Unlock Email Marketing ROI: Tracking Form Submissions Directly in HubSpot

Want to know exactly how effective your HubSpot marketing emails are at driving form submissions? It's a common challenge: you send out an email promoting an event or offering a download, and you want to easily see which recipients clicked through and completed the form. A recent HubSpot Community discussion highlighted this very need, with the original poster seeking a more streamlined way to analyze email campaign performance.

The Challenge: Connecting Emails to Form Submissions

The original poster described the problem clearly: they wanted to see which contacts submitted a form after clicking a link in a marketing email, specifically for event registration. While custom filters in Segments can provide this data, the user desired a more direct and intuitive way to gauge email success directly within the marketing email report itself.

Currently, HubSpot offers robust reporting on email performance (opens, clicks, etc.) and form submissions. However, the connection between a specific email and the subsequent form submission requires some manual digging, which can be time-consuming, especially for larger campaigns.

Possible Solutions & Workarounds

While the community discussion only included the original post outlining the problem, we can explore some common approaches and best practices for tackling this challenge within HubSpot:

1. UTM Parameters and Hidden Fields

One powerful method involves using UTM parameters in your email links and capturing those parameters in hidden fields on your HubSpot form. Here's how:

1. Create UTM Parameters: Add UTM parameters to the URL in your email. For example:
   https://yourwebsite.com/event-registration?utm_source=email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=spring-event
2. Add Hidden Fields to Your Form: Create hidden fields on your HubSpot form to capture the values of the UTM parameters (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign).
3. Pass UTM Values: Use JavaScript or a HubSpot workflow to automatically populate the hidden fields with the UTM parameter values from the URL when the form is submitted.

With this setup, every form submission will be associated with the specific email campaign that drove the traffic. You can then easily filter your form submissions based on the UTM parameters to analyze email performance.

2. HubSpot Workflows

HubSpot workflows can also be used to track form submissions from emails. Here's a basic outline:

1. Create a Workflow: Trigger the workflow when a contact submits the specific form.
2. Identify the Email: Use enrollment triggers or if/then branches to identify contacts who clicked on a specific link in the relevant marketing email before submitting the form. This requires the link in the email to be unique to the campaign.
3. Set a Property: Set a custom contact property (e.g., "Registered via Spring Event Email") to "Yes" for contacts who meet the criteria.

You can then create lists or reports based on this custom property to analyze the success of your email campaign.

3. Naming Conventions and Reporting

A simpler, though less automated, approach involves using clear naming conventions for your forms and email campaigns. For example, name your form "Spring Event Registration Form" and your email campaign "Spring Event Promotion Email."

You can then manually correlate the number of form submissions with the email campaign performance data. While this requires more manual effort, it can be a quick and easy solution for smaller campaigns.

ESHOPMAN Team Comment

We at ESHOPMAN understand the need for streamlined reporting. The request for direct form submission tracking within the email report itself is valid and would significantly improve campaign analysis. While the suggested workarounds offer solutions, a native HubSpot feature would be ideal. This kind of insight is crucial for optimizing your e-commerce strategy and understanding which marketing efforts are driving sales through your HubSpot-powered storefront.

Ultimately, the best approach depends on your specific needs and technical resources. If you're looking for a completely free online store for HubSpot, remember to check out ESHOPMAN!