send lead source data to Sugar CRM
How does Leadsources work?
When someone visits your website, Leadsources fetches lead source data (in the same way Google Analytics does) and populates it into the hidden fields of your form. After submission, this data, along with name and email, is sent to Sugar CRM.
Leadsources collects the source data for each lead generated:
| Lead source data | Fetched automatically |
| Channel | ✅ |
| Source | ✅ |
| Campaign | ✅ OR use UTM_campaign |
| Content | UTM_content parameter is required |
| Term | UTM_term parameter is required |
| Landing page | ✅ |
| Landing page subfolder | ✅ |
Even without UTM parameters—such as with organic sources like Google search or mentions of your site in an article—Leadsources still tracks the following lead source data:
✅Channel
✅Source
✅Campaign
✅Landing page
✅Landing page subfolder
Unlike competing tools, Leadsources captures lead sources from every marketing channel, including organic and paid.
Specify a channel to evaluate the lead source data inserted by Leadsources in your form.
Performance reports: Lead, sales, and revenue by source
By recording lead source data in Sugar CRM, you can generate various performance reports, such as:
- Leads, sales, and revenue by channel
- Leads, sales, and revenue by source
- Leads, sales, and revenue by campaign
- Leads, sales, and revenue by term (e.g. keyword or adset)
- Leads, sales, and revenue by content (e.g. ad)
- Leads, sales, and revenue by landing page
- Leads, sales, and revenue by landing page subfolder
This allows for a strategic adjustment of your marketing budget, focusing on the channels, sources, campaigns, terms, and content that yield the most leads, sales, and revenue.
Next, we’ll explore the reports you have the capability to create.
1. Lead source reports
Produce reports showing the lead generation numbers from:
- Channel
- Source
- Campaign
- Term (e.g. keyword or adset)
- Content (e.g. ad)
- Landing page
- Landing page subfolder
Example #1: Leads by channel
With this report, you can easily recognize the channel that is delivering the most leads.
Example #2: Leads by campaign
You can now focus on a specific lead source (e.g., Google Ads) and track the lead generation for each campaign individually.
Example #3: Leads by keyword and ad
After recognizing the campaign with the highest lead volume, you can assess which keyword ad is generating the leads.
2. Sales and revenue source reports
After identifying the channels, sources, campaigns, terms, and content responsible for generating leads, we need to assess if these leads are converting into sales and revenue.
To track sales and revenue more effectively, send your leads to Sugar CRM, allowing you to monitor these metrics across channels, sources, campaigns, keywords, content, landing pages, and subfolders.
With these insights, you can optimize your marketing strategy to focus on the most profitable channels and campaigns in terms of sales and revenue.
You can also compile comprehensive sales and revenue reports, such as:
- Sales and revenue by channel
- Sales and revenue by source
- Sales and revenue by campaign
- Sales and revenue by term (e.g. Keywords)
- Sales and revenue by content (e.g. Ads)
- Sales and revenue by landing page
- Sales and revenue by landing page subfolder
To make it clearer, let’s consider the following scenario:
| Channels | Search Paid | Social Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Leads | 50 | 75 |
| Sales | 5 | 6 |
| Avg. Order Value | $150 | $100 |
| Revenue | $750 | $600 |
The “Leads by Channel” report after running ads on Google Ads and Facebook Ads Manager showed that Facebook (Social Paid) attracted more leads than Google (Search Paid).
When reviewing the sales and revenue metrics in Sugar CRM, you saw that Search Paid generated greater revenue with fewer leads than Social Paid. This led you to adjust your budget to focus on Search Paid.