Explore Lead Generation Methods
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
- Identify the lead capture methods available in Marketing Cloud Next and when to use each.
- Explain how hidden fields, default values, and fallback values enrich form data.
- Describe how Form Handlers connect an existing external web form to Salesforce without code.
Before You Start
Before you start this badge, make sure you complete this content. The work you do here builds on the concepts and work you do in that content.
Capture Leads Your Way
Marketing Cloud Next gives you more than one way to bring leads into Salesforce. Whether you're launching a new campaign, embedding a form on an existing web page, or connecting a form your web team already built—there's a setup for that. In this unit, you explore options and the techniques that make every Lead record more useful the moment it’s created.
Select Your Lead Capture Method
Marketing Cloud Next offers several ways to capture leads. The right choice depends on where your audience is and what setup you already have.
Signup Forms and Hosted Landing Pages
Launch a lead capture page instantly with native signup forms. When you initiate a campaign using the Signup Form type, Marketing Cloud Next creates a unified experience by generating a form, a landing page, and a Salesforce Flow. These landing pages are hosted automatically via Experience Cloud, which lets you manage the entire configuration directly from your campaign without needing external hosting. This method is ideal for event-driven lead capture, promotional activities, and advertisement signups.
Embed a Form
Marketing Cloud Next lets you integrate forms directly into any existing web page via a code snippet. These embeddable forms maintain a seamless appearance by matching your site’s design while making sure data flows through the standard Flow-powered pipeline. This solution is particularly effective for company websites where preserving brand-consistent design is a priority.
Form Handlers
Form Handlers are for teams that already have a form on their website and don’t want to rebuild it. You configure a Form Handler in Marketing Cloud Next, and the existing form’s submissions are sent to it. Marketing Cloud Next receives the data, maps it to the right Salesforce fields, and processes it, without touching the front-end form. This approach is well-suited for corporate websites with existing custom-built HTML forms.
After choosing your capture method, you can maximize the value of every submission by capturing richer data without making your forms any longer.
Boost Form Conversions
Shorter forms convert better. The more fields you ask visitors to fill out, the more likely they are to abandon the form. Marketing Cloud Next provides hidden fields and default values that let you capture richer data without adding a single extra visible field.
Hidden Fields
A hidden field is invisible to the visitor. You add it to the form, mark it as hidden, and configure it to automatically capture a value from a URL parameter. For example, if you’re running ads on multiple social media channels, a hidden utm_source field automatically captures which channel each visitor came from such as Instagram, LinkedIn, or X, without asking them anything. That value flows into Salesforce with the Lead record, giving your team instant attribution data for every signup.
Default Values
A default value prepopulates a form field automatically, either as a static value, or pulled dynamically from a URL parameter. For example, you can set the Lead Source field to default to Advertisement for a specific campaign. Every lead that comes in is already tagged, no manual updates needed later.
Fallback Values
What happens when a visitor lands on the page without a UTM tag by typing the URL directly? A fallback value ensures you still capture meaningful data. Setting a fallback of Direct for utm_source means no Lead record ever arrives in Salesforce with a blank source field.
While hidden fields, default values, and fallback values enrich new form submissions, let's explore Form Handlers, your tool for integrating forms that already exist.
Connect an Existing Form with Form Handlers
Sometimes the form already exists. Your web team built it, it’s live on your website, and it works well, so rebuilding it isn’t an option. Form Handlers let you connect that existing form to Salesforce without touching the frontend code. When you create a Form Handler in Marketing Cloud Next, it automatically generates a corresponding data source in Data 360. You then map the form fields to the data source using one of two structures.
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Explicit Field Names: Map each external field directly to a specific Salesforce field. The field name in Salesforce must exactly match the HTML name attribute on the external form. Use it when you have full control over the external form’s code.
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Generic Field Names: A flexible key-value structure that doesn't require exact field name matches. Use it when you can’t modify the external form's field names.
Once your forms are connected and mapping is set up, the next critical step is to ensure the quality of your lead data.
Defend Your Forms Against Spam
Higher lead generation volume often attracts more bot activity and spam. Marketing Cloud Next provides integrated security features for both landing page forms and external integrations.
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Honeypot Fields: This invisible security layer is built directly into Form Handlers. Since bots are programmed to complete every available field—including those hidden from human eyes—the Form Handler can identify automated activity. Submissions are blocked instantly if the honeypot field contains any data.
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Google reCAPTCHA v2: You can activate Google reCAPTCHA v2 for any form hosted on a Marketing Cloud Next landing page. This tool analyzes the behavior of site visitors and presents challenges to suspicious actors, which prevents them from completing the submission process.
These features effectively filter out bot and spam submissions, making sure your lead data is of the highest quality.
A Business Scenario
Ursa Major Solar, a supplier of solar components and systems, is running a social media advertisement campaign for an upcoming event, offering a discount code and in-person swag to followers who sign up early. Maria Jimenez, the Salesforce admin, is tasked with building the lead capture setup.
Maria needs a few things to work. First, a fast landing page hosted on Salesforce that the marketing team can share directly from their social posts. Second, a connection to the existing contact form on the corporate website, so those submissions don't get lost in a spreadsheet. She also wants every Lead record to arrive in Salesforce already tagged—which channel drove the signup, which campaign it came from—so the sales team can prioritize follow-up without chasing down context.
In this badge, you build it all alongside Maria: You create the campaign and form, configure the Flow, and publish the landing page.
Next Up
In this unit, you explored options to capture leads. Next, you create a campaign and build a form.