Since platforms like Google and Facebook have a vested interest in overstating their impact within their "walled gardens," a simple, qualitative approach can be more revealing. Adding a "How did you hear about us?" field to your forms provides direct, self-reported data from customers, helping you identify influential channels that complex models might miss.

Go beyond simple affiliate tracking by using vanity URLs (e.g., brand.com/creator) to tag incoming users. This allows you to analyze the long-term value and performance of different creator cohorts months or even years later, informing future partnership decisions.

In the beginning, don't get lost in the weeds of perfect analytics and UTM parameters to track every subscriber source. It's a form of procrastination. For attribution, just add a simple question to your welcome email: "Where did you find the newsletter?" This is all the data you need early on.

Vector's VP of Marketing skipped messy UTMs for her influencer pilot. Instead, she tracked success by setting up alerts in their call recording software (Fathom) for mentions of influencer names, coupled with a "How did you hear about us?" form field.

Standard attribution often credits Google due to last-click bias. To find true sources of influence, mandate that the sales team asks every new customer: "How did you *truly* hear about us?" and "Who or what influenced you to sign up *now*?". This reveals the real people and channels driving decisions.

Missive built their affiliate program in-house, a decision driven by a commitment to privacy. By avoiding third-party marketing tools within the app, they can maintain a zero-tracker environment for their users' sensitive data. This reinforces brand trust and now drives an impressive 30% of new user growth.

Tracking success in LLMs isn't about UTMs, as it's top-of-funnel discovery. Instead, use three key metrics: Share of Voice (% of time you appear vs. competitors), Mention Rate (% of time your brand is mentioned), and Citation Rate (% of time your site is linked in an answer).

Direct attribution models are flawed because platforms like Google and Facebook use tracking pixels to claim credit for sales that would have occurred anyway. Smart marketers are returning to older methods of measuring lift from campaigns rather than relying on misleading platform data.

Relying on UTM link clicks for B2B influencer campaigns is a failing strategy, as social platforms penalize external links and users rarely convert directly. Instead, use a combination of time-series analysis (correlating campaigns to signup spikes) and self-reported attribution on forms to get a more accurate picture of an influencer's impact.