Are you collecting leads through Contact Form 7 but have no clue whether the leads are coming from your SEO efforts, Facebook posts, or LinkedIn ads? Many clients are asking me this question.
That’s why I’ve been creating this guide for capturing the source of your leads in Contact Form 7.
I’ll also give you some tips to optimize your marketing budget according to your lead source data.
Let’s explore this further.
How to track the source of lead in Contact Form 7
1. How LeadSources collects the lead source data
As visitors browse your site, their browser captures specific details in a cookie, such as the referring website, the landing page they arrived on, the keyword they searched for, and more.
LeadSources aggregates this information, organizes it, and integrates it into your form as hidden fields.
When visitors submit a form via Contact Form 7, they input information into the form’s visible sections (like name, email, etc.). Simultaneously, Leadsources.io seamlessly incorporates data about the lead’s source into Contact Form 7 as hidden fields (for instance, channel, source, etc.).
After a form is submitted, this information about the lead’s source is transmitted along with their responses in Contact Form 7 submission records. This allows you to view the lead’s source information, in addition to their name, email, and other details, all within the same entry in Contact Form 7.
2. How LeadSources passes the lead source data into Contact Form 7
Register at leadsources.io and easily embed the provided concise script into your website. For comprehensive instructions on how to deploy the script, refer to this detailed guide.
Next, proceed to include the hidden fields in your form. We have prepared a guide specifically to assist you in adding these hidden fields to Contact Form 7.
Whenever a visitor submits a form on your site, LeadSources seamlessly integrates specified lead source details into the hidden fields:
- Channel
- Source
- Campaign
- Term
- Content
- Landing page
- Landing page subfolder
Upon the submission of the form, this lead source information from the hidden fields is transferred into Contact Form 7. This data is then accessible in the submissions log, right alongside the lead’s personal details (such as name, email, etc.).
This method enables precise tracking of the lead source at an individual lead level.
How to analyze the lead source data
What data is tracked in Contact Form 7?
In this article, we’ve highlighted that with Contact Form 7, you can do more than just identify where your leads are coming from; you can also collect a wealth of detailed information associated with each lead source.
LeadSources offers the capability to track 7 distinct types of data for every lead, specifically:
- Channel: Defines the nature of the traffic. LeadSources segments your leads into 10 distinct categories, including Paid Search, Organic Search, Email Campaigns, Paid Social, Organic Social, Referrals, Direct Traffic, Affiliates, Display Advertising, and Other UTM-tagged efforts.
- Source: Specifies the particular source or platform that directed the visitors to your site. For example, within “Organic Social”, the source might be platforms like Facebook, Instagram, etc.
- Campaign: The specific name of the marketing initiative. For instance, when you manage various campaigns on Google Ads, this allows you to determine which specific campaign brought in your leads.
- Term: Focuses on the keyword that was targeted by a particular campaign. Say you launch a Google Ads campaign named “Search campaign for corporate lawyers”, LeadSources will organize your leads based on the targeted keyword, such as “Corporate lawyer in New York”, “Corporate lawyer in Miami”, etc.
- Content: Pinpoints the exact part of your ad that was clicked on.
- Landing Page: The URL of the landing page where the lead first landed, for example, domain.com/services/corporate-lawyer-miami.
- Landing Page Subfolder: Identifies the specific subfolder of the landing page URL, for more detailed tracking. For instance, if a visitor arrives at domain.com/services/corporate-lawyer-miami, the tracked subfolder would be “services”.
How to create performance reports?
Leads source reports
Gain a clearer understanding of the source of your leads with detailed reports.
Start by dividing your leads according to Channel to see which channels are the most effective in generating leads.
Next, focus on a single channel, such as Paid Search (commonly referred to as Google Ads), and categorize your Google Ads leads by campaign to determine which campaign is most successful in attracting leads.
Lastly, for a deeper analysis of a particular campaign’s effectiveness, further break down the leads with reports on the “Number of leads by keyword” and the “Number of leads by advertisement.”
Sales source reports
You’ve identified the advertisements and keywords that are generating the bulk of your leads. However, does this insight translate into a boost for your bottom line?
Integrating your Contact Form 7 responses with a CRM allows you to produce similar reports, this time focused on sales outcomes. GoHighLevel is a good CRM to start with.
Imagine the following example:
| Channels | Search Paid | Social Paid |
| Leads | 50 | 75 |
| Sales | 5 | 6 |
| Average order value | $150 | $100 |
| Revenue | $750 | $600 |
You initiated advertising campaigns on Google and Facebook, and the early “Leads by Channel” analysis revealed that Paid Social advertisements resulted in a higher number of leads compared to Paid Search advertisements.
Several weeks into the campaign, upon reviewing which leads converted into paying customers, it became apparent that the Paid Search channel was more effective in generating revenue, despite attracting fewer leads than the Paid Social channel. This led to the decision to enhance your investment in the Paid Search efforts.