UTM Codes Guide with Examples: Know Which Campaigns ...

UTM stands for Urchin tracking parameters. They're little pieces of data that we add to our URLs in order to see where different traffic ... Thiscontentisreader-supported,whichmeansifyouclickonsomeofourlinksthatwemayearnacommission. Skiptocontent Shareon: Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Ourtrafficbouncesallovertheplace. Wehavesocial.Wehaveemail.Wehavepaidads.There’smoresites,platforms,andnetworksthanwecouldpossiblyhopetorunourcampaignson. Howdowekeeptrackofitall? Howdoweknowwhat’sworkingandwhat’snot? WeuseUTMcodes. What’saUTM? UTMstandsforUrchintrackingparameters.They’relittlepiecesofdatathatweaddtoourURLsinordertoseewheredifferenttrafficcomesfrom.TheywereintroducedwaybackwithananalyticstoolcalledUrchin,thetoolthatwasboughtbyGoogleandevolvedintoGoogleAnalytics.Somewherealongtheway,theybecametheindustrystandardfortrackingmarketingcampaignsacrosstools. Thesedays,mostanalyticstools,marketingapps,marketingautomationtools,andCRMslookfortheseparametersautomatically. Therearefivestandardparameters. UTMMedium:Thinkofthisasachannel.Social,Organic,Paid,Email,Affiliates,areallcoremarketingchannelsthatincludemultipletrafficsources. UTMSource:Theindividualsitewithinthatchannel.Forexample,FacebookwouldbeoneofthesourceswithinyourSocialmediumforanyunpaidlinksthatyouposttoFacebook.Ifyou’rerunningaFacebookadorspendingmoneytopromotealink,you’dwanttolabelFacebookasasourcewithinPaid.Ifyou’rebuildingalinkforemail,definewhichlistthatyou’resendingtheemailto. UTMCampaign:Thespecificcampaignthatyou’rerunning.Feelfreetofillthisinhoweveritmakessensetoyou.Namesthatallowyoutoeasilyidentifyproductlaunches,promotionalcampaigns,individualemailsorposts,etc.areallgood. UTMContent:Thisisanoptionalfield.Ifyouhavemultiplelinksinthesamecampaign,liketwolinksinthesameemail,youcanfillinthisvaluesoyoucandifferentiatethem.Formostmarketers,thisdataismoredetailedthantheyreallyneed. UTMTerm:Marketersrarelyusethisfieldthesedays.It’ssoyoucantrackspecifickeywordsforpaidorganiccampaigns.SinceAdWordshasit’sowntrackingmethodologyandadeepintegrationwithGoogleAnalytics,you’llrarelyneedtousethisfield. Wheneveryouputalinkonanexternalsite(notyourownsite,moreonthisbelow),youaddtheseparameterstoyourURL.Thenwhentrafficlandsonyoursite,youknowwherethevisitorcamefromandthatdataappearsinallyourmarketingandanalyticstools. Here’sanormalURLwithoutanytracking: www.yoursite.com/pricing Andhere’sthesameURLwithfourUTMparametersadded: www.yoursite.com/pricing?utm_source=active%20users&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=feature%20launch&utm_content=bottom%20cta%20button Inthishypotheticalexample,wehaveasetofactiveusersforaproductthataregoingtoreceiveanemail.Thecampaignisn’tsettoeveryemailsubscriberonfile,onlyusersthataredefinedas“active.” Let’sbreakdowneachindividualelementofthisURLtoreallyunderstandit. www.yoursite.com/pricing–SamepageasthenormalURL ?–thistellsyourbrowserthateverythingafterthispointisjustdata utm_source=active%20users–we’vedefined“activeusers”asourUTMSource.Sincespacescan’tbeusedinaURL,thespaceisreplacedwith“%20” &–thistellsourmarketingtoolsthatwe’vefinisheddefiningthepreviousUTMandwe’reabouttostartanewone utm_medium=email–we’vedefinedtheUTMMediumas“email” utm_campaign=feature%20launch–we’vedefinedtheUTMCampaignas“featurelaunch” utm_content=bottom%20cta%20button–we’vedefinedtheUTMContenthas“bottomctabutton”sowecantracktrafficdowntotheindividuallinkofthecampaign FeelfreetoskipContentandTermifyoudon’thaveaneedforthem.ButdefinitelygetinthehabitofalwaysusingMedium,Source,andCampaignconsistently.Manyanalyticstoolsassumethatallthreeareusedtogether.Andbyskippingone,youcancreatedatagapsinyourreporting. GooglehasaUTMBuildertohelpyouputtogetherthesetrackableURLswheneveryouneedthem. EmailUTMExamples