UTM parameters in hidden fields let each form entry carry the campaign that brought the person, such as the ad, the email or the post they clicked. Without them, an entry tells you who wrote but not why they came. This guide is for teams running ads, newsletters or social posts who want to know which ones bring real leads, not just clicks. We show how UTM tags work, two ways to save them on entries in WordPress, and how to read the results, in about 15 minutes.
The short version
- UTM tags are the utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign parts of a link.
- A Hidden value field stores a fixed label you choose, free in Echo Forms.
- Echo Forms Signature records the five UTM tags on every entry on its own.
- Compare leads by campaign every month, not only clicks.
What are UTM parameters?
They are short labels added to the end of a link, such as ?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=spring. Analytics tools read them to group visits by campaign, as explained in Google’s guide to campaign URLs. There are five standard tags:
| Tag | What it names | Example |
|---|---|---|
| utm_source | Who sent the visit | newsletter, facebook |
| utm_medium | The kind of link | email, cpc, social |
| utm_campaign | The campaign | spring-sale |
| utm_term | The search term, for ads | wedding venue |
| utm_content | Which version of the ad | blue-button |
Why save them on form entries?
Because analytics count visits, and visits are not leads. A campaign can bring 500 visits and 2 enquiries, while a smaller one brings 50 visits and 10. That is 0.4% against 20%, which is why we never judge a campaign by visits alone. Lead source tracking on each entry shows which campaign brings people who actually fill in the form, so you can spend where it pays instead of where it looks busy.
How do you add campaign tracking to a form?
There are two ways in Echo Forms:
- A Hidden value field, free. It stores a fixed label you choose, such as spring-campaign, on every entry. Put the same form on two landing pages with a different hidden value on each copy, and you can tell at a glance which page brought each entry.
- Track where entries come from, with Echo Forms Signature. Switch it on under Site-wide settings, then pick the details to keep: the traffic source, the five UTM tags, the referrer, the landing page and more. Each entry gets a Where this came from card, and nothing is sent anywhere else.
How to track form submissions by source, step by step
- Build each campaign link with UTM tags, and keep a list of them.
- With Signature, open Echo Forms > Site-wide settings and switch on Track where entries come from.
- Switch on Traffic source and the UTM tags.
- Send a test entry from one of your tagged links.
- Open the entry and check the Where this came from card.
- Each month, export entries and count them by campaign. With 100 entries that takes about 10 minutes in a spreadsheet.
The your entries guide shows the card, and the site-wide settings guide lists every detail you can keep.
Do you need a cookie banner for this?
It depends on where you work and what you keep. Saving the UTM tags of the link someone clicked is usually light, but a detail such as location is personal data in many places, so switch on only what you will use. Our guide to GDPR compliant forms covers consent and keeping data no longer than you need.
UTM parameters in hidden fields turn every entry into a small report on your marketing. Set it up once in about 15 minutes, check the numbers every 30 days, and move budget toward the campaigns that bring people who write back.
Know where every lead came from
Hidden values are free in Echo Forms. Signature records the source, UTM tags and landing page on every entry.
