Essential Web Tracking Parameters for Customer Insights – Journeys

When running digital campaigns, capturing UTM parameters like utm_source and utm_campaign is a common and essential practice. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a lot more you can (and should) track to enrich journeys and drive personalized experiences, and this can also be achieved on Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys (real-time marketing),

In this post, we’ll walk through:

• What else you can capture beyond UTM
• How it enhances Customer Insights – Journeys
• A structured table of what data to collect and how
• For Further Exploration: Recommended Posts on Advanced UTM and Parameter Tracking

---

🌐 What You Can Capture (Beyond UTM)

Category	Data Point	How to Capture
Campaign Metadata	utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign utm_term, utm_content	From URL parameters via JavaScript
Referral Info	Referrer URL	document.referrer
Landing Page Info	Full URL	window.location.href
Timestamp	Visit time	new Date().toISOString() or server log
Geolocation	Country, region, city, IP	Use external services like ipapi.co, ipinfo.io, or ipify.org to fetch IP and geolocation info
Device Info	OS, device, browser	navigator.userAgent, use bowser.js
Screen Info	Resolution, size	screen.width, screen.height
Language	Browser language	navigator.language
Returning Visitor	Yes/No	Cookies or localStorage
Session ID	Unique session ID	Generate UUID and store locally
Engagement	Time on page, scroll	JS timers + scroll listeners
Click Path	Page navigation history	Track via session history or logs
Form Abandonment	Partial field entries	Field-level tracking events

---

🤔 Why It Matters in Customer Insights – Journeys

In the context of real-time journeys, this additional data powers:

• Enhanced Segmentation: Create segments based on campaign, geography, or user behavior.
• Journey Triggers: Start a journey when someone clicks a specific UTM-tracked link or visits via a referral source.
• Dynamic Branching: Use captured data like utm_source, location, or device type to personalize paths.
• Deeper Analytics: Understand what content resonates, which sources convert, and how visitors engage.
• Better Attribution: Referrer URLs and UTM combinations provide full-funnel visibility.

For example, a journey could be triggered when someone visits from Instagram (utm_source) and uses a mobile device — prompting an SMS-based follow-up instead of email.

These insights make your real-time journeys more targeted, contextual, and ultimately more successful.

---

🔧 How to Capture This in Customer Insights – Journeys

To implement this tracking in Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys, follow these key steps:

1. Marketing Forms: Use real-time marketing forms as the main method for capturing visitor data. These forms support both mapped and unmapped fields.

2. Hidden Fields: Add hidden input fields to your form for utm_source, utm_campaign, referrer, and other tracking parameters. These fields won’t be visible to the user but will be populated and submitted along with the form.

3. JavaScript Injection:

   • Use a small script to extract values from the URL (like UTM parameters).
   • Use document.referrer to capture where the visitor came from.
   • Populate the hidden fields programmatically before the form is submitted.

4. Store in CRM: Map these form fields to custom attributes on the Contact or Lead table. Even if fields are not mapped, they can still be viewed later for analysis.

5. Use in Journeys:

   • Use captured data as filters or triggers in real-time journeys.
   • For example, launch a different branch of a journey if utm_source = instagram or if device = mobile.

This setup ensures you’re not just capturing form submissions — you’re building rich context around every interaction.

📥 Example: Additional Fields in Form Submission

You could send these extra values to Dynamics CRM fields like:

• entry_url
• device_type
• browser_name
• ip_country
• first_touch_timestamp

All of these can be created as custom fields on a Lead or Contact record.

---

📚 References & Credits

Here are some excellent resources from the community that go deeper into specific aspects:

• Capturing UTM Parameters via Real-Time Marketing (Megan V. Walker)
• Use Unmapped Form Fields to Capture the Referral URL (Megan V. Walker)
• How to Capture the Referrer URL in Dynamics 365 Marketing (Amey Holden)
• Measure marketing effectiveness using UTM codes (MS Learn)

These posts are packed with practical advice and step-by-step guides.

---

Further Considerations:

Exploring a Separate Web Visit Entity: While storing web visit data in a dedicated custom entity like “Web Visit” offers cleaner tracking and more robust reporting, it certainly involves additional implementation.

To what extent can we leverage custom JavaScript within Customer Insights - Journeys forms in this process?

Happy tracking!