Webinar Attribution Question

[TLarson5]

Hey everyone, 

I am struggling with getting Campaign Attribution>Contact Create to populate for my webinars. 

I use Wistia's live events plaftorm for my webinars and I'm stumped. I create the campaign, add the Marketing Event, Static List, and even Workflow. 

I then test register a record. I make sure that I do this as a last step as I know order of operations is important to ensure attribution is collected. I've made sure to delete my test records in advance of this test, so that I can replicate the net net contact create scenario. 

I've tried this with a test webinar using Wisitia's own forms as well as with their Hubspot form integration. Neither scenario seems to diplay any data when I go to the respective campaigns>attribution>contact create. 

Really baffling to me as I thought I had everything set up/configrued correctly. Anyone have any ideas/dealt with this in the past?

Thanks!

[MaksKhan · Accepted solution]

Hey @TLarson5, 

Here are a few things to check:

1. Check Activity Filters on Contact Timeline

On the contact record, click “Filter activity” at the top of the timeline. Make sure “Marketing events” is checked. Also check “Integrations” and “Custom Behavioral Events” if applicable. Without these selected, timeline activities may not display even if data exists.

2. Confirm Wistia Integration Settings in HubSpot

Go to Settings > Integrations > Connected Apps > Wistia. Confirm it’s fully connected to the correct portal. Check that marketing events syncing is enabled, the right forms are selected, and syncing isn’t restricted to specific lists or contact filters.

3. Check the “Marketing Events” Object

In HubSpot, go to Contacts > Marketing Events. Your webinar should appear here. Click into it and check if any contacts are registered or attended. If not, it may indicate the integration isn’t pushing data correctly or that events aren’t linked to contacts.

4. Re-sync or Reconnect Wistia (if needed)

If the event was created before the integration was connected, data may not sync properly. Try reauthorizing Wistia, confirming permissions, or manually triggering a re-sync.

[Sweely]

That’s a very common headache with third-party tools like Wistia Live when trying to nail down Contact Create attribution in HubSpot.

You’ve done all the right things by setting up the Campaign, Marketing Event, and Workflow, and testing the net-new contact scenario.

The key issue is often in how the Original Source property gets stamped when the contact is created via a third-party integration, especially if it’s a list sync or a server-side action that doesn't capture the full web session context.

When a form submission happens on an embedded Wistia form or even a HubSpot form used on Wistia's live events platform, the contact is often created or updated in HubSpot via an API call, not directly through a standard page view followed by a submission that HubSpot’s tracking code recognizes as a `Form Submission` or `Page View`.

If the contact is created via the API without the necessary context, the Original Source properties (which are what drives the Campaign Attribution report for Contact Create) might be set to Offline Sources or Other Campaigns or simply not captured correctly as an interaction event linked to the initial page where the user saw the webinar registration.

The Campaign Attribution report relies on key events like `Page View` (or the initial visit) and `Form Submission` leading to the creation of the contact to assign credit, and that linkage is what often breaks with server-side integrations.

HubSpot even explicitly notes that data from static lists or workflows isn't used in attribution reports, which you found out with your static list test.

The Marketing Event association is great for reporting on engagement after the contact is created or registered, but it doesn't always retroactively fix the Original Source for the contact create moment.

A more robust, although more complex, solution for complete, multi-touch attribution that won't break with third-party forms involves stitching the user journey together using server-side tracking, which combines data from multiple platforms.

This involves using the HubSpot API to feed granular Standard Events back into HubSpot, alongside data from other sources.

Here is the better solution: use the HubSpot API along with the Wistia Data API, the Google Analytics Data API, Google Tag Manager, and a server-side tagging service like Stape or your own Google Cloud Platform environment.

The process works by capturing the user’s unique client ID from HubSpot and/or Google Analytics client ID via Google Tag Manager (GTM) when they land on the page.

When the user registers on Wistia, you use GTM to send the HubSpot and Google Analytics IDs to the server-side tagging environment (like Stape).

The server then uses the Wistia Data API to receive the registration data.

With the contact's email from Wistia and the stored IDs, you then call the HubSpot API to manually send a Standard Event like `Form Submission` or a custom event to the contact's timeline, ensuring you include the necessary context, like the original URL and the captured HubSpot/Google Analytics IDs.

This approach guarantees a consistent data flow, allows you to clean and normalize the data before it hits HubSpot or Google Analytics, and explicitly ties the conversion back to the user's initial tracking IDs, thus giving credit where credit is due in the Contact Create attribution reports, even for third-party platforms.