Here’sanemailsentbyCreativeLive: ThebuttonusesthisURLandUTMparameters: https://www.creativelive.com/sales-promotions?utm_source=creativeLIVE&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20171110_All_12For19FlashSale ThisemailisfromRover: ThebuttonusesthisURLwiththeseUTMs: https://www.rover.com/search/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Responsys&utm_campaign=111017190001&utm_content=2017_11_09_O_TGiving_NoSt_SDTest_NoCoup_2&utm_term=111017 Note:alotofemailtoolsautopopulateUTMsoneverylinkwhichiswhyyou’llseesomeemaillinksusingtheUTMTermparameter.Thisdataisrarely,ifever,lookedatbythemarketingteam. Anotherexamplefromthehotelchain,1Hotels: TheURLandUTMsthatthebuttonuses: https://www.1hotels.com/winter-solstice-2017?utm_source=1+Hotels&utm_campaign=a103b5e098-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_11_07&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fae0e4b2bc-a103b5e098-12403241 PaidUTMExamples ApaidadfromTheInformationonFacebook: https://www.theinformation.com/subscribe/one?offer=thrivetrial&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=USA%3EBottom+of+Funnel&utm_term=Remarketing%3ENon-Purchasing+Email+Signups%3EPurchase++RHS&utm_content=vid-Info2017-Promo1%7CHomepage%7CInvestigative+Journalism%7CSocial+Capital%7C%241+Offer Note:They’reusingacustom“offer”parameteralongwiththenormalURMparameters. AnadfromuBiomeonFacebook: TheURL: https://ubiome.com/microbiome-testing?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=m6-acquisition-SGP AnadfromElectronicArtsonTwitter: TheURL: https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0006-CUSA05770_00-DLXPREORDER00000?utm_campaign=swbf2_hd_us_gam_socv_twt_holo&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter Note:youcanseethatthey’reusing“social”forthemedium.Sincethisisapaidad,I’duseamediumof“paid”instead.Thiswillkeepallthepaidtrafficsourcesunderthesame“paid”channelinyourreporting. SocialUTMExamples AtweetfromTomaszTunguz: TheURL: http://tomtunguz.com/challenger-sales-process/?utm_content=bufferdf11a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer AtweetfromShaneBarker: TheURL: https://shanebarker.com/blog/increase-ecommerce-sales/?utm_content=bufferfc5dc&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer AFacebookpostfromThePointsGuy: TheURL: https://thepointsguy.com/2017/11/kansas-city-new-billion-dollar-terminal/?utm_source=FACEBOOK&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Editorial&utm_campaign=FACEBOOK-100000097854102 TheKeytoUTMs:CleanData I’veworkedwithhundredsofteamsanddifferentanalyticsimplementations.Byfar,thebiggestproblemwithUTMsisgettingateamtousethemconsistently. UTMsareprettyflexible,youcanaddwhatevervaluestoeachparameteryouwant.Wanttosegmentyourmarketingchannelsintoyour“fluffybunny”medium,your“rainbows”medium,andyour“pinkunicorns”medium?Goforit!Completelyuptoyou. Thisflexibilityhasadownsidethough,flexibilityalsomeansalackofconsistency. Let’suseanexample,sayyouwanttotagallyourlinksfrompaidchannelswiththesamemediumparameter. Whatdoyoudefinethatmediumas? Well,youhaveaLOTofoptions: Paid paid(yes,thesearecasesensitiveinsometools) CPA(costperacquisition) cpa PPC(payperclick) ppc CPC(costperclick) cpc