Learn how to track your digital fundraising campaign conversions back to the source. What that means is the unique ad that delivered the lead or donation, and the target audience as well as the digital channel

1. Source tracking for your
#digitalfundraising campaigns
How low can you go?
Shanelle Newton Clapham & Marcos Sastre
October 2021

2. What is “source” tracking?
Having deep knowledge about the
“source” of your conversion (lead,
donation)
… so you can get more of them.

3. But what do I mean by “source”?

4. This is a normal campaign report
Key Metrics Results
Leads Received 2,310
Billable Calls 1,067
Contact Rate % 46%
Response Rate % 4.9%
New RGs 52

5. But I want to know which “source”
delivers the donors?

6. The “source” Ad7C delivered the donors

7. This way, I can optimise to the best “source”
Ad7C
33 RG donors
1.99% CVR
$313.74 CPA
Ad7A
3 RG donors
3.53% CVR
$218.59 CPA
Ad7B
5 RG donors
2.81% CVR
$287.45 CPA

8. What & When to track your source

9. You can get the “source” for all of your
digital campaigns – especially PAID
Lead Generation Digital Donations (Appeals) Donor Acquisition

10. Which advertising “source” delivers?

11. Which audience is responding? To which
ad?

12. How much source data can you
track?
As much data as you put into the URL parameter.
But we find it most useful for within Facebook ad campaigns:
 Campaign
 Source/ channel i.e. Search or FB
 Theme or Concept
 Lead capture mechanism
i.e. FB lead form
i.e. Quiz
i.e. Petition
 Which Audience(s) convert best
(for each theme, lead capture type)
 Which Ad creatives convert best
(for each audience/ theme)
 Buy type (CPC, CPM etc.)

13. EXAMPLE:
the insight you get from “source data”
Objective: Conversion: Donation-Cash
 Campaign: Crowdfunder
 Source/ channel: Facebook
 Buy type/ medium: CPC/ conversion
 Concept: Homes for Life
 Audience: Post Graduate Education
 Creative: Ad23_Carmel&Melissa
https://yoursite.org?utm_source=facebook&utm
_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=MY_CAMPAIG
N&utm_term=COLD_Interest&utm_content=Ad
_1_B

14. EXAMPLE:
the insight you get from “source data”
Objective: Conversion: Donation
 Campaign: DDA
 Source/ channel: Facebook
 Buy type/ medium: CPM/ Conversion
 Concept: House a Home
 Audience: Environmentalists
 Creative: Ad3_Couch_Red
https://yoursite.org?utm_source=facebook&utm_me
dium=cpm&utm_campaign=MY_CAMPAIGN&utm_t
erm=COLD_Interest&utm_content=Ad_1_B

15. How to track source data

16. URL parameters (UTMs)
that are picked up by Google Analytics
https://yoursite.org?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=
cpc&utm_campaign=MY_CAMPAIGN&utm_term=COLD_I
nterest&utm_content=Ad_1_B
What is a UTM?

17. a) Decide which information to pass through the URL UTMs
Example for Facebook Ads (<<values>> are variable)
• Source (utm_source): facebook
• Medium (utm_medium): cpc
• Campaign (utm_campaign): <<Campaign Name>>
• Term (utm_term): <<Ad Set>>
• Content (utm_content): <<Ad Name>>
b) Populate your links using that information
https://yoursite.org?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=
cpc&utm_campaign=MY_CAMPAIGN&utm_term=COLD_I
nterest&utm_content=Ad_1_B
In Facebook Ads you can use dynamic values like {{ad.name}} that Facebook
will replace in each instance, so you can use a single link for all the ads.
OR Google’s “Campaign URL Builder”
OR you can use Excel to create the links - or even manually.
How UTM source tracking works?

18. c) Capture UTMs information in your platform
d) Include captured UTM information in your exported reports
This depends on the platform you’re using, but generally speaking it is
accomplished using hidden fields
e) Use that information to gather insights
How UTM source tracking works?

19. You don’t have to do anything, Funraisin captures UTMs by default.
You just need to add them when creating your custom export.
1. Create a custom hidden field for each utm
2. Set the default value of each custom hidden field as follows
{{root.query.utm_source}}
(replacing “utm_source” at the end for the corresponding utm)
3. Make sure you include them on your custom reports!
Hidden fields to capture your
campaign
source data in fundraising platforms

20. 1. Add hidden fields for each UTM in
Logic -> Advanced -> Hidden Fields
2. Include the UTMs on your share link so the
hidden fields are pre-filled
If you’re embedding the form, you’ll need to
programmatically change the embed URL to include
the UTMs values picked from the parent page.
Hidden fields to capture your
campaign
source data in fundraising platforms

21. It will depend on the plug-in or tool you’re using, but in general it’s
the same 3 steps you need to do
(Google how to do it with your specific plug-in or tool):
1. Create custom hidden field
2. Pre-fill fields from the URL values (in our case the UTMs but
most tools will have this information in general, to prefill any field
as in PURLS)
3. Include the hidden fields in the export reports.
WordPress and other implementations
Hidden fields to capture your
campaign
source data in fundraising platforms

22. How to send source data
(for complete reporting)

23. 1) Manually
Export your report & send it to your partners (password protected)
via email on a regular basis. This is the easiest way, but is the
most time consuming for both parties and the information is not in
real time.
Platform/ Tool
PARTNER
How to pass your source data
through to partners – such as
Telefundraising

24. 2) Automation (preferred)
When your partner has an API, you POST the information to them.
HOW you post the information varies depending on your tool but
generally you can google “how to post a webhook in [your platform/
tool]”.
Most often we use Zapier as the trigger, and “Webhooks by Zapier”
to POST the information to you partner’s API.
This also works for Facebook Lead form.
Platform/ Tool
PARTNER
How to pass your source data
through to partners – such as
Telefundraising

25. So that’s the How & Why for tracking
source data

26. ULTIMATELY, what you want to know
is which “source” delivers the donors?
MORE of
7A too

27. Questions?
If you need help, just ask.us@parachutedigital.com.au

28. Thank you 