Are you collecting leads with Formstack, yet can’t track where they are coming from? As the founder of an SEO agency, it is capital for me to track the source of my client’s leads (SEO, Google Ads, etc.).
The approach I outlined below explains how to track the source of your leads in Formstack, whether they come from Organic Search, Paid Social, Email Marketing, Referral, and so on.
Let’s explore this method.
How to track the source of lead in Formstack
1. How LeadSources collects the lead source data
When a visitor arrives on your website, crucial details about their journey are collected by their browser – this includes where they came from, their initial landing page, search terms used, and more. This data is gathered within cookies.
LeadSources steps in to streamline this process, organizing this information and seamlessly incorporating it into your Formstack form using hidden fields.
As visitors fill out your Formstack form, providing their name, email, and other information in the visible fields, LeadSources.io adds lead source data (like channel and source) into the hidden fields of your form.
When the form is submitted, all the lead source data gets stored within Formstack’s database, right alongside the lead’s name, email, and other provided details. This gives you a comprehensive view of each lead’s source directly within a single Formstack entry.
2. How LeadSources passes the lead source data into Formstack
Start by signing up for a LeadSources.io account. Add our small script to your website. The easy-to-follow instructions will get you started in no time.
Next, add the hidden fields to your Formstack form – no technical skills are needed.
When a visitor fills out and submits a form on your website, LeadSources works behind the scenes to fill those hidden fields with lead source information:
- Channel
- Source
- Campaign
- Term
- Content
- Landing page
- Landing page subfolder
With a successful form submission, the lead source details from the hidden fields are transferred to Formstack. You’ll now find this information within your submission records, right next to the lead’s personal info (like their name and email).
This gives you powerful insights into where each lead comes from!
How to analyze the lead source data
What data is tracked in Formstack?
So far, we’ve explored how Formstack empowers you to understand where your leads originate from, but that’s just the start!
LeadSources can capture 7 different types of data for each lead:
| Lead source data | Definition |
| Channel | This tells you the type of traffic that brought the lead. LeadSources covers 10 different channels like Paid Search, Organic Search, Email Marketing, Paid Social, Organic Social, Referral, Direct Traffic, Affiliates, Display Advertising, and any other campaign tagged with UTM parameters. |
| Source | This gets more specific, pinpointing the exact website or platform sending visitors your way. For example, within “Organic Social” you might see sources like Facebook, Instagram, etc. |
| Campaign | Indicates which specific marketing campaign is driving things! If you run multiple Google Ads campaigns, you’ll know exactly which one is attracting those leads. |
| Term | The keyword targeted by your campaign. If you have a Google Ads effort called “Search campaign corporate lawyers”, LeadSources can identify leads based on the keyword they searched for, like “Corporate lawyer in New York” or “Corporate lawyer in Miami”. |
| Content | Reveals the particular ad element the user clicked. |
| Landing Page | The initial URL where the lead was directed. For example, a lead might arrive at domain.com/services/corporate-lawyer-miami. |
| Landing Page Subfolder | This isolates the specific subfolder of the landing page. In an instance where a lead visits domain.com/services/corporate-lawyer-miami, “services” would be identified as the tracked subfolder. |
How to create performance reports?
Leads source reports
Formstack empowers you to delve into your lead data for powerful insights. Here’s how to use its reporting capabilities:
Start broad – categorize your leads by Channel. This will reveal which channels are the most successful at bringing in those valuable leads.
Let’s say you notice Paid Search (often known as Google Ads) is a key player. Dive deeper! Break down those Google Ads leads by campaign to pinpoint which specific campaigns are driving the best results.
Finally, zoom in on individual campaigns to really understand their performance. Metrics like “Volume of leads by keyword” and “Volume of leads by ad” will illuminate what’s working and what might need adjustment.
Sales source reports
Now you’ve pinpointed which ads and keywords are bringing in the most of your leads. But the question remains: Are these ads and keywords contributing significantly to your bottom line?
By channeling your Formstack submissions into a CRM, you’re able to produce comparable sales reports. Don’t know what CRM to choose? GoHighLevel is a comprehensive and affordable solution, try it for free here.
Imagine the following example:
| Channels | Search Paid | Social Paid |
| Leads | 50 | 75 |
| Sales | 5 | 6 |
| Average order value | $150 | $100 |
| Revenue | $750 | $600 |
Imagine you’ve deployed advertising on Google and Facebook. Initially, your “Leads by Channel” report reveals that Social Paid ads are outperforming Search Paid ads in lead generation.
However, several weeks later, upon examining which leads have converted into paying customers, you discover that the Search Paid channel has been more lucrative, yielding greater revenue from fewer leads than the Social Paid channel. This analysis leads you to the decision to boost your budget for Search Paid advertising.