LeadJourney for Advertisers
The complete setup for businesses running paid ads – connect Meta, Google, LinkedIn and Bing, get tracking live, send your CRM conversions back, and see true cost per lead, ROAS and ROI per campaign, ad set and ad.
You run paid ads to generate leads or sales, and you want to know which campaigns, ad sets and ads actually make money – not just which ones get clicks. This is the end-to-end playbook for advertisers: connect your ad platforms, get tracking live, send your CRM outcomes back, and let LeadJourney calculate cost per lead, ROAS and ROI down to the individual ad.
What you'll be able to see
For every channel → campaign → ad set → ad: clicks, cost, leads, cost per lead, won clients, revenue, ROAS and profit – with the same numbers for your organic, email and referral traffic. In short: which ad makes you money, and which one quietly burns budget.
Prefer the in-app wizard?
When you first sign in, LeadJourney walks you through a setup wizard that covers everything below. The Quickstart is the map of those steps – this playbook is the deeper version with the why behind each one.
The chain you're building
LeadJourney stitches together three things that normally live in three different tools – the click you paid for, the lead it became, and the revenue that lead produced:
Ad click → tracked visitor → lead → won deal & revenue.
Each link is matched on a click ID carried in the URL. If you want the concept first, read How attribution works; otherwise just follow the steps below.
What you'll set up
| Step | Covers | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Workspace basics | Time zone, currency, date format | Defines how every report reads – worth getting right up front. |
| 2. Traffic channels | What you'll track | Every report can later be broken down by channel. |
| 3. Connect ad platforms | Meta, Google, LinkedIn, Bing | Pulls spend automatically and tags every ad click. |
| 4. Tracking domain | First-party tracking | Makes click tracking accurate and resilient. |
| 5. Tracking script | All site traffic | Nothing is attributed until the script is live. |
| 6. CRM events | Leads & pipeline stages | Turns "200 clicks" into "40 leads, 6 deals, €18k". |
| 7. Channel costs | Spend the API can't see | Keeps cost-per-lead and ROI complete. |
Set your workspace basics
Set your company name, time zone, currency and date format. These define how every report reads, so it's worth getting right before data starts flowing.
Profile & account settings
Set your workspace's company, time zone, currency and date format.
Choose your traffic channels
Pick the channels you'll track – paid platforms plus organic search, AI search, social, referral and any custom channels. This is the set every report can later be grouped and filtered by.
Traffic channels
Choose the paid, organic and custom channels you want to track.
Connect your ad platforms
Connect the accounts you spend on so cost data syncs automatically – that's the "spend" half of every ROI number. LeadJourney also tags each ad click down to the campaign, ad set and ad.
Connect your ad platforms
OAuth into Meta, Google, LinkedIn and Bing, then paste the tracking parameters.
More than one ad account?
You connect each platform once and then turn on every ad account it can reach – there's no limit. See Connect multiple ad accounts.
Set up a tracking domain
Add a first-party tracking domain – a CNAME on a subdomain like t.your-site.com. Serving
tracking from your own domain is what makes click IDs survive ad blockers and browser restrictions,
so attribution stays accurate.
Set up a custom tracking domain
The first-party foundation that keeps tracking resilient and accurate.
Install the tracking script
Add the tracking script to your site so clicks and page views are recorded – nothing is attributed until it's live. The wizard can detect your CMS and verify the install.
Install the tracking script
Activate LeadJourney on your site so every click is tracked.
There are platform-specific guides for WordPress, Webflow, Framer, GoHighLevel and custom code.
Send your CRM events
Clicks become outcomes through events. Mirror your pipeline stages – Lead,
QualifiedLead, BookedCall, ShowedUp, WonClient – and have your CRM fire each one to
LeadJourney, which matches every event back to the ad click that started it. Send a revenue
value with your won deals to unlock ROAS and profit. Capturing the click ID in your forms
(hidden fields) and wiring your CRM webhooks are both covered here.
Events & the Events Manager
Send leads, calls and won deals from your CRM so every ad shows its full funnel.
Add the spend the API can't see
Your ad platforms sync cost automatically – but SEO, email, influencer and freelancer spend won't. Add it under Channel Costs so cost-per-lead and ROI are complete across every channel, not just the ones with an API.
Channel costs
Add spend for channels that don't sync via an ad platform.
Running organic, email or custom links too?
Paid platforms auto-tag their clicks. For organic, email and other non-paid links, build a tracked URL by hand with the UTM Builder so those visits are attributed instead of landing under Direct.
See your results
Once data is flowing, your numbers live in the reports. The ones you'll open most:
- Dashboards – pin the views you watch daily into one screen.
- Traffic Channel Report – every source side by side: clicks, cost, leads, CPL, won clients, revenue, ROAS and profit. Your "where should the budget go?" view.
- Campaign Report – drill campaign → ad set → ad, then sort by leads, revenue or ROAS to find what to scale and what to cut.
- Ad Creative Report – compare the actual creatives so you know which hook and image convert.
- Lead Overview – the real people behind the numbers, each with their full journey of clicks and conversions.
- Report Builder and prebuilt reports – slice the data any way you need and save the views.
Just ask
Don't want to build a report? Ask questions in plain English with Ask Atlas – "Which Meta campaign had the lowest cost per booked call last month?"
Pick the right attribution
The attribution model decides which touch gets credit – the first source a visitor came from, or the last one before they converted. For short, direct-response funnels last click is usually fine; for longer journeys (someone clicks an ad, then converts weeks later via brand search) first click stops you from undervaluing the channel that started it.
Switch the model in any report's Attribution dropdown – it only changes the view, never the underlying data – and make sure your attribution window covers your sales cycle. See Attribution models.
Tips for clean advertiser data
- Connect cost first. Without the platform connection, you see clicks and leads but no cost-per-lead or ROAS. Connecting the ad account is what unlocks the money columns.
- Match events to your real pipeline. Two or three well-chosen stages already give a usable funnel – you don't need every milestone on day one.
- Always send a revenue value on won deals. Without it, LeadJourney can show leads but not ROAS, ROI or profit.
- Don't forget non-API spend. Add SEO, email and freelancer costs under Channel Costs so your ROI isn't flattering.
- Check it's flowing. No data on a channel? Confirm the ad account is connected, the platform login is still authorized (use Refresh Token), and the tracking parameters are live on the campaigns.
Work with a team – or manage several brands?
Invite colleagues and control exactly what each person sees with Add users to your workspace. Running ads for multiple clients or brands? The Agency playbook shows how to keep each one in its own workspace.
Related articles
Quickstart
The in-app setup wizard, step by step.
How attribution works
The lj_ parameters and click ID that tie clicks to revenue.
Events & the Events Manager
Send leads, calls and won deals back to LeadJourney.
Connect multiple ad accounts
Track every Meta, Google, LinkedIn and Bing account from one login.
Traffic Channel Report
Compare every source by clicks, cost, leads, revenue and ROAS.
Attribution models
First click vs last click – credit the right touch.
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.
LeadJourney for SaaS
The complete setup for SaaS companies – connect your ad platforms, track every lifecycle stage from sign-up to paying customer, bring purchases and MRR in through Stripe, fold your sales-assisted pipeline in via your CRM, and see true CAC, payback, LTV and ROAS per campaign, ad set and ad.