Retire the picklist.
A single lead source dropdown fills up with Other. The picklist note replaces it with four UTM properties and keeps the history intact.
Blog category
Attribution
Notes on tracking which content, channels and touches actually produce pipeline, starting with the lead source field most CRMs get wrong.
What these notes cover
Credit the touches that created the deal.
Attribution only matters when it changes where the next dollar or hour goes. These notes fix the data first, because no model can credit a source that was never recorded.
Capture source at the form.
Source details belong on the contact the moment a form is filled, before anyone edits the record by hand.
Decide what credit changes.
Agree in advance which budget or content decision the attribution report will inform, or it becomes a chart nobody uses.
Questions answered
Attribution questions.
Why is our lead source data unreliable?
A free-choice picklist depends on people choosing correctly under time pressure, and most pick the first option or Other. Capturing UTM values automatically removes the guesswork.
Which UTM properties should a CRM store?
Source, medium, campaign and content at minimum, recorded on first touch and kept apart from later touches. The picklist note covers migrating existing records.
Do we need multi-touch attribution software?
Not before the basic source data is clean. A first-touch and last-touch view built on reliable fields answers most budget questions, and no software repairs data that was never captured.
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See where your source data goes missing.
Your forms, CRM and reports each record where a lead came from. The free plan checks all three and names the first field to fix.
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