How to tell which marketing channel is actually producing your customers
· 6 min read
The usual problem is not a lack of data. It is that enquiries arrive by phone, WhatsApp, email and a web form, and nothing records how the person found you. By month-end, every channel claims the result.
Start by recording the source at the door
Four habits get you most of the way:
- Ask. “How did you hear about us?” on the form and on the phone. Imperfect, but it catches what tracking cannot, like word of mouth and TV.
- Tag your links. Campaign tags on your ads and emails let your site tell which one a visitor clicked.
- Record it automatically. Your site can note how each visitor arrived, such as search, social, an AI assistant or a campaign, and attach that to the enquiry. Ours does this, and the lead email says where the person came from.
- Keep one list. Every enquiry, from every route, in one place. Otherwise there is nothing to count.
Count customers, not just leads
A channel that produces many enquiries and no customers is more expensive than it looks. Follow each enquiry through to whether it became a sale, and what it was worth, even if you do it by hand in a spreadsheet at first.
Know what the numbers cannot show
- Brand and broadcast work, such as TV, builds recognition over weeks. It rarely shows up as a click, so look for a lift in direct visits, branded searches and enquiries after a flight, not for a tagged link.
- Someone may see an ad, search for you later and arrive as “search”. The last click gets the credit even though the first one started it.
- Small numbers swing widely. Do not judge a channel on a handful of enquiries.
A monthly routine
Once a month, list enquiries by source, then customers by source, then what each channel cost. Move spend gradually toward what produces customers, and keep a little in channels that build the brand even if they do not show up neatly.
Common questions
Quick answers.
How do I track where my enquiries come from?
Record the source when the enquiry arrives. Ask people how they heard about you, tag your campaign links, let your site note how each visitor arrived, and keep every enquiry in one list so you can count them by source.
Why do all my channels claim the same customers?
Because each platform measures its own contribution and nobody measures them together. A customer might see an ad, search for you later and book through search, and both claim it. One shared record of enquiries fixes this.
Can I measure TV or brand advertising?
Not through clicks. Look for changes after a campaign: more direct visits, more searches for your name and more enquiries mentioning it. Plan the measurement before the campaign runs, so you have a baseline to compare against.
Next step
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