What is UTM?
Otherwise known as Urchin Tracking Module, UTM was founded by Urchin Software Corporation. In 2005, the company was acquired by Google, and its software helped lay the foundation for what is currently known as Google Analytics.
UTM is a set of parameters (also known as UTM codes) that are added to website URLs for identifying and tracking website traffic generated by a specific marketing campaign and traffic sources. The traffic sources can be PPC marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, and the like.
UTM is ideal when trying to test which promotion method works best for you by tracking the performance of each procedure. UTM consists of five parameters: campaign, source, medium, term, and content.
Why does UTM matter?
The following are some of the major reasons why UTM codes are crucial:
- Helps In Learning About The Source Of Your Marketing Traffic: With the help of UTMs, you can specify the sources from which your website traffic is coming. For instance, it can be search engines such as Google or Bing or social media websites such as YouTube or Instagram. Traffic sources can also include other websites and paid or sponsored listings.
- Helps In Knowing The Type Of Content That Is Clicked On: It is essential to learn what marketing content gets the most clicks. It can be a sidebar link, an image, a menu link, etc. With the help of UTMs, you will obtain the information above seamlessly. Such data is considered critical in determining whether you need to post more image-related content or enhance website sidebar link content to attract more traffic.
- Helps In Tracking Your Overall Marketing Performance: Keeping track of your overall online marketing performance is crucial to ensuring that you constantly strive for better results in the long run.
How Can Marketers Make the Most of UTM?
Utilizing UTM parameters is an effective way to gain insights into the performance of your marketing campaigns. Marketers can use these UTM parameters to track clicks on a specific link and understand their audience’s behavior.
It helps marketers get valuable insights on who is most likely to convert, where they come from, what channels they use, which campaigns are working best, etc. It not only allows marketers to measure ROI, but it also allows them to understand their customers’ online journeys better.
Using UTM can help marketers uncover the performance of high-value activities such as lead generation, driving traffic, or even sales at scale. With this data, marketers can tailor their campaigns for desired outcomes and get better results from their efforts.
UTM is thus a powerful tool that helps marketers optimize their integration with other platforms, such as email marketing or paid search ads to get better returns on their investments.