Understanding UTM Parameters for Email Campaigns

UTM parameters are tags you add to the end of a URL to track the performance of your marketing campaigns. When used in your CRM's email marketing, they help you see which emails are driving traffic and conversions on your website by providing detailed information to analytics tools.

What Are UTM Parameters?

UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) parameters are short pieces of text appended to a URL. They act as labels that tell analytics platforms, like Google Analytics, exactly where your website visitors came from. By adding these to links in your email campaigns, you can measure the effectiveness of your email marketing efforts.

Default UTM Parameters in Your CRM

Your CRM supports three primary UTM parameters by default when you enable tracking for an email campaign:

• utm_source=email: This is a mandatory parameter. It is selected by default and has the value "email" to identify the traffic source.
• utm_medium=email marketing: This is also a mandatory parameter, but you can customize its value. The default value is "email marketing".
• utm_campaign=Campaign Name (Send Date): This is an optional parameter. You can choose a value for it from a dropdown menu, which typically includes your campaign name and the send date.

You can also add up to five custom parameters to this list by specifying the name and value for each.

Best Practices for Using UTM Parameters

To ensure your tracking is accurate and effective, follow these guidelines:

• Avoid Personal Information: Never use personally identifiable information (PII) like social security numbers or addresses in your parameters, as this is restricted by analytics platforms.
• Use Essential Parameters: For clear and effective analysis, focus on using the core parameters: utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign.
• Be Consistent with Capitalization: UTM parameters are case-sensitive. Decide on a capitalization style (e.g., all lowercase) and use it consistently.
• Use Underscores for Spaces: To avoid issues with URL encoding, use underscores (_) instead of spaces in your parameter values.

When UTM Parameters May Not Work

Be aware of these situations where UTM tracking might not function as expected:

• Trigger Links: UTM parameters are not applied to links that are configured as trigger links in this version of the CRM.
• Incorrect URL Syntax: The links you use must be correctly formatted with the necessary prefixes (like https://), especially if they are saved as custom values.
• Test Emails It is advisable to send a test campaign to verify that your UTM parameters are working correctly before sending to your full list.

How to Set Up UTM Parameters

Follow these steps to configure UTM tracking for your email campaigns:

1. Navigate to the Email Marketing section of your CRM.
2. Click on Settings within the Email Campaign area.
3. Select the Tracking option to view the UTM parameter settings.
4. To enable UTM parameters for all campaigns by default, toggle the enable switch on.
5. You can edit the default values for utm_medium and utm_campaign as needed.
6. To add custom parameters, click the Add Custom Parameter button and specify the name and value.
7. Ensure the checkboxes next to the parameters you want to use are selected.
8. Click Save to apply your settings.
9. To disable UTM tracking for a specific campaign, you can turn off the tracking option on the Send or Schedule page for that individual campaign.