Tracking Signature Sources

Looking for something specific? Skip ahead:

The ControlShift toolset allows administrators to track the sources of the signatures received on a petition. To view statistics about the sources of petition signatures, go to the petition > Admin > Signatures.

By default, the toolset adds source codes for signatures collected after someone uses the Twitter or Facebook share buttons.

However, if you'd like to track the signatures accumulated from another source, like a blast email, you can append ?source=foo to the end of the petition's URL (where foo is the chosen source). For example, https://demo.controlshiftlabs.com/petitions/free-puppies-for-everyone?source=blast. Any signatures generated using this customized URL will be tagged with that source code.

In addition to source tags, administrators can also use buckets. Buckets are like source codes, but they persist through generations. To use a bucket, append ?bucket=foo to the end of the petition URL (again, where foo is the chosen source). For example, https://demo.controlshiftlabs.com/petitions/free-puppies-for-everyone?bucket=blast_email. When a user signs a petition using a bucketed URL and then shares the petition by using the Facebook or Twitter buttons or by forwarding the message in the 'thank you for signing' email, the bucket remains on the URL that they share. This allows administrators to see the effect of a particular action through multiple generations. For example, if you send an email using a bucketed URL and one of the email recipients signs the petition and then shares the petition on Twitter, leading to another three signatures, the bucket will reflect four signatures resulting from the email blast.

Source codes and buckets can also be useful when using the partnerships feature. By appending ?source=partnerorg or ?bucket=partnerorg to the URL shared with partner admins, your organizations can track the number of signatures being directed to the petition by the partner organization.

[If you're following the New ControlShift Admin tutorial, we're looking at a petition's admin settings next.]