How attribution works
The concept behind LeadJourney – how a click becomes a tracked visitor, how that visitor becomes a lead, and how a later conversion is matched back to the exact ad that started it, using lj_ tracking parameters.
LeadJourney's job is to connect three things that usually live in three different places: the ad click you paid for, the lead that came from it, and the revenue that lead eventually produced. This page explains how that chain is built, so the numbers in your reports make sense.
The chain in one line
Click → tracked visitor → lead → conversion/revenue. Each link is stitched together by a click ID carried in the URL and stored first-party on your domain.
The lj_ parameters
LeadJourney tags ad URLs with its own parameters – they start with lj_, not utm_. The main
ones:
| Parameter | What it carries |
|---|---|
lj_click_id | The unique click ID – the key everything else is matched on. |
lj_channel | The traffic channel (e.g. meta_ads, google_ads). |
lj_c_id | Campaign ID. |
lj_as_id | Ad set / ad group ID. |
lj_ad_id | Ad ID. |
lj_keyword / lj_keyword_id | Keyword (Google / Bing). |
lj_placement | Placement. |
Why lj_ and not utm_?
utm_ parameters are limited and often stripped or overwritten. LeadJourney's lj_ parameters
carry a real click ID and structured IDs for campaign, ad set and ad – which is what makes
click-level attribution (down to the individual ad or keyword) possible.
How each link is made
1. The click → a tracked visitor
When someone clicks your ad, they arrive with the lj_ parameters in the URL. The tracking
script on your site (ideally served from your own tracking domain)
reads them and stores the click ID first-party, against that visitor.
For paid channels, the IDs are filled in automatically using each platform's dynamic macros – you connect the platform and LeadJourney generates the tagged URLs. For organic, email and custom sources where there's no ad platform to auto-tag, you build the tagged link yourself with the UTM Builder.
2. The visitor → a lead
When the visitor submits a form, the click ID travels with it (via a hidden field), so the new lead is born already attached to the click – and therefore to the campaign, ad set and ad that brought them.
3. The lead → a conversion & revenue
Later milestones – a booked call, a won deal, a refund – happen in your CRM, not on your site. Your CRM sends each one to LeadJourney as an event, and LeadJourney matches it back to the lead using one of three identifiers: the click ID, the email, or the phone number. See Events & the Events Manager.
Always send an identifier
An event with no click_id, email or phone can't be matched to a lead, so it can't be
attributed. Make sure at least one travels with every conversion.
First click vs last click
Once the journey is assembled, the attribution model decides which touch gets the credit – the first source the visitor came from, or the last one before they converted. You switch this per report. See Attribution models.
Related articles
5. Events & the Events Manager
Events are the meaningful actions in your sales pipeline – Lead, Booked Call, Won. Learn what events are, how the Events Manager works, and how they map your CRM pipeline stages into LeadJourney.
Playbooks
End-to-end setup guides tailored to your business model. Pick the playbook that matches how you make money and follow it from an empty workspace to real ROI.