It’sincrediblycommonfordifferentpeopleonthesameteamtousedifferenttermsforthesamemedium,source,orcampaign.It’sevenprettyeasytousedifferenttermsyourself!Weallgetbusy,forgetwhatweusedinthepast,andtweaksomethingaccidentally.Icatchmyselfdoingthisregularly. Wheneverthishappens,yourdatafragments. Now,sometoolswillattempttogroupsomeofthemorecommonvariantsforyou.GoogleAnalyticshasarangeofparametersthatitgroupsintoparticularmediums. Butmanytoolsdon’t,theytakethedataexactlyasitcomes. Messydatameansthatyou’llhaveaterribletypetryingtoseewhat’sgoingon.Theproblemcanrangefromconstantlyhavingtomanuallymassageafewrowsyourselftohavingreportssomessythatit’simpossibletoseewhereanythingiscomingfrom. Howdowefixthis? Wheneverworkingwithanewteamorsite,IalwaysstartwithabasicGoogleSpreadsheet.ThenIbuildafewcolumnsthathavedropdownselections,especiallyformediumandsource.I’mparanoidaboutforcingconsistencyforthosetwovalues.AndthenIletfolksfillinthecampaignandnameparametershowevertheylike.Ifyoukeepmediumandsourceclean,themajorityofyourreportingproblemswillgoaway. Withaquickformula,youcanevengetthespreadsheettobuildthefinaltrackingURLforyou. Theworkflowgoeslikethisforthewholeteam: Forallexternallinks,gototheteam’sUTMspreadsheet AddyourdestinationURLinthefirstcolumn Pickthemediumfromadropdownofonly5-10options Pickthesourcefromadropdownof20-30options(thislistwillbelongersinceeachchannelhasafewsourceswithinit) Filloutthecampaignfield Filloutthecontentfieldifyouwant(optional) FinalURLisautomaticallypopulatedinthelastcolumn Quickandeasyfortheentireteamtofollow.ItalsogivesyouanongoingrecordofeverysingletrackableURLyourteamhasbuilt.Goodtohaveifsomethingbreakslaterandyouhavetodiagnosetheproblem. There’safewUTMtrackingtemplatesouttherelikethisone.FeelfreetoGooglearounduntilyoufindoneyoulike.IusuallyfindafreetemplatefromGoogle,createacopy,andthenadddropdownsfortheMediumandSourcecolumns.Finally,IforcetheteamtousethatsamespreadsheeteverytimetheycreateanewURL.OnceI’vedonethat,I’veneverhadanissuewithgettingateamtousethesamevaluesconsistently. Whataboutinternaltracking?CanweuseUTMs? Howdowetracklinksonourownsite?Whatifweputabanneronourblogforapurchase,demo,orfreetrial,howdowetellifthebannerdrivesconversions? IstronglyrecommendthatUTMsnevergetusedforyourowninternallinks. Howcome?It’llbreakyouranalyticstracking. Yousee,GoogleAnalyticsandothertrackingtoolstypicallystartabrandnewvisitorsessionwheneveravisitorarrivesonapagewithUTMs.TheyassumethatUTMsareonlybeingusedonexternallinksandthenresetallsession-leveldata. Thatmeansthatthesessionresetsandthevisitornowlookslikethey’vevisitedyoursitemultipletimes. Allofthesemetricswillstarttogetskewed: Sessiontotals Timeonsite Pages/visit Pageentrancesandexits Trafficsourcesandchannels JustabouteverymetricinGoogleAnalyticswillchange. Ifthishappenstoafewvisitors,it’snotabigdeal.Youwon’tevennoticeit. Butifyouhaveasteadyflowofvisitorsthatgothroughthatcampaign,you’repermanentlyskewingyouranalyticsdatafromreality.Analyticsdataisalreadyhardenoughtokeepaccurate,thelastthingyouwanttodoismakeitworseintentionally. Whatdowedoinstead? There’stwooptionsthattypicallygetused. EventTracking EveryanalyticstoolhasawaytofireaJavaScriptevent.Anyfront-endengineercandothiseasily,it’sawaytotelltheanalyticstoolthatanactionoccurred. Whenananalyticstoolseesanevent,itknowsthattheactionoccurredduringthesamesession.Noneoftheotheranalyticsmetricswillgetreset.Andthere’splentyofreportsbuiltintothesetoolstoseewhicheventsleadtoconversions,howmanyeventsarehappening,andwhichtrafficsourcestriggerevents. ForGoogleAnalytics,there’sabunchofdocumentationoneventsworkhere. ACustomParameter UTMsareonesetofURLparametersthatarebroadlyrecognizedbythemarketingcommunity.Butwecansetanyofourownparametersthatwewantonourownsite. Forexample,wecouldadd?unicorn=purpletoallofthelinks.Analyticstoolswilljustignoretheseparameterssincetheydon’trecognizethembutwehavethefreedomdefineanyparameterofourchoosing. Manyengineeringteamswillusetheirowninternalparameterstotrackextrainternaldatainacustomway.Oneofthemorepopularparametersis“ref”whichisshortforreference.It’sjustaquickshort-handparameterthatpeopletendtousewhentheywanttotracksomething. Again,analyticstoolswon’tpayanyattentiontotherefparameteroranyothercustomparameterthatyoubuild.Ifyouhaveauserdatabase(you’rebuildingaSaaSorconsumertechapp)orhaveaCRM(mostB2Bcompanies),yourengineerscanuseafewoftheseinternalparameterstocollectanyextradatathatyouwanttorecord. YourblogbannerURLwouldthenlooksomethinglikethis: