Request Info/Demo Page & Campaign Setup using UTM Parameters/Querystrings?

[Tom_Kerlin2]

Hello,

We just received feedback from our Sales Ops and CRM Analytics team that we'll need to associate our event-related Request Info/Demo page submissions with a CRM campaign that's completely separate from the event CRM campaign itself. The way its set up today, all of our Request Info/Demo pages are built inside the actual event program, and we have a separate yet identical Request Info/Demo page for each event.

I want to build smarter and reduce volume of these identical pages without sacrificing tracking and reporting, so I wanted to know how other people have built out these pages and the campaigns that are tracking them.

I'm thinking of creating a separate channel, then building (1) Request Info/Demo page that the team can use as a default page if lead gen. efforts aren't tied to an existing email campaign. Then, I would build a 2nd identical Request Info/Demo page that would capture specific UTM parameters so that form submits would only pass through a specific triggered smart campaign tied to that email campaign. The 2nd page would be used by all of the email campaigns.

However, after reading a couple of additional threads related to this topic (Which Value to use for utm code tracking , Tracking Web Page Visits from a Custom Built URL ), I'm not sure if I should just be using Querystring values to capture specific form submits and page visits, since UTM parameters are only captured upon form submit and I still want to be able to track page visits. I also read something about using 'Cookie Values', since cookies will store the parameters in case that person navigates away from that page and comes back later. However, will cookies allows those stored parameters to be overwritten in case that same person engages in another email campaign? Lastly, will any of these approaches require the use of Javascript? Ideally, the approach we take isn't too technically complicated (it doesn't have to be perfect).

Thanks,

Tom

[Anonymous]

If I understand your situation correctly, I suggest you have one page. For the email campaigns, you can use a tagged link that will identify that it's coming from an email campaign. Anything without a tagged link can be assumed to not be part of an email campaign.

You can pass the tagged values through UTM parameters. Have a smart campaign that listens for that value and direct it with the appropriate flow steps. You'll just need to ensure there's a hidden field on the form to capture it.

Are you using any UTM parameters for tracking today?

[Tom_Kerlin2]

Thanks Anna,

Screenshot below is the smart list criteria for a test smart campaign that would track parameters specific to an email campaign:

What's not clear to me is how to set up another smart campaign to capture only people coming to page not related to ongoing email campaign. Would the smart list contain only 'Fills Out Form'? Just concerned that the people who are related to an email campaign would also pass through the smart campaign that's supposed to only capture people not tied to email campaign given that filter criteria.

We're not using UTM Parameters for tracking today.

[Anonymous]

You could have a smart list only containing 'Fills out Form' and then in the flow, remove any one ('Remove from Flow' + 'Add Choice') that qualifies for an email campaign using the appropriate criteria (say, a field that always gets filled when someone comes through that's tied to an email campaign).

Alternatively, you can use the inverse filters on the smart list if these values are cleared out after the email campaign is done.

[SanfordWhiteman]

A pageview that results from a Clicked Email event will have a mkt_tok query param (assuming you are using default tracking options).

Thus you can always tell if the current pageview -- or the current ongoing session, which you can maintain using cookies -- originated from an email.

[Justin_Norris1]

Hi Tom Kerlin​,

I think you are heading in the right direction. A few things to consider:

1. One vs. Many LPs: I would also say you could get by with one global landing page, as you don't need distinct landing pages or forms to track, due to point 2 below. However you may want have local tokenized LPs in the event programs (based on the same template) that use a global form, but for a different reason.
   
   By having tokenized local LPs you can set universal values at the folder level but also maintain the flexibility to tweak messaging on the individual pages via overwritten program tokens per event if you want to.
   
   The form should be global for ease of maintenance though.
   
   
2. Tracking: Unfortunately, you really do need some kind of javascript to make your tracking robust, if you need to capture specific UTM values. Otherwise, you will lose your attribution data if people don't convert on the initial page, as you mentioned above.
   
   This script can definitely be configured so that the values overwrite each time.
   
   If you don't have technical resources, you'll need to pay to get some script deployed (and I suggest to make sure you are getting something robust as there are some gotchas when you get into the nitty-gritty) but it will be worthwhile.
   In the script, you can set a default value for the cookie that indicates that the person did not come from an email campaign, but this value can be overwritten by the specific email campaign's querystring parameter if present. 
   
   
3. Smart Campaign: I don't think your smart campaign in the screenshot will work as expected.
   You are triggering off the form fill out with filters requiring that the UTM values have changed.
   
   However, there is no guarantee that the UTM data value changes will have written to the activity log at the time the form fill triggers the campaign
   
   Also, someone could qualify even if they didn't have UTM parameters for the current form fill as long as they had them in the past.
   
   So basically there is a possibility both for false positives and false negatives with this logic.
   
   If I understand your requirement correctly, you want the smart list to look more like this:
   
   
   • Person Is Created (Trigger)
   • Data Value Changed (Trigger) - Data value is DH UTM source, New Value = [whatever you want]
   • DH UTM source (filter) = [whatever you want, same value as above]

     This will allow you to trigger a campaign when someone is created and has a specific UTM value OR when an existing person fills out a form      with that UTM value. Then you can take whatever action you want.

---

Justin Norris | Perkuto​​

[Tom_Kerlin2]

Thanks Justin,

I think I meant to include this screenshot instead:

So, if I wanted to keep new and existing people in separate triggered campaigns, then smart list for each would look like....

Capture only New People:

• Fills out Form (trigger)
• Person was Created (filter specifying Form Name)

Capture only Existing People not tied to any campaign:

• Fills out Form (trigger)

(Then in flow step insert 'Remove from flow' option if lead has a specific UTM field value? Or, should I be clearing the UTM parameters to 'Null' for all campaigns so that for this campaign's smart list, I can add filter 'DH UTM Source is empty' ?)

Capture only Existing People tied to specific campaign:

• Fills out Form (trigger)
• Data Value Changed (filter) - Data value is DH UTM source, New Value = [whatever you want]
• DH UTM source (filter) = [whatever you want, same value as above]

So, if I forego robust tracking, then approaching this way (capturing UTM parameters on hidden form fields) means that I'll also have to be content with chance that they may not convert on initial page?

[Justin_Norris1]

Hey Tom Kerlin​,

So, if I wanted to keep new and existing people in separate triggered campaigns, then smart list for each would look like....

Capture only New People:

• Fills out Form (trigger)
• Person was Created (filter specifying Form Name)

Yes except you would only need the Person Was Created trigger with the form name constraint, you wouldn't need both. 

Capture only Existing People not tied to any campaign:

• Fills out Form (trigger)

(Then in flow step insert 'Remove from flow' option if lead has a specific UTM field value? Or, should I be clearing the UTM parameters to 'Null' for all campaigns so that for this campaign's smart list, I can add filter 'DH UTM Source is empty' ?)

Try using the querystring constraint on the Fills Out Form trigger and specify Not Contains "utm_source" (or whatever), like this:

Capture only Existing People tied to specific campaign:

• Fills out Form (trigger)
• Data Value Changed (filter) - Data value is DH UTM source, New Value = [whatever you want]
• DH UTM source (filter) = [whatever you want, same value as above]

You don't need the Fills Out Form trigger here. The data value change will capture the event once the field updates as a result of the form fill.

So, if I forego robust tracking, then approaching this way (capturing UTM parameters on hidden form fields) means that I'll also have to be content with chance that they may not convert on initial page?

Yep, that is the drawback unfortunately.