How to Track Where Your Septic Leads Come From

Your phone rings. A homeowner needs their septic tank pumped. Great news, but do you know what marketing brought them to you? Was it your Google Ads campaign? Your Google Business Profile? A referral from a neighbor? Without tracking, you have no idea.

This guide walks you through setting up lead tracking from scratch. No technical background required. By the end, you'll know exactly which marketing channels generate your leads so you can invest in what works and stop wasting money on what doesn't.

Why Lead Tracking Matters for Septic Companies

Most septic company owners spend money on marketing without knowing what's working. They might say "I think we're getting more calls" or "My website guy says traffic is up." But feelings and traffic don't pay the bills. Leads do.

Lead tracking answers the simple question: where did this customer come from?

When you know the source of every lead, you can:

• Stop spending money on channels that don't produce leads
• Increase investment in channels that work
• Calculate the true cost to acquire each customer
• Hold marketing agencies accountable to results
• Make confident decisions about your marketing budget

Consider this scenario: You're spending $2,000 per month on Google Ads and $500 per month on a local directory listing. Without tracking, both feel like they're "doing something." With tracking, you might discover Google Ads brought in 15 leads while the directory brought in zero. That's $500 per month you can reallocate to what works.

As we covered in our guide to measuring septic marketing ROI, tracking leads is the foundation of understanding whether your marketing investment is paying off.

Setting Up Call Tracking

Phone calls are the lifeblood of septic businesses. Unlike e-commerce where everything happens online, your customers pick up the phone. This makes call tracking essential.

How Call Tracking Works

Call tracking uses unique phone numbers for different marketing channels. When someone calls, you know which number they dialed and therefore which channel drove the call.

Example setup:

• (555) 123-4567 - Google Ads campaigns
• (555) 123-4568 - Website organic traffic
• (555) 123-4569 - Google Business Profile
• (555) 123-4570 - Print ads or mailers

All these numbers forward to your main business line. You answer normally, but behind the scenes, you know exactly which marketing triggered each call.

Call Tracking Services

Several services make call tracking easy:

CallRail ($45-145/month) - Popular choice for small businesses. Includes call recording, keyword tracking for Google Ads, and integrations with most CRMs and marketing tools.

CallTrackingMetrics ($39-299/month) - Similar features to CallRail with strong Google Ads integration. Good reporting dashboard.

WhatConverts ($30-100/month) - Tracks calls, forms, and chats in one platform. Good for businesses wanting an all-in-one solution.

Google Ads Call Tracking (Free) - If you only run Google Ads, Google's built-in call tracking works. Limited compared to paid services but costs nothing.

Setting Up Your First Tracking Numbers

Start simple. You don't need to track everything on day one.

Week 1: Get a tracking number for your Google Ads campaigns. Most call tracking services integrate directly with Google Ads.

Week 2: Add a tracking number for your website. Use "dynamic number insertion" which shows different numbers based on how visitors arrived at your site.

Week 3: Add a tracking number for your Google Business Profile. This shows how many calls come from people finding you on Google Maps.

Tip: Enable call recording if legal in your state (check local laws). Recordings help you assess lead quality and train your team on phone handling.

Tracking Form Submissions

Not everyone calls. Some visitors fill out contact forms, request quotes, or schedule appointments online. You need to track these too.

The Thank-You Page Method

The simplest approach: create a dedicated "thank you" page that only appears after someone submits a form.

How it works:

1. Visitor fills out your contact form
2. After submission, they're redirected to yoursite.com/thank-you
3. You track visits to /thank-you as conversions

This method works with any form builder and requires no coding. In Google Analytics, you set up a "destination" goal that triggers when someone views the thank-you page.

Event Tracking Method

If your form doesn't redirect to a thank-you page (maybe it shows a success message on the same page), use event tracking.

How it works:

1. Add tracking code that "fires" when the form is successfully submitted
2. This creates an event in Google Analytics
3. You track these events as conversions

This requires some technical setup. If you're not comfortable with code, ask your web developer to implement it. Most form plugins (like Gravity Forms, Contact Form 7, or WPForms) have built-in Google Analytics integration or documentation on how to set this up.

UTM Parameters for Form Tracking

UTM parameters are tags you add to URLs to track where traffic comes from. When someone clicks a link with UTM parameters and later submits a form, you can see which campaign drove the submission.

Example:

Regular URL: yoursite.com/contact

URL with UTM parameters: yoursite.com/contact?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=septic-pumping

Google Analytics records these parameters, so you can see that a form submission came from your "septic-pumping" Google Ads campaign.

Use Google's Campaign URL Builder (free tool) to create tagged URLs easily.

Google Analytics for Septic Businesses

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is free and essential for understanding your website's performance. Here's how to set it up and use it for lead tracking.

Basic Setup

If you don't have Google Analytics installed:

1. Go to analytics.google.com and sign in with your Google account
2. Click "Start measuring" and enter your business information
3. Create a "Web" data stream for your website
4. Copy the tracking code and add it to your website (your web developer can help)

Most website platforms (WordPress, Wix, Squarespace) have simple integrations. You often just paste your "Measurement ID" (starts with G-) into a settings field.

Setting Up Conversions

In GA4, conversions are the actions you care about tracking. For septic companies, common conversions include:

• Form submissions
• Phone number clicks (on mobile)
• Thank-you page views

To set up a thank-you page conversion:

1. In GA4, go to Admin > Events
2. Click "Create event"
3. Name it "form_submission" (or similar)
4. Set conditions: page_location contains "/thank-you"
5. Save, then mark this event as a conversion in the Conversions section

Key Reports for Septic Companies

Acquisition Overview: Shows where your visitors come from (Google search, paid ads, direct, referral sites). Found under Reports > Acquisition.

