Affiliate programs are a powerful channel for driving qualified traffic and generating new business. But when it comes to tracking which affiliates are actually delivering leads and revenue, many marketing teams run into blind spots—especially when relying on CRMs like Microsoft Dynamics 365 that don’t natively track affiliate sources.
The good news? With the right setup, it’s completely possible to capture and track UTM parameters for every affiliate lead, send that data into Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and build performance reports that reveal exactly where your leads and customers are coming from.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to track the source of leads and customers from your affiliate program inside Microsoft Dynamics CRM—down to the individual affiliate. We’ll walk through how tools like Attributer help capture affiliate data using UTM parameters and hidden form fields, and we’ll share examples of reports you can build to optimize your affiliate strategy.
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Why Tracking Affiliate Performance in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Matters
Affiliate programs can generate a significant volume of leads—but without proper tracking, it’s difficult to determine which affiliates are actually driving results. You might see growing web traffic from affiliate links, but unless you capture attribution data when a lead converts, it’s impossible to tie that traffic back to revenue inside Dynamics.
This lack of visibility makes it hard to:
- Identify your top-performing affiliates
- Understand ROI from your affiliate program
- Allocate resources and commissions effectively
- Optimize recruitment and outreach for future affiliates
That’s where tools like Attributer come in. It allows you to capture UTM parameters and pass them through hidden fields on your forms, sending rich attribution data—including affiliate source and campaign—directly into Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
How to Track Affiliate Leads in Microsoft Dynamics CRM: A 4-Step Setup
1. Add UTM Parameters to Your Affiliate Links
The foundation of affiliate tracking lies in UTM parameter tracking. By appending UTM tags to the links your affiliates share, you’re setting up a consistent method for capturing where each lead comes from.
For example, a link to your website might look like this:
attributer.io/integrations/dynamics?utm_medium=affiliates&utm_source=bloggers&utm_campaign=john-smith
These parameters help define:
- UTM_Medium = Affiliates
- UTM_Source= Bloggers (or the type of affiliate this is, such as bloggers, podcasters, youtubers, etc.)
- UTM_Campaign= John-Smith (or the name of the specific affiliate)
Tools like Rewardful and Trackdesk can automatically generate UTM-tagged URLs for your partners. You can also use a free UTM builder to create them manually with consistent formatting.
2. Add Hidden Fields to Your Website Forms
Next, you need to capture those UTM parameters when a user fills out a form. To do this, add hidden fields to your lead capture forms—such as your Contact, Demo Request, or Pricing forms.
Recommended hidden fields include:
- Channel
- Channel Drilldown 1
- Channel Drilldown 2
- Channel Drilldown 3
- Landing Page
- Landing Page Group
Popular form tools like Gravity Forms, Typeform, Webflow, and HubSpot Forms all support hidden fields. These fields remain invisible to users but are filled automatically by tools like Attributer when a form is submitted.
3. Capture UTM Data and Send It to Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Once the user submits the form, Attributer automatically writes the captured UTM data (like “affiliates”, “youtubers”, and “alex-smith”) into the hidden fields. This attribution data gets sent along with the form submission into Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
Whether you’re using a direct form integration or middleware tools like Zapier, Make, or Power Automate, you can push these details directly into custom fields in Dynamics. From there, every lead record will include rich context about its original source—making it easy to see who sent the lead and how they arrived at your site.
4. Affiliate data is captured and sent to Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Once a form is submitted on your website, the affiliate data that the Attributer wrote into the hidden fields is captured by your form tool alongside the information provided by the individual, such as their name and email address.
Following here, you can easily send this data to Microsoft Dynamics CRM using whatever method you currently use to get form submissions into Dynamics. This could be a direct integration between your form tool and Microsoft Dynamics CRM, or a third-party tool like Zapier or Make.
What Affiliate Data Gets Captured in Dynamics CRM?
The short answer: any UTM data you configure.
Assuming you’ve structured your UTM parameters as recommended, here’s how the attribution might appear inside your CRM:
- UTM_Medium = Affiliates
- UTM_Source= Bloggers (or the type of affiliate this is, such as bloggers, podcasters, youtubers, etc.)
- UTM_Campaign= John-Smith (or the name of the specific affiliate)
Additionally, Attributer doesn’t stop at affiliate data. It also captures lead source data for other acquisition channels, including:
- Channel = Affiliates
- Channel Drilldown 1 = Bloggers
- Channel Drilldown 2 = John Smith
This means you can build holistic attribution reporting inside Microsoft Dynamics CRM to compare affiliate marketing performance against your entire marketing mix.
3 Example Reports You Can Build in Dynamics CRM with Affiliate Attribution Data
Once affiliate attribution data is flowing into Dynamics CRM, you unlock powerful reporting capabilities that can help you optimize your marketing efforts.
Here are three useful reports to get started:
1. Leads by Marketing Channel
This report helps you compare how many leads are generated by different channels—including affiliates, paid ads, organic search, and more.
Why it matters: This high-level view lets you assess the effectiveness of your affiliate program compared to other strategies and justify future budget allocations.
2. Customers by Affiliate Type
Break down new customers by affiliate category: bloggers, podcasters, social media influencers, etc.
Why it matters: Understanding which affiliate types drive the highest conversion rates helps you refine your recruitment strategy. If bloggers consistently outperform YouTubers, you know where to double down.
3. Revenue by Affiliate Partner
This report shows which individual affiliates are driving the most revenue and customers.
Why it matters: Affiliate program ROI depends on identifying your top performers. With this data, you can prioritize partnerships with affiliates who bring real business value and optimize your payout structures accordingly.
Real-World Example: How William Russell Optimized Their Affiliate Program
William Russell, a global insurance provider for expats, ran into issues tracking affiliate lead sources in their CRM. Their affiliate software lacked integration with Microsoft Dynamics, meaning they couldn’t reliably tie leads or customers back to specific partners.
By implementing Attributer and using UTM-tagged links, they gained full visibility into which affiliates were generating high-quality leads. They captured UTM data in hidden fields, pushed it to Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and built custom reports showing conversion rates, average deal sizes, and total revenue per affiliate.
As a result, they discovered that their affiliate program was outperforming channels like Google Ads—and shifted more budget toward their top affiliates to fuel faster growth.
Final Thoughts
Affiliate programs can be a goldmine for lead generation, if you know which partners are driving real results. By leveraging UTM parameters, hidden fields, and tools like Attributer, you can capture affiliate data at the point of lead conversion and push it into Microsoft Dynamics CRM for powerful reporting.
This simple setup empowers marketers to:
- Track the true source of leads and customers
- Capture UTM parameters without manual effort
- Build high-impact reports on affiliate ROI
- Scale their programs with confidence
If you’re looking to capture affiliate lead data in Dynamics and finally understand what’s working, now’s the time to make it happen.
Wrap Up
Attributer can help capture UTM parameters from affiliate links and send them to Microsoft Dynamics CRM. This is a great way to understand the impact of your affiliate program. By including detailed information in the UTM parameters, such as affiliate type and name, you’ll be able to answer questions like:
- How many new customers are coming from bloggers vs podcasters?
- How much revenue is being generated by each affiliate?
- What is the lead to customer conversion rate of leads that ome from our affiliate program?
- What is the average deal size of customers from our affiliate program compared to customers from our Google or Facebook Ads?
Best of all, it’s free to get started with Attributer and usually takes less than 10 minutes to set up. So start your 14-day free trial today!
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