www.yoursite.com/demo?ref=blog_banner Thenwhenthedemorequestgetssubmitted,thevalue“blog_banner”wouldbestoredhoweveryouwantinyouruserdatabaseorCRM.Andyou’llgetthatdatawithoutaccidentallyresettingallyouranalyticsmetricsforthatvisitorsession. UseCrazyEgg IfyouinstallCrazyEgg,youcanvisuallyseealltheclickscomingfrominternallinks,buttonsandformsfromanypageonyourwebsite.It’stheeasiestwaytoseewhatclickableelementsarehotandwhichonesarenot. OtherMethodstoTrackMarketingCampaigns WhileUTMsarethemethodfortrackingmarketingcampaignsbetweenmarketingtools,youhaveafewotheroptions. ConversionPixels JustabouteverypaidadplatformwillgiveyouasnippetofJavaScriptthatyoucanusetotrackconversionswithintheirtool.ThisincludesFacebook,AdWords,andalltheretargetingtoolslikeAdrollandPerfectAudience. Theprocessisprettysimple: Gointoyouraccountonthattool FindtheJavaScriptsnippetfortrackingconversions Placethesnippetonthepageofyoursitethatmeansaconversioneventhasoccurred(usuallyathank-youpageofsomekind) Sincethepaidplatformcannowseewhenvisitorsconvertonyoursite,they’lltracktheconversionforyou.WhenyouseeconversiondatainFacebookorAnalytics,thisisusuallywheretheconversiondataiscomingfrom. Whilethisdoesmakemanagingyourpaidcampaignsmuchmoreefficientsinceyoucandoeverythingwithinthetoolitself,IdorecommendthatyoualsosetupyourownUTMtrackingforthesecampaigns.You’llwantyourownsetofdatatovalidateagainstwhenit’stimetocalculatethetrueROIofachannelorcampaign.Bynature,thereisaconflictofinterestwiththesetools,theywanttotakecreditforasmanyconversionsastheypossiblecaninordertodemonstratetheirvalue.Ifyouhaveyourowndata,it’llbeeasytodouble-checkandmakesureeverythingisaccurate. SeparateLandingPages Whenallelsefails,there’salwaystheoptiontobuilduniquelandingpagesforeverysinglecampaign.It’slaborintensivebutit’salsofool-proof. InsteadofworryingaboutUTMsandanalyticsintegrations,signupforalandingpagetoollikeLeadpagesorUnbounce.Thencreateafewbasiclandingpagetemplatesthatyoucanre-useoverandoveragain.Theneverytimeyouappearonapodcast,writeablogpost,runanewpaidcampaign,oranythingelse,whipupaquicklandingpageandsendthetraffictothatspecificpage. Simpleandeffective. Thesetoolswillgiveyoureportingonhowmuchtrafficandhowmanyconversionshappenoneachpage.Sinceeverycampaigngotauniquepage,it’seasytoseewhichcampaignsgiveyouconversions.Thisisagreatoptionwhenyourmarketingteamonlyneedstocollectemailsubscribersorgetprospectstofilloutasimpleformtobecomealead.Ifyou’retryingtodrivefreetrialsormorecomplicatedconversiontypes,thismaynotbeanoption. Italsowon’tworkifyou’repromotingpagesthatdon’thaveastrongCTAandvisitorsarelikelytobouncearoundyoursitetootherpages.Promotingblogpostsonsocialisagoodexamplewhereuniquelandingpageswouldn’twork. TheQuickRecap UTMsarethemostpopularmethodfortrackingourtrafficacrossdifferentsites.Alltheanalyticstoolsandmanymarketingtoolsrecognizethemautomatically.Whenyousetthemup,makesureyouusetheMedium,Source,andCampaignparameterseverytime.OnlyuseTermandContentifthey’revaluabletoyou. RememberthatthekeytohavingusefulcampaigndataistousevaluesforMediumandSourceconsistently.Otherwise,yourdatawillgetfragmentedinyourreportswhichmakesitmuchmoredifficulttofigureoutwhat’sgoingon. HoweveryouimplementUTMs,don’teverusethemforinternallinks.They’llbreakyouranalyticsdata,triggeringaneventforyouranalyticstoolorusingacustomparameteraremuchbetteroptions. WhileUTMsarethestandard,thereareafewotherwaystosetupyourtracking.Forpaidplatforms,usingthetrackingpixelthattheyprovidecanmakethingsmucheasier.Andyoucanalwayskeepthingskeepbybuildingauniquelandingpageforeachcampaign. Makeyourwebsitebetter.Instantly. 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