How to Use UTM Codes

To attract more buyers to your homes, you need to know which marketing channels reach and engage them. When you understand how your most qualified buyers find you, you’ll have a better idea of where to spend your marketing dollars.

Through Google Analytics, you can use UTM codes to accurately attribute your website traffic to a specific marketing campaign. You can attach a UTM code to any custom URL that you place in an ad, post, email — anywhere you’re reaching buyers online.

Here’s how to use UTM codes in your marketing efforts.

How UTM codes work

UTM codes use five parameters — source, medium, campaign, term and content — to gather information about how effective a campaign is.

A full UTM code in a Facebook ad might look like this:

https://MudToMountainHomes.com/WaterfrontHomes/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paidsoc&utm_campaign=lakefront-2018&utm_term=lake-sealth-neighborhood

It’s easy to repurpose a UTM code — or test the campaign’s efficacy — by changing a value in any one of the parameters. For example, changing the medium from pay per click to paid social.

Here's how to use the five parameters:

utm_source

Identifies the advertiser, site, publication, etc. sending traffic to your campaign. In our example, the source is Facebook:

https://MudToMountainHomes.com/WaterfrontHomes/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paidsoc&utm_campaign=lakefront-2018&utm_term=lake-sealth-neighborhood

utm_medium

The advertising or marketing medium, such as paid social, banner ad or email newsletter. This parameter can also identify the medium’s look or size (e.g., a 600-pixel animated banner ad).

In our example, the medium is paid social:

https://MudToMountainHomes.com/WaterfrontHomes/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paidsoc&utm_campaign=lakefront-2018&utm_term=lake-sealth-neighborhood

utm_campaign

The individual campaign name, slogan, promo code, etc. In our example, it’s “lakefront 2018”:

https://MudToMountainHomes.com/WaterfrontHomes/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paidsoc&utm_campaign=lakefront-2018&utm_term=lake-sealth-neighborhood

utm_term

Identifies keywords you’re already tagging in a paid search. If you're manually tagging paid keyword campaigns, you should also use utm_term to specify the keyword (e.g., new construction homes).

In our example, the paid search term is “lake sealth neighborhood.”

https://MudToMountainHomes.com/WaterfrontHomes/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paidsoc&utm_campaign=lakefront-2018&utm_term=lake-sealth-neighborhood

If you’re not using paid search, use a label that contains more unique information about the campaign.

utm_content

Differentiates similar content or links within the same ad in a paid search so you can A/B test.

Say you have two call-to-action links within the same email message; you can use utm_content to set different values for each so you can tell which version is more effective:

https://MudToMountainHomes.com/WaterfrontHomes/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paidsoc&utm_campaign=lakefront-2018&utm_term=lake-sealth-neighborhood&utm_content=see-lakefront-homes

https://MudToMountainHomes.com/WaterfrontHomes/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paidsoc&utm_campaign=lakefront-2018&utm_term=lake-sealth-neighborhood&utm_content=shop-lakefront-homes

If you’re not using paid search, use a label that contains more unique information about the campaign.

UTM code best practices

It's critical to use UTM codes correctly so that you not only gather as much campaign information as possible but also prompt buyers to act.

Required parameters

When setting up your campaign, always include values for source, medium and campaign. These three parameters provide the basic information about where your traffic comes from.

If you don’t define these parameters, Google will either guess what you mean or omit the value altogether.

Use Google’s definitions

Don’t redefine parameters; use them the same way Google does so that your data makes sense when you review the analytics. If you want to be more specific about where your buyers originate from, use the term and content parameters.

Speaking of specific …

Avoid using the same value for different parameters. For example, don’t use utm_source=facebook and utm_medium=facebook.

Parameters allow you to be precise about tracking how buyers find you, so use as many as you need when building your UTM codes.

For example, if your source is Facebook, and your medium is a post or ad, use utm_medium=facebook-post or utm_medium=facebook-ad.

Also, there’s no word limit for UTM codes, so use sensible naming conventions that let you accurately attribute each campaign.

For example, if your campaign includes photos of lakefront homes in a specific community, use a self-defining value, like utm_source=lake-sealth-photo-montage, instead of something vague like utm_source=photogrid.

Once you nail down the perfect UTM code for your campaign, use Bitly to shorten long URLs and improve the buyer experience.

For external use only

Don’t attach UTM codes to URLs within your website. UTM parameters track external marketing tasks that drive traffic to your website, so using the same ones on your own site interferes with attribution and skews the effectiveness of your external marketing efforts.

Case and space matter

Google Analytics recognizes casing, so lowercase all your values to avoid fragmenting your data. There’s a difference between utm_source=Facebook and utm_source=facebook, and it’s on you to track both naming conventions if you don’t use lowercase for everything.

To make casing easy and consistent, apply filters that force your values to lowercase.

Also, avoid spaces within your UTM codes — use dashes or underscores instead.

Be consistent

Train your team to gather data consistently. Use an Excel spreadsheet or Google doc to track all past and current campaigns, and ensure that your team uses correct naming conventions.

UTM codes at work

We spoke with Aryan Moharir, director of digital strategy and analytics for LGI Homes, about using UTM codes to track campaigns and website visitors.

“Using UTM codes is the first step to building a robust digital marketing program,” said Moharir. “From here, you’ll be able to create dynamic content or advertisements based on how a buyer entered your site, as well as develop accurate cost-per-action models with multi-channel attribution.”

In one specific campaign, Moharir set out to generate interest for a new floor plan that debuted in the San Antonio market. He started by boosting a Facebook post highlighting a UTM-linked page on LGIHomes.com using the following parameters:

https://www.lgihomes.com/floorplan.cfm?id=40622A06-155D-01BF-22322DE905771978&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ext-45&utm_content=featured-floor-plan

The post drove 16 leads who visited the site and completed a form and two additional leads who saw the ad and later returned to the LGI website. Through UTM codes, Moharir could determine the specific source, medium and campaign driving the traffic back to the site. Spending only $20, the company ended up with an efficient cost per lead of $1.11. Through UTM codes, LGI Homes can determine its most effective marketing campaigns and allocate more budget to those campaigns in the future.

Ready to try UTM codes to track where your buyers come from? Check out the Google Analytics Campaign URL Builder for a simple way to get started.

Continue reading our marketing attribution series:

• How to Make Marketing Attribution Work for You
• Why You Should Adopt a Multi-Touch Marketing Model