How to track where your leads come from: forms, calls and bookings

Each of these needs a way to be counted. The ones people forget are calls and walk-ins, which is why they are often the biggest gap in the numbers.

• Fill in a form or request a quote
• Call the number on your site or ad
• Text or message you
• Book a time or reserve something
• Walk in, or mention you at the counter

A UTM parameter is a short tag added to the end of a link that says where a click came from. Google's Analytics help recommends always including the source, the medium and the campaign: utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign.

Example: https://example.com/offer?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paid_social&utm_campaign=spring_offer shows that the visit came from a paid Facebook campaign called spring_offer.

Ad platforms can count a form submission or a booking as a conversion, but only if the tracking is installed on the thank-you page or the form. Set it up before you spend money, then submit a test lead to confirm it is counted.

Many local businesses get most of their leads by phone. Call tracking gives each channel its own number, so you can see which ad or page produced a call, and call length helps separate real inquiries from wrong numbers.

A CRM, or even a simple spreadsheet, should record for each lead: the date, the source, whether it qualified and what happened. The outcome is what lets you judge a campaign by sales instead of by clicks.

• Spend by channel
• Leads and qualified leads by channel
• Cost per qualified lead
• Jobs or sales won, where you can tell