Traffic Acquisition: Breaks down sessions by channel. You'll see how much traffic comes from organic search vs. paid search vs. other sources.

Conversions by Source: The most important report. Shows which traffic sources generate actual leads. Go to Reports > Engagement > Conversions, then add "Session source/medium" as a secondary dimension.

Landing Page Performance: Shows which pages visitors arrive on and how those pages perform. Useful for understanding which content attracts visitors who convert.

Linking Google Ads and Analytics

If you run Google Ads, link your accounts for better data:

1. In GA4, go to Admin > Product Links > Google Ads Links
2. Click "Link" and select your Google Ads account
3. Enable auto-tagging in Google Ads (Settings > Account Settings)

This lets you see exactly which keywords and ads drive conversions, not just clicks.

Attribution Models Explained Simply

Attribution sounds complicated, but it answers a simple question: when a customer interacts with multiple marketing touchpoints before converting, which one gets credit?

Why Attribution Matters

A typical customer journey might look like this:

1. Sees your Google Ad for "septic pumping near me"
2. Clicks the ad, browses your site, but doesn't call
3. A week later, searches your company name directly
4. Visits your site and calls

Which touchpoint gets credit? The Google Ad that introduced them? Or the direct search when they actually called?

Common Attribution Models

Last-Click Attribution: The final touchpoint before conversion gets all credit. In our example, the direct search gets credit.

First-Click Attribution: The first touchpoint gets all credit. The Google Ad gets credit.

Linear Attribution: Credit is split equally across all touchpoints. Both get 50%.

Data-Driven Attribution: Machine learning analyzes your data and distributes credit based on what actually influences conversions. Available in Google Ads with enough conversion data.

What Should Septic Companies Use?

For most septic companies, last-click attribution works fine. Here's why:

• It's simple to understand and implement
• Septic purchases are often quick decisions (emergency or scheduled maintenance)
• Complex multi-touch journeys are less common than in B2B or big-ticket consumer purchases

If you're running multiple channels and have significant ad spend, consider Google's data-driven attribution in Google Ads. It can reveal that certain "assisting" channels deserve more credit than last-click suggests.

Practical tip: Don't obsess over attribution perfection. A simple model that you actually use is better than a complex model that confuses you. The goal is directional accuracy, not perfect precision.

Creating a Lead Source Report

Tracking data is only useful if you organize it into actionable reports. Here's how to create a simple lead source report.

What to Track Monthly

Create a spreadsheet with these columns for each marketing channel:

• Channel name (Google Ads, Organic Search, Google Business Profile, Referrals, etc.)
• Monthly spend (if applicable)
• Number of leads (calls + form submissions)
• Number of booked jobs
• Revenue from those jobs
• Cost per lead (spend / leads)
• Cost per acquisition (spend / booked jobs)

Sample Lead Source Report

This report instantly shows what's working. Google Business Profile generates the most leads at zero cost. The local directory has high cost per acquisition and should be reconsidered.

Don't Forget: Ask Every Caller

Technology captures a lot, but not everything. Train your team to ask "How did you hear about us?" on every call. Record answers in your CRM or a simple spreadsheet.

Create a standard list of options:

• Google search
• Google Maps
• Facebook
• Referral from friend/neighbor
• Saw our truck
• Used you before
• Other (specify)

This captures referrals and word-of-mouth that no tracking software can measure.

Using Data to Optimize Your Marketing

Once you have lead tracking in place, use the data to make smarter decisions.

Double Down on What Works

If your report shows that Google Ads delivers leads at $100 each while organic SEO delivers them at $60, you might consider increasing your SEO investment. Or if LSAs dramatically outperform standard Google Ads, shift budget accordingly.

The data removes guesswork. Instead of "I feel like Google Ads is working," you have "Google Ads generated 18 leads last month at $111 each, and 7 became paying customers."

Cut What Doesn't Work

That $500/month local directory in our example produced only 2 leads and 1 job. Unless there's a strategic reason to stay listed, that budget could do more elsewhere.

Be patient before cutting. Give channels 60-90 days of data before making decisions. But don't keep spending on hope after data shows consistent underperformance.

Improve Conversion Rates

Lead source data also reveals conversion rate issues. If one channel produces lots of leads but few jobs, the problem might be:

• Lead quality (wrong audience seeing your ads)
• Your follow-up process (slow response, poor phone handling)
• Pricing mismatch (leads expect different pricing)

Identifying these patterns helps you fix the real problem rather than blaming the channel.

Seasonal Adjustments

Track lead sources over multiple months to spot seasonal patterns. You might find:

• Spring brings more "septic inspection" leads from home sales
• Fall sees more pumping requests as homeowners prepare for winter
• Summer has higher lead volume but more price-shopping

Adjust your marketing spend and messaging based on these patterns.

Report to Your Team

Share lead source data with your team monthly. When everyone knows which channels produce results, they understand why certain marketing investments matter. It also helps your phone staff appreciate that asking "How did you hear about us?" actually influences business decisions.

Getting Started Today

Lead tracking seems overwhelming when you're starting from zero. But you don't need everything in place immediately. Start with these steps:

This week: Sign up for a call tracking service (CallRail has a free trial) and set up one tracking number for your website.

Next week: Ensure Google Analytics is installed on your site. Set up one conversion goal (thank-you page or form submission event).

Week three: Add a tracking number for your Google Ads (if you run them) or Google Business Profile.

Week four: Create a simple spreadsheet to track monthly leads by source. Train your team to ask "How did you hear about us?"

Ongoing: Update your report monthly. Review trends quarterly. Make one data-driven decision each month about your marketing.

Within 90 days, you'll have more insight into your marketing performance than most of your competitors. You'll know exactly where your leads come from and where to invest for growth.