How To Use UTM Parameters to Capture Lead Source in Pardot

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You might already be using UTM parameters to track your marketing campaigns with Google Analytics, but are you capturing that information when a prospect is created in Pardot? Capturing this data is critical in order to assess the value of your marketing campaign and is a lead management best practice.

What are UTM Parameters?

UTM parameters are tags you add to a URL. Marketers use this to be able to track the traffic from a variety of sources such as email, social media, banner ads, etc. The tags can be sent back to Google Analytics and tracked which can be used to gauge the effectiveness of campaigns and identify the best ways to drive more visitors to your website.

Create New Fields

The first thing you need to do is create 2 new fields in Salesforce and in Pardot and map them. You don’t need to create a field for utm_source, we will use the standard source field in Pardot.

utm_medium
utm_campaign

Add The New Fields to Your Pardot Forms

Next, add the fields to your Pardot form. All 3 fields should be hidden and not marked as required.

Add Some Code to Your Landing Page Templates

This piece of code will parse the URL parameters and put the values into the hidden fields within your form. This code can be placed within your landing page template or within your form in the below form section.

<script type="text/javascript">
// Parse the URL
function getParameterByName(name) {
    name = name.replace(/[\[]/, "\\[").replace(/[\]]/, "\\]");
    var regex = new RegExp("[\\?&]" + name + "=([^&#]*)"),
    results = regex.exec(location.search);
    return results === null ? "" : decodeURIComponent(results[1].replace(/\+/g, " "));
}
// Give the URL parameters variable names
var source = getParameterByName('utm_source');
var medium = getParameterByName('utm_medium');
var campaign = getParameterByName('utm_campaign');
 
// Put the variable names into the hidden fields in the form. selector should be "p.YOURFIELDNAME input"
document.querySelector("p.source input").value = source;
document.querySelector("p.utm_medium input").value = medium;
document.querySelector("p.utm_campaign input").value = campaign;
</script>

// Parse the URL

function getParameterByName(name) {

name = name.replace(/[\[]/, "\\[").replace(/[\]]/, "\\]");

var regex = new RegExp("[\\?&]" + name + "=([^&#]*)"),

results = regex.exec(location.search);

return results === null ? "" : decodeURIComponent(results[1].replace(/\+/g, " "));

}

// Give the URL parameters variable names

var source = getParameterByName('utm_source');

var medium = getParameterByName('utm_medium');

var campaign = getParameterByName('utm_campaign');

// Put the variable names into the hidden fields in the form. selector should be "p.YOURFIELDNAME input"

document.querySelector("p.source input").value = source;

document.querySelector("p.utm_medium input").value = medium;

document.querySelector("p.utm_campaign input").value = campaign;

</script>

Note: If you don’t use the field names outlined in this tutorial, you might need to update the JavaScript to include the correct field names.

Create URLs and Test

Now you’re ready to start creating URLs and testing your form. Use this handy URL builder to create your links and then fill out the form to see if the values go into Pardot.

Questions?

Send them to me via email, send me a tweet @jennamolby, or leave a comment

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What are UTM Parameters?

Create New Fields

Add The New Fields to Your Pardot Forms

Add Some Code to Your Landing Page Templates

Create URLs and Test

Questions?

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