Are you sending your leads to Microsoft Dynamics CRM, but unsure where they originate from?
The following method will show you how to track the lead source in Microsoft Dynamics CRM (organic search, social paid, email marketing, referral, etc.), along with your lead details.
In this manner, you can refine your marketing strategy based on the most effective sources and generate performance reports such as leads by channel, source, campaign, and more.
Let’s jump in!
How to track the source of leads in Microsoft Dynamics CRM
1. How Leadsources gathers lead source data
When visitors access your website, their browser saves information about them in a cookie: which site they came from, which landing page they visited, which keyword they clicked, etc.
LeadSources collects this data, organizes it, and passes it into your form as hidden fields.
When your visitors fill out your form, they enter data in the visible fields (name, email, etc.). Meanwhile, LeadSources.io automatically 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 Microsoft Dynamics CRM. You can find the lead source along with the lead name, email, etc. on the same Microsoft Dynamics CRM entry.
2. How Leadsources sends lead source data to Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Begin by signing up for a LeadSources.io account. We’ll give you a small piece of code to add to your website, along with easy-to-follow installation instructions in our detailed guide.
Next, add hidden fields to your form. LeadSources is compatible with any form builder. We’ve created a tutorial to guide you through integrating these fields within your form builder.
When a visitor fills out and submits a form on your website, LeadSources populates 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 Microsoft Dynamics CRM. You’ll now find this information within your leads dashboard on Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
This provides you with valuable insights into where each lead comes from!
How to analyze the lead source data
What data is tracked in Microsoft Dynamics CRM?
As we saw earlier, you can track not only the source of your lead but also various pieces of information related to that source.
LeadSources can track 7 different data points for each lead. 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 takes 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?
Lead source reports
Gain better insights into 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, focus on a single channel, such as paid search (like Google Ads), and organize your Google Ads leads into campaigns to analyze which campaign generates the most leads.
Third, when you want to explore the performance of one specific campaign, you can segment the leads further using the “volume of leads by keyword” and “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 that these ads and keywords are adding to your revenue?
By sending your leads into Microsoft Dynamics CRM you can generate the same reports 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.