How To Track Lead Type, Source, Campaign and Origin

How To Track Lead Type, Source, Campaign and Origin

One of the most important benefits of effective lead management is the ability to track where your leads are coming from.  In AutoPlayAuto.com there are 4 types of tracking that is possible;
  1. Lead Type
  2. Lead Source
  3. Lead Campaign
  4. Lead Origin
Wherever possible all leads imported or automatically captured will automatically apply the Lead Type, Lead Source, Lead Campaign and Lead Origin, and users can also specify these fields when manually loading leads.  With the exclusion of Lead Origin it is possible to make any of these fields mandatory, but this decision should be carefully considered and based on the discipline of your team.  In AutoPlays experience we have found that forcing salespeople to complete too many mandatory fields can sometimes result in bad or incorrect data - which can be worse than missing data!  Find out more about mandatory fields HERE.



1.  Lead Type
The Lead Type field measures the method of contact that the customer used to contact your dealership.  Unlike Lead Source and Lead Campaign, the Lead Type field is not customisable and is restricted to the following fields;
  1. Walk In (the contact has physically come into the dealership as their first point of contact with the dealership)
  2. Phone (the customer has called or sent an sms as their first point of contact with the dealership)
  3. Email  (the customer has sent an email as their first point of contact with the dealership)
  4. Other (used for any lead that doesn't fit the above category such as leads that were submitted via DMS) 


2.  Lead Source
The Lead Source is the first level of lead tracking in AutoPlayAuto.com.  When  you search for leads on your Dashboard you will notice that the 'Include Inactive' tick box is not ticked.  This means that you are only viewing the list of Lead Sources that are still active in the dealership account.  However it is possible there are still leads on old, inactive lead sources - in which case ticking the 'Include Inactive' tick box will enable you to filter by these lead sources as well.  They are represented as grey italics. 

If your Lead Source list is long, it is recommended that you use the built in keyword search to more quickly find the source you need.  With the Lead Source filter you can search by 'No Source' to identify leads where this has not been recorded, and it is also possible to select multiple lead sources to filter by.




You can apply the Lead Source when first loading a lead, and you can also add at a later date from the 'Lead Details' section when managing your lead.  When applying a lead source to a lead the list of lead sources is broken down into 'Dealer Sources' at the top of the list, followed by 'Brand Sources' towards the bottom of the list. 



'Dealer Sources are those loaded directly into your account, or the standard AutoPlay list, whilst 'Brand Sources' are those that are set up in by your brand/OEM/franchise.  When AutoPlay also works with your brand they may set up Lead Sources specific to their brand, that then appear in the AutoPlay account of every dealer in the network.  You can clear the Lead Source from your lead by clicking on the small 'x' in the Lead Source field.  To read more about how Lead Sources are managed click HERE.




It is possible to lock down your lead sources so that they cannot be edited when managing leads that were captured electronically from an email or API.  You can read more about this functionality HERE.

Non-Retail Lead Tracking (SPW-4556)
In 21.2.1 there is now the ability to create specific Lead Sources as 'Non-Retail' by checking the 'Non Retail Lead' field when creating/editing Lead Source records.  This enables Dealers and Dealer Groups to track non retail leads such as Demonstrator, Pre-reg, Service Loan, Staff Drive Car, Corporate Partnership and Promotional Car leads and sales.

When leads are captured or loaded with a Lead Source marked as 'Non Retail Lead' these are able to be identified in the Lead Audit as a True/False value.  As of 1st March it is NOT available within reporting.autoplay.co.nz but will be added to the reporting filters in the month of March.  Dealer and OEM reporting will default to 'Retail' leads only, but users can filter to 'Non Retail' leads or both 'Retail' and 'Non-Retail' once the new filter is available at the end of March 2021.



3.  Lead Campaign & Sub Campaigns
The Lead Campaign is a slightly more granular way of tracking where leads are coming from.  Where 'Lead Source' can be thought of as the "channel" the lead is coming from (i.e Newspaper), the Lead Campaign tracks exactly what marketing spend resulted in the lead (i.e. The Daily Times Newspaper).   

You can filter your Dashboard to view leads by Campaign using the 'Campaign' drop down filter.  Similarly to the 'Lead Source' drop down you can search via keywords, select No Campaign or multiple Campaigns, and search for leads against inactive Campaigns using the 'Include Inactive' check box.

In addition the Campaigns are separated in the Dashboard filter into those created within your own account, and those managed by any relevant Brand/Group/OEM we might work with.

Like 'Lead Source', you can record your lead against a Lead Campaign when first loading a lead, or you can add at a later date from the 'Lead Details' section when managing your lead. 

To find out more about setting up, deactivating and managing your Lead Campaigns read the support article HERE.




When loading a lead you will see all the Campaigns and Sub Campaigns until a listing is specified.  Once you select a listing you will ONLY see Campaigns specific to that particular Make.  Additionally you will ONLY see the Sub Campaign drop down if you select a Campaign that has had Sub Campaigns set up.



If you submit leads to AutoPlay electronically via integrations with other 3rd party systems and are interested in utilizing the Sub Campaign fields please contact AutoPlay on support@autoplay.co.nz.  If you do not set up any Sub Campaigns the Sub Campaign drop down will not display.

4.  Lead Origin
AutoPlay captures a lot of leads from many different sources and in many cases the Lead Source is attributed to the first contact, rather than the 3rd Party that has supplied the lead.  Whilst this ensures reporting is accurate, it can make troubleshooting where a lead came from difficult.  

The Lead Origin is used to identify where the lead came from, as well as the method of delivery.  This allows dealerships to identify whether a lead was manually loaded to AutoPlayAuto.com, captured from an email, imported via an API or from a DMS, or any other method.  In addition the Lead Origin will show the actual provider of the lead rather than the source attributed.

For example a lead may be sent to AutoPlay via a third party application such as DealerDrive or Wildjar, with a source captured as 'Web'.  However when the lead origin icon on the RHS of screen is hovered over, it will display 'Lead API - DealerDrive' or 'Lead API - Wildjar'.  The 'Lead Orign' filter allows users to filter their leads by their Origin, but unlike Sources and Campaigns, the Lead Origin list is automatically detected and built from all the different ways leads have been captured.

5.  Managing Lead Source and Campaign On Electronic Leads
By default users are able to change the Lead Source and/or Campaign on any electronic leads (leads captured from API, DMS Integration or Captured Emails).  If you do not want the Campaign or Source changed on any electronic leads you are able to prevent this via a setting at the Company level called 'Do Not Allow Source & Campaign Modification On Electronic Leads'.  Click HERE to find out more about this setting.



To find out more about how AutoPlay tracks where your leads are coming from read the support articles on Lead TypeLead Source and Lead Campaign.



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