Master Influencer Attribution with the Free Google Stack

Are you struggling to prove the ROI of your influencer marketing? You're spending money on micro-influencers across TikTok, Instagram, and blogs, but your data is scattered. UTMs, affiliate codes, and platform analytics give you pieces of the puzzle, but never the full picture. This fragmentation makes it impossible to know which influencers or channels truly drive sales, leading to wasted budget and missed growth opportunities.


This playbook introduces the Google-Centric Starter Stack, a powerful and cost-effective solution to your attribution chaos. By leveraging the tools you already know, you can finally connect the dots. We'll show you how to use Google Analytics 4 for its advanced, data-driven attribution models to track the quantitative customer journey. Then, we'll pair it with a simple-yet-effective Google Form post-purchase survey to capture crucial qualitative data—the 'how did you hear about us?' insights that automated tracking often misses. The final step is bringing it all together: you'll learn a straightforward manual process to blend both data sources in Google Sheets, creating a single, comprehensive dashboard to view your true influencer performance at virtually no software cost.

Expected Outcomes

  • Gain a clear, consolidated view of which influencers, channels, and posts drive the most valuable conversions.
  • Accurately measure the true ROI of your influencer marketing program, not just last-click sales.
  • Confidently allocate your budget to high-performing partnerships and scale your most profitable campaigns.
  • Stop relying on fragmented data and make strategic decisions based on a unified performance report.

Core Tools in This Stack

Google Analytics 4

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Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is a web and app analytics service that enables businesses to measure traffic and engagement. It provides a deeper understanding of the customer journey by using a flexible, event-based data model, offering predictive insights through machine learning, and integrating directly with marketing platforms to optimize campaign performance and drive ROI.

Key Features
  • Cross-platform user journey tracking (web + app)
  • Event-based data model for flexible measurement
  • AI-powered predictive insights (e.g., purchase and churn probability)
  • Deep integration with Google Ads and BigQuery
  • Enhanced privacy controls and cookieless measurement capabilities
  • Customizable reports and data explorations
  • Real-time activity monitoring
Ideal For

Company Size: Micro, Small, Medium, Large

Industries: Technology & Software, Business & Professional Services, Retail & E-commerce, Creative & Media, Education & Non-Profit, Health & Wellness, Other

Pricing

Model: Free, Freemium

Tier: Free

Ease of Use

Intermediate


Google Forms

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A free and versatile online tool for creating custom surveys, quizzes, and forms. It allows for easy data collection, real-time response analysis, and seamless integration with Google Sheets for in-depth data management.

Key Features
  • Custom Form Builder
  • Multiple Question Types
  • Customizable Templates & Themes
  • Real-time Collaboration
  • Automatic Response Summaries
  • Google Sheets Integration
  • Conditional Logic
  • Data Validation Rules
Ideal For

Company Size: Micro, Small, Medium, Large

Industries: Technology & Software, Business & Professional Services, Retail & E-commerce, Creative & Media, Education & Non-Profit, Health & Wellness, Other

Pricing

Model: Free, Included in Subscription

Tier: Free

Ease of Use

Very High

The Workflow

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Integration Logic

  • Google Sheets Data Blending

    This integration centralizes data from Google Analytics 4 and Google Forms into Google Sheets. First, an official Google Sheets add-on is used to schedule and import GA4 reports (containing dimensions like user source, page path and metrics like sessions, conversions) into one sheet. Concurrently, Google Forms is natively configured to send all new form submissions directly into another sheet within the same workbook. The core of the integration lies in a 'Master' sheet where formulas (such as VLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH, or QUERY) are used to combine, or 'blend', the data from the two source sheets. This allows for the creation of unified reports and dashboards that correlate user behavior with direct feedback or lead information.

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Discover how to unify your data and finally prove which influencers are truly driving sales.