Introduction

In Lofty, the "source" is a very important piece of data associated with each and every lead that exists in the system. "Source" refers to where the lead originated (e.g. Realtor.com, Zillow, etc.). This source can be used to filter leads, track ROI for specific sources, and even establish lead routing within Lofty to distribute based on specific sources. Some sources can be customized and others sources are built into Lofty by default. Source names can have up to 100 characters. This article will explain how Lofty selects the sources for leads. 

Summary

• Adding Leads Manually
• CSV Import
• Email Parsing
• API
• Open House
• Lofty Websites
• UTM Settings
• Editing Sources
• Facebook/Google Registration

Adding Leads Manually

If a lead is added manually via the People page in Lofty, the source will default to "Other." However, this can be changed when adding the lead or later as necessary. See Add a Lead.

*** There is a permission that will allow an account admin to restrict users from changing a lead's source. By default, this permission is ON for all Lofty users. When the permission is OFF, the Source field is greyed out for all leads this user can see, including Private Leads.

CSV Import

When a user imports a CSV document into Lofty (see Import your Leads to Lofty), the lead source is typically available as a column/field in the actual CSV that is then matched as the source (see screenshot below). However, if this field is not present, the source defaults to "CSV Import."

Email Parsing

If a lead comes in through the mail parser, the source will be the name of the service where the lead originated. For a list of these names, as they will appear in Lofty, you can reference the following section under Personal Settings > Lead Settings > Lead Capture> Lead Capture Settings:

API

The lead source should always be pre-defined in the code that connects any direct API integration to Lofty. If not, the source will be "Other."

Open House

If the lead enters Lofty via an Open House Form(see Open House Forms), the source will be "Open House." 

Lofty Websites

The website editor defines the default source: CMS Tool > Settings > Lead Source. If nothing else has been added here, the source is "Website." This source can differ for the main team and agent subdomain websites.

Therefore, by default, any lead who registers on the Lofty IDX website will be assigned to the CRM with the source "Website." Unless, however, any of the following are true:

• The "Lead Source" in the CMS has been changed to something else
• A lead registers on a landing page or custom page that has a separate lead source defined
• A UTM code is built into the URL of a campaign that brought the lead to the website. The UTM source will be the source in Lofty. 
• If a lead enters the CRM via a link found on Facebook or Google, the source will be "Facebook" or "Google", as long as no other UTM code has been set up.
• When using Lofty Lead Gen, the leads will always have the source of "Lofty Paid Lead" and the tags will distinguish if the lead came in from Facebook or Google

UTM Settings

UTM is used to tag leads and better monitor campaign ROI. Users can add UTM codes to URLs and have that data added to leads automatically as they are brought into Lofty. Google's Campaign URL Builder is a useful way to set these up. 

There are three different parts to how this works:

1. Import utm_source as lead sources. This is ON by default and cannot be turned off. If a lead registers via a campaign or URL with an associated "utm_source," that source will be assigned to the lead automatically. A new source will be created if it does not already exist.
2. Import utm_campaign as lead tags. If a lead registers via a campaign or URL with an associated "utm_campaign," that campaign will be recorded for that lead automatically as a tag. A new tag will be created if it does not already exist.
3. Import utm_content as lead tags. If a lead registers via a campaign or URL with an associated "utm_content," that content will be recorded for that lead automatically as a tag. A new tag will be created if it does not already exist.

To edit or set this up, navigate to Personal Settings > Lead Settings > Tags  > UTM Settings:

Editing Sources

All sources are located under Team/Company Settings > Lead Settings > Sources. Here, you can delete all sources with no associated leads, reassign associated leads to another source, or delete individual sources.

When a Source is deleted, it must be replaced on any leads that the Source was connected to.

Facebook/Google Registration

Review the table below regarding how leads will be sourced into Lofty from Facebook posts or by clicking to register in Lofty via Facebook or Google. Also, keep in mind that any UTM parameters that are set up on any URLs will override the following:

Questions?

If you have any questions regarding this topic or any others, please reach out to our Support Team via email at <support@lofty.com>, by phone at 1 (855) 981-7557, or by chat with us through your Lofty CRM.