How to Add URL Parameters

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Parameters are little bolt-ons you can add to your URL’s that help you track activities and events, like conversions or traffic source. Think of them as little tracking robots you add to links.

A parameter has two components: a query string, and a variable. Think of the query string as the robot’s name, and the variable its mission.

Parameters are obvious in search engine results. Look at the URL of any Google result page, and you’ll see something like this:

?query=pancake-recipe

Where “query” is the search robot, and pancake-recipe is the mission you’ve given it.

Convertri lets you track your robot on its mission by passing on parameters, creating stepping stones for the robot to move forward. If you have a link without a parameter on its URL, clicking that link means the robot can’t move further and you lose the ability to track your customer from then on.

So, how do you use parameters to track conversions, results and other metrics? You assign parameters to links in your pages, and enter those URL’s into your analysis tool of choice to find out how many times the robots have gone on their missions.

Here’s an example:

Your site is http://mysite.convertri.com, and you want to find out how much of your traffic comes from Facebook ads and how much from Google ads.

When setting up your Facebook ad, you’d enter the link for it with a parameter like ?source=facebook at the end. For Google, you’d enter the ad URL with a parameter like ?source=google.

Customer’s will see exactly the same page, but allowing Convertri to “pass on” these parameters means that URLs down the line are given the same parameter.

So, whenever someone has clicked on your Facebook ad, read your page, then clicked on the checkout, for example, the URL will show up as http://mysite.convertri.com/checkout?source=facebook.

Counting the hits on that URL, including its parameters, will therefore show you how many people clicked on your Facebook ad and got to the checkout stage. Comparing hits with the Google source parameter will let you know which ad method was more successful.

1. In the Page Builder, select the element or text link you want to add a parameter to (if your link is within text, you need to click to edit the text and select just the link, not the whole element).
2. If you have selected a text link, click on Hyperlink in the text toolbar. If your link is an element (like a button, for example), go to the Properties panel and click on General Properties.
3. Enter the URL you want to link to, including its parameter (e.g. https://www.convertri.com?parameter=abc). Toggle Pass on Parameters to On.

This means that whenever you link to your page elsewhere and add a parameter to the end of that URL, Convertri will pass on the parameters to the next link your visitor clicks on, and so on as long as you have Pass on Parameters enabled for each link.