How to use UTM codes for tracking campaign results

So, you know you need to track the success of marketing campaigns. You know that you shouldn't rely solely on the metrics sent to you by vendor and social media reporting. AND you need to know whether the people that have visited your site because of various marketing metrics converted into actions that are valuable to you. What should you do?


For me and my clients, one of the easiest things to do is to assign a UTM code to each campaign. UTM codes are pretty much custom URL's that you use in place of your website address to track the source, medium, and/or campaign names. In English, this means that instead of entering your webpage address as a destination URL for a campaign or when running with a vendor, you use your UTM code in it's place.  

This makes an easy to identify line in your Google Analytics where you can find metrics for how well a campaign worked and if it converted. If you don't have Analytics yet, click here.

What does UTM code stand for? It is Urchin Tracking Module. which is a tracking marker that is added to a URL to make it trackable. In 2005, Google purchased the company called Urchin and re branded it to Google Analytics. 


How do you make a UTM code? Go to this page and fill out the form. 

1. Enter your website URL. Not just the home page, mind you. Go to the page that is the best landing page for this campaign.
2. Campaign Source should be what you are running, Google, Scripps Digital, Facebook, vendors etc...
3. Campaign Medium is to track the type of ad it will be, display, email. social media, etc...
4. Campaign Term is where you can denote important keywords. Like if you're a photographer you can choose weddings, or portraits, or corporate photos. This won't affect the campaign that you are running, this is just to help you keep track of what is working for you. This part of the form is not your opportunity to enter relevant search terms.
5. Campaign Content is where you briefly name the content of the ads. Using the wedding photographer example again, if you chose weddings in number 4, then here is where you can mark that it's a 10% off campaign.
6. Campaign Name is the opportunity to make this an easily identifiable line in your Analytics. Especially if you chose to skip Term and Content.
7. Click your button and get your code. 

This new code is what you place in URL fields when you are linking to your site or what you give to vendors to direct advertising back to your site. The results of this campaign and placement will now be clearly visible in Analytics. 
You should create multiple codes, one for each type of advertising that you do.

Where so I read my UTM code in my Google Analytics? 

In your Analytics you will find your results under "Acquisitions" then "Campaigns" then "All Campaigns"

Also, you can read here about why Google Analytics and vendor reports don't usually match up perfectly. Next time we'll chat about setting up Conversions in your Google Analytics.