UTM Parameters Best Practices

Today, one of the most common challenges faced by many marketers is to measure the impact and effectiveness of their marketing campaigns and provide relevant answers to the fundamental questions of – ‘what’s working and what’s not? , To solve this issue UTM Parameters come into the picture.

Undoubtedly traffic is paramount to any website. It not only makes your business gain online visibility but at the same time also allows prospects across geographies to find your site.

However, to be able to stand out in this ever-growing market and attract the right audience is an overwhelming task. As a marketing professional, it becomes a key aspect for them to track the performance of their marketing campaigns and drive maximum results and value out of it.

Although, Google Analytics is a great tool to dig information and key metrics such as – how many visitors came on your website, how many stayed, how many looked at each page and their navigation journey, their demographics etc. but these still give you very basic information about your website.

One of the fantastic ways to get more accurate, precise and deeper information from each of your marketing campaigns and its overall impact is the use of UTM parameters.

What is UTM?

UTM, also known as Google’s Urchin Tracking Module, is a URL Parameter which is added to the end of the URL to track key information such as a source, medium, campaign name, term and content.

These simple parameter snippets do not affect the performance of the page in any way, but when a user clicks on the URL which has UTM parameters embedded in it, these dimensions are returned to your Google Analytics enabling you to analyze the traffic accurately.

Here’s an example of a normal URL:

http://thisisyourwebsite.com/

Here’s an example of the same URL with UTM tag:

http://thisisyourwebsite.com/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=autumnsale&utm_source=newsletter&utm_content=banner+link&utm_term=segmentation

The highlighted section in the above URL are UTM parameters embedded in it. It is important to understand that failure to append UTM codes will only hinder the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns leading to ambiguous and corrupt visitor data showing up in Google Analytics.

Urchin Tracking Module (UTM) is simply an extension added to a URL that gives detailed information about the links that are being clicked and where. Put simply, UTM is the way of collecting detailed performance data of a URL. UTM Parameters may sound very technical but they let us track specific details about campaigns in Google Analytics and help in determining the exact origin of a link and even how that particular link performs. UTM data provides in-depth analysis and helps in streamlining the brand by revealing user behavior.

Benefits of using UTM:

• UTM helps in tracking the value of social marketing programs and campaigns.
• UTM provides precise data about where the traffic and conversions come from.
• UTM allows us to test individual posts in the classic A/B testing style.
• UTM allows us to track keywords bringing traffic/conversion for search ads.

What are UTM Parameters?

5 parameters are included in the UTM code which is then added to the URL. Source, medium, campaign, content, and term. Let’s consider an example:

Original URL: https://unyscape.com/digital-marketing-trends/

URL with UTM: https://unyscape.com/digital-marketing-trends?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=fb_ad&utm_campaign=summer_sale&utm_term=social_media&utm_content=video_ad

1. Campaign Source

This parameter tracks the source that is driving the traffic. It can be the search engine, social network, newsletter, or any other.

Examples: google, facebook, twitter, newsletter  etc.

UTM code: utm_source

Sample code: utm_source=facebook

2. Campaign Medium

This tracks the type of channel driving the traffic, like paid social, organic social, email, and so on.

Examples: organic_social, cpc

UTM code: utm_medium

Sample code: utm_medium=fb_ad

3. Campaign Name

Each campaign should be given a name so you can keep track of your efforts. For example, a product name, a code to identify a specific sale or promotion, a contest name, or a tagline.

Examples: free_trial, summer_sale

UTM code: utm_campaign

Sample code: utm_campaign=summer_sale

4. Campaign Term

This can be used to track paid keywords or key phrases.

Examples: newyork_cupcakes, social_media

UTM code: utm_term

Sample code: utm_term=social_media

5. Campaign Content

This parameter allows tracking different ads within a campaign.

Examples: video_ad, text_ad, green_banner, blue_banner

UTM code: utm_content

Sample code: utm_content=video_ad

How to add UTM Parameters to URLs?

UTM parameters can be added manually to URLs, but the Campaign URL Builder makes the process much easier. Just fill the form and click on “Copy URL”, then use the tagged URL for all your digital materials.

UTM Parameters can be added easily through Campaign URL Builder in Google Analytics.

UTM Parameters can be added easily through Campaign URL Builder in Google Analytics.

UTM parameters must be implemented before shortening the URLs (if required).

URL Shortening

URL shortening improves the appearance of the links and makes them more enticing to click. Moreover, URL shortening is important when you share extended and complex URLs (with UTM tags) on social platforms with limited space.

It is not very difficult to shorten the links for social media since there are many useful tools for it like:

1. Bitly

The links for Twitter or for any other social media platforms can be shortened for free without any sign-up. You just have to copy and paste the link and you will get the shortened link in a few seconds. A few researchers have suggested that shortened links can improve the click-through rate by 34%.

(Source: www.bitly.com)

2. TinyURL

Another alternative is TinyURL and it is also very easy to use. Just like Bitly, you don’t need an account to use this tool. Just paste your original link in the box and get your shortened link.

Best Practices for UTM Parameter

1. Create a Standard Naming Convention

Dashes should be used over underscores, percentage (representation for spaces inside GA), and plus signs in your URLs. Lowercase should be consistently used throughout all of your campaigns.

For example,

utm_source=LinkedIn is different from utm_source=linkedin.

Changing to uppercase, camel case, or any other capitalization gives you an additional responsibility of remembering this convention. So, it’s better to stick with lowercase and not let human error creep in.

URLs should be clean, descriptive, non-redundant and easy to read.

For example, the same values can be put in by mistake inside the source and medium parameters.

Or, by putting some specific originating aspect under the medium can confuse you with the double use of ‘facebook.’

One of the best practices for UTM Parameters is to let them flow like a normal sentence without any redundancy.

2. Keep a Record of UTM Links

Keeping a documented record of the tagged links will ensure that everyone on your team stays on the same page.

In addition to this, create a naming convention guide document that has clear instructions for tagging links. This can come in handy if anyone on the team comes across a new scenario.

3. Choose a right URL builder

Tagging URLs with UTM parameters can be messy and cumbersome, especially if done manually. Choosing the right URL builder can speed up the tag creation by simplifying workflows and at the same time saving your time and effort. Google Tag Manager is one such tool, which is easy to use and is free.

4. Be consistent in using parameter values

URL tags are case sensitive and it is imperative to be consistent with the cases and should be used religiously in the tags. UTM parameter values must be chosen carefully so that it can be distinguished from each other and leads to providing accurate results.

5. Get clarity on ‘Medium’ and ‘Source’ parameters

Most marketers interchangeably use ‘Medium’ and ‘Source’ parameters and often get confused. These are confusing but critical parameters and hence should be used carefully.

Let’s understand how it is different

• Medium: It defines how a visitor lands on to your website.
• Source: It defines from where/which page the visitor came from to get to your website.

What’s Next?

The number of clicks and traffic generated by various sources isn’t the most important aspect of a business; it’s the revenue.

So, once you know your way with UTMs, it’s useful to connect your tracking data with the CRM. It will give a clear picture of how various online marketing channels are affecting your bottom line.

6. View Campaign Data

The campaign data can be viewed in Google Analytics via Acquisitions > Campaigns > All Campaigns. Click on Campaign Name corresponding to the utm_campaign parameter in your UTM-tagged URLs to see which links are generating traffic.

Campaign data can be easily viewed within Google Analytics to know which links are generating traffic.

Campaign data can be easily viewed within Google Analytics to know which links are generating traffic.