What is a Urchin Tracking Module (UTM)?

Urchin Tracking Module (UTM) is a code snippet added to a URL to track the performance of online marketing initiatives. UTM parameters are added to the end of a URL as specific tags that provide information about the source you intend to track, such as:

Marketers often use UTM codes to get a more detailed breakdown of the sources that drive traffic to their websites or landing pages.

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How to use UTM parameters for better marketing results

Follow these tips to successfully track your marketing efforts through UTM codes.

1. Learn how UTM links work

UTM links track website traffic. When someone clicks on a UTM link, data is sent to your analytics tool, revealing where the traffic originated.

Here’s an example of what a UTM link might look like:

https://www.yourwebsite.com?utm_source=klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=july-sale&utm_term=summer-discount

Any UTM must contain obligatory UTM parameters—the utm_source and utm_medium. The rest of the parameters, including utm_campaign, utm_id, and utm_term, are optional.

2. Identify your traffic sources

The utm_source parameter helps you identify where exactly your traffic is coming from. Some common sources you can encode in this parameter include:

3. Track and analyze performance

Once you’ve created your UTM parameters, the next step is to integrate them into your analytics tools. Here’s where a marketing automation platform like Klaviyo can be invaluable.

Klaviyo simplifies UTM management by automating code generation and providing performance insights directly within the platform. This eliminates manual tagging and makes tracking key metrics and identifying top-performing initiatives easy. 

Klaviyo lets you set up dynamic UTM parameters for segmentation and advanced personalization, offering advanced insights into your marketing initiatives across all channels.

Sign up for Klaviyo today to unlock the power of UTM tracking and gain a comprehensive overview of your marketing performance.

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