Understanding Campaign Attribution
Campaign attribution is the practice of linking a marketing spend to the actual jobs and revenue it generated. Without it, you're making advertising decisions in the dark. Trade2Base makes attribution simple: tag each job with its source, and let the reports do the maths.
Why attribution matters
Most trade businesses spend money on several advertising channels at once — Google Ads, Facebook, Checkatrade, leaflet drops — but have no reliable way to know which one is actually bringing in the work.
Without attribution, if you're spending £500/month on Google Ads and £300/month on Facebook, you have no idea whether one of them is generating £5,000 of work a month and the other £200. You might cancel the wrong one.
How Trade2Base attribution works
You define your campaign sources in Settings — e.g. Google Ads, Facebook, Checkatrade, Leaflet. Each source becomes a tag you can attach to any job.
When you create or edit a job, the "Source" field lets you pick which campaign or channel generated this enquiry. This takes 5 seconds and is the key data point.
Trade2Base sums the revenue from all jobs tagged to each source. Compare that to what you told it you spent on that channel, and you get your ROI.
Setting up campaign sources
Click "Settings" in the sidebar.
Select "Campaign Sources" from the Settings menu.
Click "Add source" and name each channel you advertise on. Common examples: Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram, Checkatrade, TrustATrader, Leaflet, Referral, Google Business Profile.
For each source, enter what you spend per month (or per campaign). This is what Trade2Base uses to calculate your cost-per-job and ROI.
Running an attribution report
Go to Reports → Campaign Attribution, set your date range, and see your results broken down by source.
| Source | Spend | Jobs | Revenue | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Ads | £500 | 8 | £6,200 | 12.4× |
| Facebook Ads | £300 | 4 | £2,800 | 9.3× |
| Checkatrade | £150 | 6 | £3,900 | 26× |
| Leaflet drop | £200 | 2 | £1,100 | 5.5× |
| Referral | £0 | 5 | £4,200 | — |
ROI = revenue from source ÷ spend on source. Example figures only.
Calculating ROI
Trade2Base calculates ROI as: revenue from source ÷ spend on source. A 10× ROI means every £1 you spent generated £10 in revenue. A number below 1× means you're spending more than you're earning from that channel and it may be time to pause it.
Don't forget to tag jobs that came via referral, word of mouth, or your Google Business Profile. Even free channels are worth tracking — they show you how much of your work comes at zero ad cost, which is a powerful data point when deciding whether to increase or cut paid spend.
Still need help? Contact support