How to Setup and Configure UTM Parameters

What are UTM parameters?

UTM parameters are the additions to a URL that you track where visitors are coming from when they click the link to navigate to your website.

You've probably actually experienced these without realizing, such as when you tried to share a hyperlink with somebody and noticed it has a bunch of seemingly incomprehensible gibberish appended to the end of it?

Yes. That.

So let's look at an example. Suppose I have an ad embedded in a logo that I want to direct users to my website.

I then want to track users who click on that link so that, if they convert to any sales, I'd be able to attribute those orders to my 'Winter campaign'.

What I would do then is embed the following clickable link into my ad:

https://mystore.com/?utm_campaign=wintercollection&utm_medium=email&utm_source=fallnewsletter&utm_content=logo&utm_term=winterdeals

We'll look at each part in turn

1. URL (mystore.com). The website for my storefront.
2. utm_campaign=wintercollection. The name of the campaign I want the users associated with. In this case, users clicking on this link will be categorized as part of the 'wintercollection' campaign.
3. utm_medium=email. The medium being used for this campaign. In this case, it's an email newsletter, but it could be a cpc ad, a banner, or something else.
4. utm_source=fallnewsletter. The referrer of where this user came from. In this case, they're from my fallnewsletter mailing list, but it could be a specific affiliate, google, or something else.
5. utm_content=logo. The specific thing they clicked on. In this case, it's a logo, but it's helpful to differentiate these in case there were say, multiple clickable elements in the email (maybe a clickable banner, image etc.)
6. utm_term=winterdeals. This is used for search ads if you have paid keywords that the user inputted as a search term to find your special link.

How do I setup UTM parameters?

Actually, this step is surprisingly easy. You can either copy my example process above and change the respective details, or use one of the many tools on the internet to do it all for you.

Google Analytics has one that's decently comprehensive, so you can check that out here.

Tracking the results in Report Toaster

After you get your link all set up and embedded in your email/clickable ad, it's time to track the results.

If you navigate to the Marketing reports in Report Toaster (above), you'll see reports like UTM Campaign, UTM Source, UTM Term, and UTM Medium.

These reports can be used to track the sales from each of your respective ad campaigns. See our main guide here for more information.

Each of these are fairly similar - they just change how the same data is sorted and displayed for ease of use.

Using these reports, I can see exactly how many orders came via users that originated from a particular campaign and tailor my efforts accordingly.

These are just a few basic examples of how to get UTM parameters set up and working, but if you want more help in configuring your reports, be sure to let us know.