How to Track “How Did You Hear About Us?” in GA4

Web analytics is good at recording clicks. It is less reliable when somebody discovers your brand in a podcast, sees several creator posts, hears a recommendation in a private group, then visits your website directly days later. “How did you hear about us?”, often shortened to HDYHAU, adds the customer’s own account of that discovery.

Also called self-reported attribution, HDYHAU helps to expose word of mouth, the influence of creators, podcasts, communities, newsletters, AI assistants, and other sources that can disappear into direct traffic or an incomplete last-click journey.

Place the "how did you hear about us" question immediately before or after whatever event it is that you define as success for your business. This could be a sign up, an account creation, a download, a demo request, or a successful checkout.

For most teams, a single-choice list with an “Other” option is easier to complete and analyse than a blank text box. If you're tracking your creator programme with Brandwave, we suggest you add options for creator marketing and even call out creators by name if that is practical for the size of your programme.

Keep the stored value stable and machine-friendly, such as google_search, podcast, or friend_or_colleague.

Ask the person who manages your website or tag setup to push your success event to GA4. This should contain a consistent event name and a parameter containing the HDYHAU answer. The example below records a successful sign-up and the answer podcast. Your event might instead be generate_lead, purchase, or another GA4 event that represents the outcome you care about.

In Google Tag Manager, create a Data Layer Variable named DLV - hdyhau with the data layer variable name hdyhau. Create a Custom Event trigger for the conversion event, such as sign_up. Then create or update a GA4 Event tag so it sends the event name and the hdyhau parameter to the correct GA4 measurement ID.

Next, open GA4 and create an event-scoped custom dimension. Use a readable display name such as "How did you hear about us", choose Event scope, and enter hdyhau as the event parameter. We recommend you mark this success event as a key event.

Complete a test conversion and confirm that the custom event fired, DLV - hdyhau contains the expected value, and the GA4 Event tag sent hdyhau as the parameter name. Then check GA4 DebugView. Standard GA4 reports and newly created custom dimensions can take 24 to 48 hours to populate, so DebugView is the faster setup check.

In Brandwave, open Reporting and connect Google Analytics. Be sure to selected the correct GA4 property.

Brandwave receives read-only access to your GA4 data. If the expected property is missing, check that the Google account completing the connection has access to it.

Brandwave calls the GA4 events you care about "success metrics". Select the same event that carries the HDYHAU answer, such as sign_up, generate_lead, or purchase. A success metric should represent a meaningful outcome to your business.

Brandwave backfills available event history after setup. If your event does not appear, submit a test conversion, verify it in GA4, and allow time for GA4 to make the event available through its reporting APIs.

On the event-details step, select the registered GA4 custom dimension that represents your HDYHAU answer.

Once data has synced, Brandwave groups the raw HDYHAU answers and shows them beside your GA4 success metrics, creator activities, and marketing campaigns. You can correct inconsistent labels, for example grouping "Instagram", "saw_on_instagram", and a specific creator answer into useful source categories without changing the original GA4 data.

This is full-circle attribution in a practical sense: behavioural analytics shows what happened on the website, the customer tells you where awareness began, and creator-performance data shows what your partners published and when. Seeing those signals together helps you investigate which creators and campaigns may be influencing demand that click-based attribution misses.

Read the result as evidence, not automatic proof that one creator caused every conversion. Look for repeated patterns across time, compare them with tracked links and promo codes, and keep the attribution method visible when you report results. The influencer marketing measurement framework explains how this outcome layer fits with creators, activities, and costs, while the ROI guide covers attribution limits and revenue calculations.

When you are ready to turn that evidence into a decision, your AI assistant can connect to Brandwave through the MCP server, or your team can build a custom workflow with the Brandwave API. This gives the assistant one place to query creator, activity, campaign, cost, performance, and attribution data, compare signals that would otherwise sit in separate reports, and help you identify useful patterns, unanswered questions, and practical next steps.

• No event in GTM Preview: confirm the data layer push happens only after the success event succeeds and that the Custom Event trigger name matches exactly.
• Tag fires but hdyhau is undefined: check the Data Layer Variable name, version, spelling, and capitalization.
• Event reaches GA4 without the answer: confirm the GA4 Event tag uses hdyhau as the parameter name and {{DLV - hdyhau}} as its value.
• Dimension is missing in Brandwave: register hdyhau as an event-scoped custom dimension in the same GA4 property, then wait for GA4 to expose it.
• Event is missing in Brandwave: submit a valid test conversion and verify the event in GA4 DebugView or Realtime before reconnecting.
• Answers look fragmented: standardize stored values and use Brandwave’s grouping controls to normalize historical variations.
• Counts do not match every conversion: some people skip the question, and Google may group or hide low-volume values to protect privacy.

Closing the loop on reporting by getting HDYHAU data successfully ingested into Brandwave is key to getting the most out of the platform. If you need a hand to get up and running, email hello@gobrandwave.com and one of the team will be happy to assist you.