THE SHORT ANSWER
Capture the source, landing page and campaign parameters on the form itself at the moment of submission, store them on the record alongside the contact details, and report closed revenue by source rather than lead counts. Attribution reconstructed after the fact is guesswork, and it is the single most common reason companies cut the channel that was working.
What to capture, at the moment of the enquiry
Landing page URL - which page persuaded them, not just which site
Campaign parameters - the UTM set, plus the click identifier if the traffic came from an ad platform
Referrer - including AI assistants, which increasingly appear here and are invisible in most default reports
Timestamp - so you can measure delivery-to-first-call later
All four are hidden fields on the form. Adding them is a one-off change that pays back permanently.
Report revenue by source, not leads by source
A source producing thirty leads and two jobs is worse than one producing eight leads and three jobs, but every lead-count report says the opposite. Rank sources by closed revenue and by acquisition cost as a share of job value. Those two columns change budget decisions; lead counts mostly reassure.
The three things that break attribution
Phone calls. A homeowner who reads the page then calls the number is invisible unless you capture source on the call too. In trades where most enquiries are calls, this alone can hide half the truth.
Consent banners. Analytics-based attribution loses the visitors who declined tracking. Form-side capture survives this because it does not depend on the analytics cookie.
Long decision cycles. A kitchen decided over four months will not be joined up by last-click reporting. Store first touch and you keep the link.
The minimum viable setup
Hidden fields on every form for landing page, UTMs, click id and referrer.
Those fields written to the record in your CRM or inbox, not just emailed.
A single monthly view of closed revenue by source.
Delivery-to-first-call recorded, so you can separate a source problem from a speed problem.
Four steps, none of which require a new platform.
Related answers
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an expensive attribution tool?
No. Hidden form fields plus a monthly revenue-by-source view outperforms most tooling, because it captures data the tools cannot recover after the fact.
How do I track leads that arrive by phone?
Ask where they found you and log it in the same field as the form data, or use distinct numbers per channel. Imperfect but far better than leaving it blank.
Can I see when someone came from an AI assistant?
Sometimes, via the referrer. Capture referrer as a raw string rather than a category, because these sources are new and change fast.
Does Flock provide source data?
Each lead arrives with the qualification detail captured at the enquiry, so it can be stored against the record and reported alongside your own channels.
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