Free "How Did You Hear About Us" Template
How Did You Hear About Us: A Free Survey Template
10+ "how did you hear about us" question variations - and the attribution data UTMs miss
Word-of-mouth, podcasts, communities, dark social - they drive your best customers and never show up in analytics. This free "how did you hear about us" survey template captures them all and links every response to the user's plan, role, and region.
No credit card required
Marketing effectiveness survey questions in this template
Six questions that build a complete picture of your customer acquisition - from first awareness to the moment they converted.
How did you first hear about us?
Single Choice
• Google search
• Word of mouth (friend, colleague, or community)
• Social media (Twitter/X, LinkedIn, etc.)
• Blog post or article
• Podcast or YouTube
• Paid ad
• Newsletter or email
• Review site (G2, Product Hunt, etc.)
• Other
First-touch attribution - captures the channel your analytics almost certainly misses.
Can you tell us more about where you found us?
Open Text
Specifics behind the channel - which podcast, which community, which article. This is where you find your best acquisition channels.
How long did you consider us before signing up?
Single Choice
• I signed up right away
• A few days
• A week or two
• A month or more
Sales cycle length - long consideration means more nurturing touchpoints are needed between awareness and conversion.
What was the main reason you decided to sign up today?
Single Choice
• Solves a problem I have right now
• Recommended by someone I trust
• Better than what I was using
• The pricing was right
• Just exploring options
• Other
The trigger event - what finally pushed them from aware to converted. Align your CTAs to match this.
Was there anything that almost stopped you from signing up?
Single Choice
• No, it was an easy decision
• Wasn't sure it would solve my problem
• Price felt too high
• Not enough reviews or social proof
• Needed to check with someone else first
• Considered a competitor instead
Conversion blockers - what your landing page, pricing page, or signup flow needs to address.
How would you describe us to a friend or colleague?
Open Text
Positioning in their words - the best ad copy you'll ever write is already in your customers' answers to this question.
"How did you hear about us" question variations
The phrasing of "how did you hear about us" matters. Different audiences and contexts call for different wording. Here are 10 proven variations - copy the one that fits your product and audience.
Classic (always works)
"How did you hear about us?"
Casual / consumer product
"How did you find us?"
B2B SaaS / professional
"Where did you first learn about [Product]?"
Closed-ended (faster to answer)
"Which of the following best describes how you found us?"
Intent-focused
"What brought you to [Product] today?"
Modern / discovery framing
"How did you discover [Product]?"
Referral-focused
"Who or what referred you to us?"
Decision-focused
"What made you decide to check out [Product]?"
B2B team context
"How did your team first learn about [Product]?"
Post-purchase / signup
"Before signing up, where had you seen or heard about [Product]?"
Pair any "how did you hear about us" question with an open-text follow-up: "Anything more specific?" - that's where you catch the channels closed options miss.
Don't just collect attribution - segment it
A "how did you hear about us" survey tells you the channel mix. Linking each response to the user's plan, role, and region tells you something far more useful: which channels bring your best customers.
Example: same attribution data, segmented by plan
Without segmentation, the headline would be "our top channel is Google ads." With segmentation, you see Google ads bring free users who never convert - while word of mouth brings paying customers. The action: double down on the channel attached to revenue, not the channel attached to volume.
Segment by plan
See which channels deliver paid users vs. free users. Stop blending them.
Segment by region
US customers may find you on Twitter. EU customers may find you on LinkedIn. Channel strategy has to follow.
Segment by role
Engineers find you on GitHub and Hacker News. PMs find you on Product Hunt and LinkedIn. Build content where each role lives.
Who should use this attribution survey
Marketing Teams
Validate where your budget is actually working. If 40% of signups say word-of-mouth and your analytics shows 5%, you're underinvesting in community and referrals.
SaaS Founders
Know which channels bring in your best customers, not just the most signups. Attribution surveys reveal where your ICP actually comes from.
Growth Teams
Understand the full conversion path - awareness channel, consideration length, trigger event, and objections - to optimize every step of the funnel.
Content Marketers
Find out which articles, podcasts, and creators are actually driving signups - not just traffic. Double down on what converts, not just what ranks.
What marketing attribution surveys reveal
Dark Social Channels
Private Slack groups, WhatsApp threads, email forwards - these drive huge amounts of word-of-mouth that never appear in your analytics. Surveys surface them.
True First Touch
UTMs only capture the last click. The podcast someone heard three months ago that planted the seed never gets credit. Surveys capture that first awareness moment.
Sales Cycle Length
How long between awareness and conversion? If most users take a month, you need nurture content. If most sign up immediately, your awareness channels are highly intent-driven.
Conversion Blockers
What almost stopped them? Price hesitation, trust gaps, or needing approval - each blocker maps to a specific fix on your landing page or signup flow.
Trigger Events
What made them sign up today vs next week? Understanding the trigger - a new job, a failed tool, a deadline - helps you target the right moment in your ads and outreach.
Positioning Language
How customers describe you to a friend is your best ad copy. Run it verbatim in your hero headline and watch conversion rates improve.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a marketing attribution survey?
A marketing attribution survey asks customers how they first discovered your product and what influenced their decision to sign up or buy. It fills the gaps left by UTM tracking - capturing word-of-mouth, podcasts, communities, and other channels that analytics tools cannot measure.
Why can't I just use UTMs for attribution?
UTMs only track the last click before conversion and miss entire channels - word-of-mouth referrals, podcast mentions, offline events, dark social (private Slack groups, WhatsApp, email forwards), and any touch point where users didn't click a tracked link. Self-reported attribution surveys catch what analytics tools cannot.
What questions should I ask in a marketing attribution survey?
Ask how they first heard about you, what made them decide to sign up, how long they considered you before converting, what almost stopped them, and how they'd describe you to a friend. Keep it to 5-6 questions and send it right after signup while the memory is fresh.
When should I send a marketing attribution survey?
Send it immediately after signup or purchase - within the first session or within 24 hours. The longer you wait, the less accurately customers remember where they first heard about you. For SaaS, trigger it on the post-signup welcome page or in the first onboarding email.
How accurate is self-reported attribution?
Self-reported attribution captures first touch and emotional memory - which channel made them aware. It's not perfect, but it consistently reveals channels like word-of-mouth, podcasts, and communities that UTMs miss entirely. Combine both: use UTMs for last-click data and surveys for first-touch awareness.
Is this marketing attribution survey template free?
Yes. Use this marketing attribution survey template for free on Mapster. No credit card required.
Find out where your best customers come from
Use this free attribution survey to capture what UTMs miss and invest in channels that actually drive customers.
No credit card required
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