[TLarson5]

Thanks @ArisudanTiwari & @MaksKhan. 

So support informed me that it may not work becuase a 3rd party side doesn't have tracking....odd.

When I test a net new record, wher I'm using a Hubspot form on a Wistia page -  I see the first entry in the activyt log as "Direct Traffic". I've tied the "External website page" to the campaign even. 

When I submit my test records, I still am unable to get any Contact Create Attribution. 

Any ideas? I abandoned using Wistia Forms on the Wistia page, although I would like to use them, I assumed that using the HS form would remedy this, and yet I'm still struggling....

Thanks guys!

[MaksKhan]

There are a number of options you have here. If was in your shoes I would do the following as temporary fix.

1. Create custom fields in HubSpot
   In HubSpot, make new contact properties for:
• utm_source
• utm_medium
• utm_campaign
  (You can also add utm_term and utm_content if you want more detail.)
2. Add these fields to your form
   When you edit your HubSpot form, add these UTM fields — but make sure they are hidden so the person filling out the form doesn’t see them.
3. Make sure your webpage captures UTM info
   On the page where your form sits (even on Wistia), make sure there’s a script or method in place that reads the UTM parameters from the page URL (like ?utm_source=linkedin) and automatically fills in those hidden fields before the form is submitted.
4. Share links with UTM tracking codes
   When you promote your page (e.g. in a LinkedIn ad, email, or QR code), make sure you use full links that include UTMs. Example:
   yourpage.com/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=ad&utm_campaign=june_launch
5. Use HubSpot to report or trigger actions
   Once contacts are created with these UTM values, you can build lists, dashboards, or workflows in HubSpot using that data.

What This Solves

Even if HubSpot’s tracking cookies don’t work (which is common on third-party pages like Wistia), you’ll still know how the contact found you — because you manually captured the tracking info when they submitted the form.

PS happy to jump on a google meet for additional support. This could be a case we’re cookies are not deploying, cookies are being rejected etc..

[TLarson5]

@MaksKhan -

Thanks for this. I follow what you are saying, but what if I'm specifically looking to nest the webinar in a campagin and get the HS, out-of-the-box attribution to work? Is that just a lost cause at this point? Should I look into another WBNR platform that plays nicely with this feature - although, I doubt that really exists given what I've learned about the API. 

It's solivng for a 2-pronged issue, getting the source stamped correctly and then trying to get it to work with HS's campaign attribution feature...

Thanks again, MaksKhan you've been super helpful for me 🙂 

[ArisudanTiwari · Accepted solution]

Hi @TLarson5,

Attribution issues like this are common when using third-party webinar tools like Wistia Live. Here’s a quick checklist to help:

1. Check Wistia Integration Settings – Make sure it's fully connected, syncing marketing events, and mapped to the correct HubSpot forms or lists.
   https://support.wistia.com/en/articles/8257559-setting-up-the-wistia-hubspot-integration

2. Confirm the Event in HubSpot – Go to Contacts > Marketing Events and make sure your webinar and registrants show up there.

3. Set Everything Up Before Registering Contacts – If a contact is added before the campaign/event is active, attribution won’t log.

4. Use a Brand-New Contact for Testing – Avoid reusing old contacts when testing attribution.

5. Check Contact Timelines – Use the “Filter activity” option and make sure “Marketing Events” is turned on.

6. Still not showing? – Try reconnecting Wistia or triggering a manual sync.

Hope this helps clear things up!

[MaksKhan · Accepted solution]

Hey @TLarson5, 

Here are a few things to check:

1. Check Activity Filters on Contact Timeline

On the contact record, click “Filter activity” at the top of the timeline. Make sure “Marketing events” is checked. Also check “Integrations” and “Custom Behavioral Events” if applicable. Without these selected, timeline activities may not display even if data exists.

2. Confirm Wistia Integration Settings in HubSpot

Go to Settings > Integrations > Connected Apps > Wistia. Confirm it’s fully connected to the correct portal. Check that marketing events syncing is enabled, the right forms are selected, and syncing isn’t restricted to specific lists or contact filters.

3. Check the “Marketing Events” Object

In HubSpot, go to Contacts > Marketing Events. Your webinar should appear here. Click into it and check if any contacts are registered or attended. If not, it may indicate the integration isn’t pushing data correctly or that events aren’t linked to contacts.

4. Re-sync or Reconnect Wistia (if needed)

If the event was created before the integration was connected, data may not sync properly. Try reauthorizing Wistia, confirming permissions, or manually triggering a re-sync.