If you're doing it right.. your ClickFunnels funnel ad links have UTM parameters.

But have you checked if they're actually surviving the redirect chain?

Let's say a funnel's traffic is showing nearly 30% "direct" traffic while running active paid campaigns. You can spend two weeks tweaking creative before thinking to check the redirect rules in Cloudflare, GoDaddy or wherever.

I like CloudFlare.. There, when you make a redirect rule, there's a setting for "Preserve query string".. it's unchecked by default.

If you have this off, every UTM that hits that redirect will die right there. Facebook will show clicks. GA4 will showe direct. You'll be optimizing against data that doesn't reflect reality.

😮

Here's the quick audit if you use a custom domain with your CF funnels:

Add ?utm_source=test&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=check  to your destination URL

Click through the full chain

Check the address bar at each step

Confirm the params are still there when the page loads

Then check GA4 real-time to verify the source shows correctly

If they disappear anywhere in the chain, that's where your attribution data is going.

For Cloudflare specifically — go to your redirect rule and turn on "Preserve query string." One checkbox. Two minutes.

You can run perfect campaigns to a perfectly built funnel and still make terrible decisions.. because the one piece of infrastructure connecting your ads to your analytics was misconfigured on day one.

Imagine knowing your attribution data is clean before every campaign launches. Not finding out three weeks in.

Check your redirect chain before the next one goes live.

Then keep an eye on it so it never breaks in the future.

🚀

- James