What is the Trace Source field used for?

What is the Trace Source field on a form?

The Trace Source field is a form field used to track the source of registrations or submissions. It allows organisers to capture promo codes, campaign codes, referral identifiers, or other tracking information when a user completes a form.

This field is commonly added to registration forms to help measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and understand how visitors found the event or website.

Why would you use a Trace Source field?

A common use case is for offline marketing campaigns, such as:

• Printed adverts
• Flyers and brochures
• Direct mail campaigns
• Magazine advertisements
• Event invitations

For example, a printed advert may instruct visitors to:

Enter code HOME25 when registering.

When a visitor enters this code into the form, the registration can be attributed back to that specific marketing activity, allowing you to measure its success.

How does the field work?

The Trace Source field behaves differently depending on how the visitor arrives at the form.

Visitors arriving from tracked online sources

If a visitor accesses the form through a known source, such as:

• Google Ads
• Email campaigns
• Social media
• Partner websites

The system can often determine the source automatically. In these cases, the Trace Source field may be hidden, as the referral information is already available.

Visitors arriving from printed materials

If a visitor manually types the website address from a printed advert or brochure, the system has no way of knowing which campaign drove the registration.

In this scenario, the Trace Source field can be displayed on the form, allowing the visitor to enter the promotional code provided in the advert.

Hidden tracking using URL parameters

The Trace Source field can also be configured as a hidden field on a form to automatically capture values passed through the URL.

For example, if your form contains a hidden field named:

test

and the registration URL contains:

?test=123

The value 123 will automatically be stored against the form submission when the visitor registers.

This allows you to track campaigns without requiring the user to enter any information manually.

Common uses for Trace Source fields

• Tracking registrations from printed advertising
• Measuring campaign performance
• Capturing referral or affiliate codes
• Recording sponsor or partner referrals
• Passing hidden tracking values through registration links
• Identifying which marketing channels generate the most submissions

Best practice

Only use Trace Source fields when you need to collect additional tracking information that cannot be captured automatically. For digital campaigns, hidden URL parameters are often the preferred method, as they remove the need for visitors to manually enter a code.

By adding a Trace Source field to your form, you can gain valuable insight into where your registrations and submissions are coming from, helping you make more informed marketing decisions.